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Espresso yourself: Metra’s Café Car trial run continues this fall
This fall, Metra has been testing its prototype Café Car on most of its highest-ridership rail lines and stations. It has coffee shop-inspired counters, tables, and seating. During the first week, September 30 to October 6, it ran on the Rock Island line. This week, the Café Car ran from Tuesday to today on the BNSF Line between Union Station and Aurora. It's the busiest route, and some runs stop in Riverside, the historic west-suburban village where I live. See next week's schedule for the pilot at the bottom of this post.
October 16, 2025
The Bloomingdale Trail vs. the High Line: A tale of two greenways
By Alex Baum, Regional Director – ERA-co
October 16, 2025
Live from Springfield: Environmental advocates urge lawmakers to “fix and fund public transportation” at Climate Action Day at the Capitol
On Tuesday, I hopped on my bicycle and high-tailed it from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois, the state capital, in an effort to sample my first-ever horseshoe sandwich. In case you're not familiar with that delicacy, it's an open-faced sandwich composed of thick-sliced toast, a protein (often hamburger patties, but there are several other options), cheese sauce, and french fries. It's an indigenous dish of Flower City and, as far as I know, it's no longer available in the Windy City.
October 15, 2025
Kam was replaced by Ram, but High Speed Rail Alliance’s “Averting the Fiscal Cliff” talk was still thought-provoking
Last Friday's transit talk, "Averting the Cliff: The Road to Regional & High-Speed Rail" was supposed to feature State Rep. Kam Buckner, co-leader of the House's Public Transit Working Group, but he couldn't make it. So the question of who would take his place was a bit of a cliffhanger: Who would fill Buckner's Nikes?
October 15, 2025
Active Trans’ recent Suburban Advocacy Connect session discussed ways to gather support for funding transit
The Active Transportation Alliance and Ride Illinois held a Suburban Advocacy Connect session over Zoom on Wednesday, October 8th. Besides the updates on ATA and Ride Illinois, this latest meeting also included a market research presentation about gathering and expanding support for transit.
October 14, 2025
As we anxiously await the fall veto session, Rep. Mary Beth Canty offers a pep talk. She thinks a transit reform/funding bill will pass.
"I am a patient boyI wait, I wait, I wait, I wait"
October 10, 2025
Dozens rally for Broadway Upzoning, which would make it easier to build housing, including many affordable units, near Red Line
Judging from expensive-looking billboards prominently placed on Broadway in Uptown and Edgewater, you might assume these neighborhoods are dead-set against Broadway Upzoning.
October 10, 2025
Beverly resident Anne Alt asked Rep. Mary Gill (D-35th) to help pass a transit reform/funding bill during veto session. Here’s Gill’s response.
As Streetsblog Chicago readers are well aware, this is a pivotal month for regional sustainable transportation. State legislators will return to Springfield for a fall veto session, taking place on October 14-16 and October 28-30. While things are tense right now in Illinois, hopefully the lawmakers won't be distracted from passing a transit funding/reform bill, to permanently save Chicagoland from projected 40 percent transit service cuts and 3,000 layoffs.
October 9, 2025
At CTA board meeting, an update on bus lane cams, and commiseration over Trump’s blockade of RLE grant: “This is not normal.”
Today's monthly CTA board meeting took place as Illinois lawmakers are getting ready to return to Springfield for the fall veto session, scheduled for October 14-16 and October 28-30. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they will finally pass a transit funding/reform bill, permanently saving our region from previously projected 40 percent service cuts and 3,000 layoffs.
October 8, 2025
Eyes on the Street: The basically completed Granville Greenway has likely reduced car traffic, increased sustainable transportation use
Yesterday, I visited the site where a northbound minivan driver fatally struck Juslene Akeza, 4, as she was crossing Talman Avenue (2630 W.) westbound on the north side of Granville Avenue (6200 W.) in West Ridge. That tragedy happened along the recently installed Granville Avenue Neighborhood Greenway. But as I noted in my writeup of the crash, the new east-west street design was basically irrelevant to the motorist's failure to hit the brakes in time, the reason why police cited them for failure to reduce speed.
October 7, 2025
