apps

CTA staffers argued that the ultimate solution to the ghost run problem is getting service back up to full strength again.

This week Bike Lane Uprising released a smartphone app, available for Android and iOS devices, for filing bikeway blockage reports.

The app combines all the routes from CDOT's Chicago Bike Map and the Chicago Reader's Mellow Chicago Bike Map for on-the-go smartphone navigation.

If you appreciate the convenience of using ride-share occasionally, but don't like what the technology is doing to the taxi industry, the Curb app offers an alternative to Uber and Lyft.

Local computer programmer Steve Luker is creating to create a new app to identify and eliminate all the major bumps, cracks, and missing curb ramps on sidewalks, as well as missing sidewalks, in the Chicago area. While these flaws are an annoyance for everyone, they can be significant barriers for people with disabilities. This issue is personal for Luker, who has cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair to get around. He lives in the northwest suburbs and takes transit to various offices around the region, so sidewalk issues make it more difficult for him to access job sites.

The City of Chicago wants to set up a centralized, online taxi dispatching system that would accept anyone's request for a cab. This new tool could let the local taxi industry catch up to the user-responsiveness of increasingly popular taxi alternatives like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. Those companies' easy-to-use apps, and sometimes lower fares, are tempting riders out of conventional taxicabs

Here’s the latest in wishful thinking about distracted driving. A new application called “Drivemode” wants to make it easier for you to use all your mobile apps while you’re behind the wheel — but don’t worry it’s safe! Because, at least theoretically, you don’t actually have to look at your phone.

The number of transportation choices available to Chicagoans continues to grow, particularly as shared options like car-sharing and Divvy bikes become ever more popular. Yet these options can turn the simple act of planning a trip across town into a complicated exercise that requires weighing multiple factors, like cost, convenience, time, and ever-changing availability. RideScout, a new app that was recently updated to include Chicago, presents numerous transportation choices all within a single smartphone screen. After factoring in your origin, destination, and the time of day, RideScout compares choices like walking, bicycling, Divvy bike-sharing, Metra, CTA trains and buses, taxis, Zipcar, and SideCar shared rides.