BRT

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 to go with 16 miles of Ashland from Irving Park to 95th, starting with an initial segment running from the Orange Line at 31st to Metra’s Clybourn station at Cortland. You can read the basics of the proposal in Ben Fried’s earlier post about the announcement.

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 to today's announcement.

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 criteria. The idea, which ITDP has been refining since a beta release in 2011, is to provide a concrete definition of what BRT is, and a reference for politicians, planners, and advocates who are interested in creating new BRT routes, as well as to rate the quality of existing systems.

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.

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 service next year, would serve some 1,700 buses and would include level boarding via “island” bus platforms, plus queue jumps at key intersections.

Chicago just got a step closer to first-class bus rapid transit. Today the CTA and the Chicago Department of Transportation released proposed lane configurations for the Central Loop East-West Transit Corridor, a downtown circulator route connecting Union Station with Navy Pier, as well as renderings for a new transit center next to the train station. The corridor would include bus-priority lanes on two miles of streets: Canal, Washington, Madison and Clinton. This downtown BRT service is slated to launch next year.

After Streetsblog Chicago readers voiced concerns that eliminating local bus stops on bus rapid transit streets would hurt senior citizens and people with disabilities, I contacted CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis, who confirmed that at least part, if not all, of current service would be preserved. "CTA would retain some local service, which provides immediate access for CTA customers, while adding the new BRT service," she wrote.

Andersonville has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainable transportation and public space initiatives. The neighborhood’s main drag on Clark Street is one of Chicago’s most vibrant pedestrian retail districts, and its chamber of commerce and aldermen have been strong supporters of bike facilities. The business strip recently became home to one of the city’s first People Spots, which replaced parking spaces with a miniature park, as well as two on-street bike racks.

This morning at Freedman Seating, a Humboldt Park-based company that will be making seats for hundreds of new CTA buses, Mayor Rahm Emanuel argued that better public transportation can give a shot in the arm to the local economy. The 120-year-old company will be fabricating some 11,100 seats for the transit agency’s $148 million contract to buy at least 300 new vehicles from the Nova Bus company. The CTA says the bus purchase will create up to 100 new local jobs.