Debbie Liu

Barring a subsidy from an outside organization, the route could be killed this fall due to low ridership.

As Chinatown residents work to maintain the neighborhood's identity and keep it affordable for longtime residents, they also want to improve transportation access.

Thanks to years of lobbying by South Side community members and organizations, the CTA’s #31 31st Street bus will ride again for the first time in almost two decades next Tuesday, albeit on a trial basis. The big question is, with a limited route, frequency, and service hours planned, will the line garner enough ridership to convince the agency to make the service permanent?

[Last year the Chicago Reader launched a weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership allows Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We syndicate a portion of the column after it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the streets on Thursdays.]

Last month I reported on the Chicago Park District’s plans to expand a parking lot at the southwest corner of 31st and Lake Shore Drive, a short walk from 31st Street Beach and Harbor. The proposal would enlarge the lot, currently 60,000 square feet of asphalt, by 85,000 feet -- that’s about 1.5 football fields worth of existing green space that would be replaced by blacktop.