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A Look at NYC’s Select Bus Service, and Why Ashland BRT Will Be Better
Last Sunday, on a trip to New York, I rode the M15 Select Bus Service route on First Avenue in Manhattan. SBS incorporates components of bus rapid transit but it doesn't rise to the level of real BRT, according to standards laid out by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Riding the M15 from 14th Street to 67th Street, I could tell that SBS is a significant improvement over typical bus service, but I also got a sense of its limitations. This revealed a lot about Chicago's BRT plans, and the reasoning behind the proposed design for BRT on Ashland Avenue. Simply put, Ashland BRT will avoid the shortcomings of SBS.
December 11, 2013
Controlling Trains Will Save Lives, Reducing Car Speeds Will Save Many More
After the fatal Metro-North commuter rail crash in the Bronx this weekend, yesterday the Chicago Tribune published an informative article about Positive Train Control for Metra. PTC is a technology that can slow or stop a train when the engineer is incapable of operating it, not paying attention, or when something else goes wrong.
December 4, 2013
It’s Time for CDOT to Stop Calling Buffered Bike Lanes “Protected”
After Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor, he released a transition report that called for creating 100 miles of protected bike lanes by May 2015. It was an ambitious and admirable goal. The report defined protected lanes as "separated from traveling cars and sit[ting] between the sidewalk and a row of parked cars that shield cyclists from street traffic." In December, the Department of Transportation changed the definition of protected bike lane to include what the rest of the country calls a buffered bike lane.
August 8, 2013
Report: Chicago Falling Behind Peer Cities on Transit-Oriented Growth
Transit-oriented development in the Chicago region is falling behind cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, according to a report released in May by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a local "think and do tank." In "Transit-Oriented Development in the Chicago Region" [PDF], CNT warns that Chicago's failure to focus housing and jobs near transit is creating additional financial burdens for households who have no choice but to shoulder the costs of car ownership.
July 9, 2013
New York’s Experience Shows Ashland Bus Lanes Won’t Cause Carmaggedon
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).
May 23, 2013