Streetsblog Chicago

One year after Divvy became the first bikeshare system in the country to incorporate docked e-scooters, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Lyft, the operator of Divvy, unveiled the next generation model of scooter, offering improved safety features and a more comfortable riding experience. Divvy will be adding 500 of the new scooters to the fleet by the end of June bringing the total number of docked scooters to 1,500, giving residents and visitors more car-free options to get around Chicago.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog USA.

Due to editor-in-chief John Greenfield being seriously injured on a bike trip, this was a challenging spring. But thanks to funders and readers, the site is once again rolling.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog USA.

Tragically, fitness instructor Ron Mendoza, 43, died two days after being hospitalized for injuries from a collision on his bike with a car driver.

On Thursday, disadvantaged business enterprises attended a meeting hosted by the Chicago Transit Authority to learn more about the Red Line Extension and the subcontracting opportunities available. The event took place at the CTA’s West Loop headquarters.

This week’s Chicago Reader "First Tuesdays with Maya [Dukmasova] & Ben [Joravsky]" at Nighthawk on the topic of “Public Transit Crisis” lived up to the theme. The conversation with state representative Kam Buckner and activist (and former Streetsblog reporter) Lynda Lopez touched on familiar CTA woes: the ongoing triple-whammy of sub-par cleanliness, safety, and reliability; the predicted $730 million Chicagoland transit system budget shortfall by 2026; and a punishing funding structure that keeps the system hobbled. But it was the audience Q & A where on-the-ground frustrations of riders—and CTA workers in particular—gave a pulse to the urgency of the crisis at hand.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog USA.

Monday I wrote about the Chicago Transportation Authority hosting a meeting tomorrow morning to introduce disadvantaged business enterprises and small businesses to the three CTA-identified bidders for the Far South Side's Red Line Extension Project as potential subcontractors. After I asked a colleague to review the article before publication, he had some interesting questions.