In Chicago, some find public transit fares linked to school attendance. #youthpass

wbez : "Barbara Radner is director of DePaul University’s Center for Urban Education. She believes the reduced fare system comes with its own set of challenges. She – and a lot of school staff, parents and kids WBEZ talked to – said what kids have to go through just to get a reduced pass is way too convoluted."

Compare with Taiwan, where kids and elderly have reduced fares, but everyone uses the same card and the fares are sorted electronically. Kids go to school on public transit in great numbers.

Greenest thing a household can do -- #publictransit

huffington post : "Switching to public transportation offers an immediate alternative for individuals seeking to reduce their energy use and carbon footprints. This action far exceeds the benefits of other household energy saving activities."

Chicago Best Restaurants withing 10 min walk of CTA L Stop

Chicago Best Restaurants - CTA L Stop: "we're making that a whole hell of a lot easier by mapping out one restaurant for every single stop -- so you can eat right after getting off the L -- that's both 1) awesome, and 2) less than a 10min walk away."

BP spills oil into Lake Michigan

Occupy Chicago: "Monday afternoon, an estimated 1,638 gallons of oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, leaked into Lake Michigan, poisoning the source of drinking water for 7 million people in and around Chicago.

The BP Refinery on the lake’s shore has admitted responsibility, but has yet to take action to ensure the safety of our drinking water and ecosystem."

Cities competing for who has the best #publictransit

A Rider's Take on Expanding Indy's Public-Transit System | IM Feature Articles: "Indy’s public-transit system currently falls well short of those in the cities it competes with for jobs and visitors. With 346 buses, Cincinnati has nearly double the public transportation we do. And Minneapolis and Charlotte have already invested heavily in light rail. Indy budgets approximately $65 million annually for a fleet of just 155 buses, which isn’t nearly enough for a city our size. Sure, implementing Indy Connect’s plan would be expensive up front: The group estimates it would take $1.3 billion to build the first phase in Marion and Hamilton counties over a decade, requiring a .3 percent increase in those counties’ income tax. But the yearly operating cost of $136 million would be comparable to the amount our competition already spends."

Chicago study exposes impact of 'transit racism"

Amalgamated Transit Union: "According to the working paper, African-Americans spend more time than any other group getting to and from low-wage jobs in Chicago. The increased time adds up to 70 minutes per week for men, and 80 minutes per week for women. That’s 80 minutes that can’t be spent on overtime, running errands, or supervising homework according to the report’s author Virginia Parks. “And you’ve got to pay for 80 minutes of extra daycare,” she says, on top of higher transit and automobile costs."

Central Indiana catering to #carfree lifestyle

New attitudes have fed Indianapolis area's apartment boom: ""(People) our age really enjoy being able to walk to places, bike to places and to save money on gas and car insurance and car bills," she said. "We enjoy being Downtown, because there are so many things to do and places to see.""

Poor are caught in sprawl trap

How we can make our cities greener and more equal at the same time | Grist: "Sprawl has trapped many Americans in poverty: Unable to afford a car, maintenance, insurance, and gasoline, they cannot get from their suburban homes to jobs. For many middle-class Americans, their car is an albatross, forcing them to spend too much money just getting to work everyday. That’s one reason that a recent Harvard study found that transit-rich coastal cities such as New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston ranked among the country’s top 10 metro areas for economic mobility, while auto-dependent Southern cities such as Atlanta and Jacksonville ranked near the bottom."

Mag Mile among 20 Chicago streets recommended for ‘car-free’ zones

Chicago Sun-Times: "A civic group is proposing that parts of 20 Chicago streets, including the city’s vaunted Magnificent Mile, be turned into “car-free” zones — which could mean complete bans on all trafffic to the more modest dead-ending of a street into a plaza."

ACTION ALERT: Support Faster, More Reliable Transit on Ashland Avenue and Across Chicago!

Active Transportation Alliance : "Momentum is building for bringing world-class transit to Ashland Avenue and other parts of Chicago, but your help is needed to keep it going.

You may have heard that CTA recently announced exciting plans to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Ashland Ave. between 95th St. and Irving Park Rd. Imagine if taking transit on Ashland meant 21st Century service that’s faster, more reliable, and more like taking the train. The first phase of this project will run from 31st St. to Cortland St."



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