What the new transit bill is missing: A reason to ride mass transit
There was a new mass transit bill passed in Springfield isa helpful start as Richard Day explains in We haven’t saved transit yet. But I think the real reason mass transit–specifcally mass rail transportation–is not used more and at levels it is in New York City, London and Berlin is because Chicago has a farm-to-market network that forces users to travel downtown for any lateral trip across the city:
You simply cannot get quickly anywhere via a train but to and from downtown here in Chicago. Evanston to OHare? Gotta go downtown first. Lincoln Park to Wicker Park? Go downtown first. In London, Paris or Berlin? There are concentric rings where you can take a subway across town with heading into the center. Chicago has had an incredible amount of legacy systems that were simply tossed out without any thought of reuse. We once had the largest cable car network in the world. It was modified for faster street cars that were junked. When walking up Kingsbury and North Ave with a development group transforming an industrial area into needed housing, we stepped over railroad tracks that are being ripped out. Why? Why not create a new light rail line to combat the traffic congestion? Our imagination needs to broaden and see what is possible. Chicago needs a circle line and ways to get around quickly during rush hour. New rail mass transit that creates new opportunities here in Chicago and improves our quality of life. Yes, have a high speed bike lane but we need less rails to trails and more new rail and new bike lanes that foster a new paradigm in getting around.
#superbikeway #chicagocycling #specialized #specializedchicago
There was a new mass transit bill passed in Springfield isa helpful start as Richard Day explains in We haven’t saved transit yet. But I think the real reason mass transit–specifcally mass rail transportation–is not used more and at levels it is in New York City, London and Berlin is because Chicago has a farm-to-market network that forces users to travel downtown for any lateral trip across the city:
You simply cannot get quickly anywhere via a train but to and from downtown here in Chicago. Evanston to OHare? Gotta go downtown first. Lincoln Park to Wicker Park? Go downtown first. In London, Paris or Berlin? There are concentric rings where you can take a subway across town with heading into the center. Chicago has had an incredible amount of legacy systems that were simply tossed out without any thought of reuse. We once had the largest cable car network in the world. It was modified for faster street cars that were junked. When walking up Kingsbury and North Ave with a development group transforming an industrial area into needed housing, we stepped over railroad tracks that are being ripped out. Why? Why not create a new light rail line to combat the traffic congestion? Our imagination needs to broaden and see what is possible. Chicago needs a circle line and ways to get around quickly during rush hour. New rail mass transit that creates new opportunities here in Chicago and improves our quality of life. Yes, have a high speed bike lane but we need less rails to trails and more new rail and new bike lanes that foster a new paradigm in getting around.
#superbikeway #chicagocycling #specialized #specializedchicago