Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about BRT

Debating Bus Rapid Transit With the Ashland-Western Coalition

By Lindsay Bayley | Sep 4, 2013 | 76 Comments

Guest contributor Lindsay Bayley lives with her husband in the Noble Square neighborhood, steps from the future Ashland bus rapid transit corridor, and is a year-round bicycle commuter. She works as a senior planner with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), specializing in parking policy. The views expressed here do not represent CMAP’s stance […]

Don’t Be Fooled: Ashland-Western Coalition Is Against “Modern” Bus Service

By John Greenfield | Aug 7, 2013 | 90 Comments

While the CTA goes forward with the environmental analysis and conceptual engineering phase of designing the first 5.4-mile stretch of bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue, the NIMBY crowd is also on the move. On August 1, the Gazette community newspaper ran their second tone-deaf anti-BRT editorial in two months. This time, they lumped the Ashland […]

How Can Chicagoans Be Convinced Lane Removal for BRT Is A Good Idea?

By John Greenfield | Jun 7, 2013 | 54 Comments

Last week GOOD Chicago, a progressive think tank, hosted a panel discussion at the Chicago Cultural Center about the city’s plans for bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue between 95th and Irving Park. The project will start with an initial segment running from the Orange Line at 31st to Metra’s Clybourn stop at Cortland. The […]

The Long, Hot Summer of Transportation Initiatives

By John Greenfield | May 28, 2013 | 21 Comments

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the street in print on Wednesday evenings.] Trust me, my friends, this is the year sustainable transportation blows up in Chicago. Say what you want about Rahm Emanuel’s record on education, crime and privatization. But since he took office […]

New York’s Experience Shows Ashland Bus Lanes Won’t Cause Carmaggedon

By Steven Vance | May 23, 2013 | 12 Comments

Converting a travel lane in each direction on Ashland Avenue to center-running bus lanes, greatly improving transit performance on the corridor, won’t lead to Chicago’s own version of Carmageddon (which actually never materialized). Data from New York City’s Select Bus Service on First and Second Avenues – where two travel lanes gave way to bus […]

Can Transportation Options Energize Englewood?

By John Greenfield | Apr 22, 2013 | 15 Comments

[This article also appears in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s weekly column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] Most Chicagoans associate Englewood with poverty and crime, but local advocates and activists see it as a neighborhood with untapped potential, with excellent access to public transportation being one of the keys to its […]

CTA Officials Share Details of the Plan for Gold-Standard BRT on Ashland

By John Greenfield | Apr 19, 2013 | 50 Comments

It was exciting to wake up to the news that the CTA and Chicago Department of Transportation are planning to build center-running bus rapid transit with travel lane removals, since this is the most efficient and pedestrian-friendly of the four layouts they considered. Both Ashland and Western were possibilities for the route. They have decided […]

Chicago to Pursue Center-Running Bus Rapid Transit on Ashland Avenue

By Ben Fried | Apr 19, 2013 | 29 Comments

After a year of study and outreach, today Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Transit Authority, and the Chicago Department of Transportation announced plans for center-running Bus Rapid Transit on Ashland Avenue. Once implemented, the project could set a national precedent for high-quality BRT, improving transit speeds as much as 80 percent during rush hour, according […]

Taking the Guesswork Out of Rating BRT: An Interview With Walter Hook

By John Greenfield | Mar 12, 2013 | 21 Comments

There’s a new global benchmark for rating bus rapid transit projects. Today the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released the BRT Standard 2013, which lays out the requirements for bus routes to qualify as BRT and scores 50 systems in 35 cities around the world as basic, bronze, silver, or gold based on various […]

Today, BRT Routes. Tomorrow, Rail Lines?

By Steven Vance | Feb 26, 2013 | 3 Comments

Let’s step back from the discussion about how Chicago is implementing rapid bus routes and take a long view of how transit in Chicago might transform if these first BRT routes are successful. First, how will we know Chicago’s BRT lines are a success? The best measurement is how many new riders are attracted. After bus enhancements […]

Will CDOT and CTA Launch “True BRT” on the Central Loop Corridor?

By John Greenfield | Feb 26, 2013 | 14 Comments

Last week the CTA and Chicago Department of Transportation unveiled the proposed lane configuration for the Central Loop East-West Transit Corridor. According to the city’s press release, the improvements will include dedicated bus lanes on Canal, Washington, Madison and Clinton, delineated with colored pavement and additional signs. The system, which is slated to open for […]

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