John Greenfield

• Op-ed by "The South Side" author Natalie Moore, including commentary from Rep. Buckner: "State of transit won't change until it's a priority" (Sun-Times)

Note: This post includes a somewhat graphic image of a head injury.

By now you know the drill. The CTA announces that it's significantly increasing scheduled bus and/or train service in an effort to restore or surpass 2019 pre-COVID service levels. Streetsblog later asks the transit data whizzes at the grassroots transit advocacy group Commuters Take Action (CTAction) for their POV on the claim.

• Intoxicated man who fell off platform bench, spoke with attendant, later fell on tracks and was electrocuted, Friday morning at Oak Park Green stop (ABC)

• 3rd person injured or killed by BNSF trains this week, this time Wednesday evening in Brookfield near East Maple Avenue and East Avenues (WGN)

Last week, I took a fairly deep dive into the recurring traffic crash epidemic near Loyola University. Read the article to get up to speed on the situation. It has included two bus-pedestrian collisions within a week in February, at or near Sheridan Road and Kenmore Avenue, between the main campus and the Kenmore bike-pedestrian mall.

• BNSF train struck person near 16th/Halsted in Pilsen, no word on their condition, less than 12 hours after BNSF killed person near Westmont (NBC)

Yesterday, Block Club Chicago's Alex V. Hernandez reported that the 4700 block Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Square community would be opened for car-free use starting Monday, for the next week. That's being done to accommodate construction work on Leland Avenue between Western Avenue and Lincoln, including a new plaza next to the Western Brown Line station and raised bike lanes. The latter will complete the long-awaited Leland Neighborhood Greenway, a lower-stress, mostly side-street bike route connecting the North Shore Channel Trail and the Lakefront Trail.

• ELP's Howard Learner: "This Earth Day, Illinois must step up to protect our core environmental values," including addressing transit fiscal cliff (Tribune)

Plus a discussion of why at many Metra stations, if you're not a daily commuter, it can be maddeningly non-obvious which platform you need to wait on.