There we go.
Chicago city council rules of conduct for public meetings
2023 to 2027 pursuant to the Chicago city council Rules of
Order and procedure rule 49. The sergeant-at-arms sets
forth the following rules of conduct to be followed during
the public comment period and the duration of all committee
and City Council meetings profane vulgar.
Listening abusive or disruptive language is not permitted
demeaning discriminatory or harassing behavior and speech
directed towards others is not permitted disruptive
behavior, including disruptive or disrespectful conduct
during others presentations is not permitted banners Liars
or signage are not permitted backpacks large bags and sharp
objects are not permitted clear bags not tinted in color
that do not exceed 12 by 12 by 6 in will be permitted in
our subject to search health food and beverages including
in metal canisters are not permitted cell phones must be
placed on silent prior to entering the meeting room
individuals must remain seated public comment speakers are
permitted to stand only when providing public comment small
handheld devices may be used only while seated and the user
must refrain from interfering with the view or hearing of
other individuals individuals or groups failing to adhere
to these rules will be asked to see such disrupt
Contact and failure to comply will result in there being
subject to removal from the meeting by the
sergeant-at-arms.
City of Chicago city council rules of conduct for public
meetings 2023 to 2027 pursuant to the Chicago city council
Rules of Order and procedure rule 49. The sergeant-at-arms
sets forth the following rules of conduct to be followed
during the public comment period and the duration of all
committee and City Council meetings profane vulgar
threatening abusive or disruptive language is not permitted
demeaning discriminatory or harassing behavior and speech
directed towards others is not permitted disruptive
behavior, including disruptive or disrespectful conduct
hearing others presentations is not permitted banners
flyers or signage are not permitted backpacks large bags
and sharp objects are not permitted clear bags not tinted
in color that do not exceed 12 by 12 by 6 in will be
permitted in our subject to search health food and
beverages including in metal canisters are not permitted.
cell phones must be placed on silent prior to entering the
meeting room individuals must remain seated public comment
speakers are permitted to stand only when providing public
comment small handheld devices may be used only while
seated and the user must refrain from interfering with the
view or hearing of other individuals individuals or groups
failing to adhere to these rules will be asked to see such
disruptive conduct and failure to comply will result in
there being subject to removal from the meeting by the
sergeant-at-arms.
City of Chicago city council rules of conduct for public
meetings 2023 to 2027 pursuant to the Chicago city council
Rules of Order and procedure rule 49. The sergeant-at-arms
sets forth the following rules of conduct to be followed
during the public comment period and the duration of all
committee and City Council meetings profane vulgar
threatening abusive or disruptive language is not permitted
the meaning discriminatory or harassing behavior and speech
directed towards others is not permitted disruptive
behavior, including disruptive or disrespectful.
conducting others presentations is not permitted banners
flyers or signage are not permitted backpacks large bags
and sharp objects are not permitted clear bags not tinted
in color that do not exceed 12 by 12 by 6 inches will be
permitted in our subject to search all food and beverages
including in metal canisters are not permitted cell phones
must be placed on silent prior to entering the meeting room
individuals must remain seated public comments speakers are
permitted to stand only when providing public comment small
handheld devices may be used only while seated and the user
must refrain from interfering with the view or hearing of
other individuals individuals or groups failing to adhere
to these rules will be asked to see such disruptive conduct
and failure to comply will result in there being subject to
removal from the meeting by the sergeant-at-arms.
Turn me up in the headphones.
uh ladies and well, we will give all of our colleagues a
moment to take their seats and to come back from the enter
chamber, but we will
start ourselves off and thank everyone for their patience
out in the gallery the meeting on the and also those who
showed up right on time if not early salutes.
The meeting of the committee on pedestrian and traffic
safety is now called to order for July 29th, 2024. We will
now have a roll call to establish quorum.
chairman laspata present Vice chair Cruise
with us online
uh ottoman Hopkins
ottoman Robinson
up there up in the sky.
ottoman jansy almond Chico
Alderman Moore
momentarily absent but we'll be rejoining.
Alderman Curtis
vice mayor Bernett
ottoman Irvin is President virtually.
Good to have you sir.
ottoman Knutson present
Alderman Lawson
almond Martin
and all women may not happen worth.
Oh, yes and ottoman Quinn. Thank you so much.
and
we just can't give half credit for attendance.
Yes.
Oh, oh, well, we always need more but um, we'll take
ottoman more for the moment.
That would kill with my daughter.
I meanwhile, do we have any non-members present? We do not.
We will momentarily have their we are ottoman more great to
have you sir. There are 8 members present. We have a quorum
committee members Cruise Robinson and Irvin have requested
to participate in the meeting remotely pursuant to rule 59.
Can I get a motion to allow orders Robinson cruise and
Irvin to participate remotely?
Oh, we'll give that 1 to you ottoman more so moves all
those in favor. Say I
all those opposed say nay and the opinion of the chair the
eyes have it orders Robinson cruise and erler prison here
today by video conference and we'll be counted accordingly
for the roll call at this time. We will begin the public
comment period out of respect for everybody's time. Each
speaker is limited to 3 minutes.
Uh starting up we have George, Blakemore.
Good morning.
You gave me this resolution. I was looking at your agenda.
and
These people have been coming down here for the same
resolution 2 or 3 times.
Before I know that face here, but the same problem.
Dealing with the bus and the rail and public transportation
that same group.
They say if you do the same thing over and over that's
insanity.
They come down here the same face.
anyway
walking while black driving while black and uh
It could be a death.
trap
Public transportation compared to New York, I think maybe
Chicago is second. They have a beautiful public
transportation. Now something is gonna go on here in
August. What's gonna go on the Democratic Convention?
Connected to a public transportation.
And it's going to be a nightmare.
A nightmare, but dealing with public transportation.
So you all have asked for the head of CK to be cut off
removed and to know a veil.
This is government at its worst.
at its worst
you the no Quorum you don't start on time and you don't
listen to these citizens these whites.
That's known as you don't listen to the white civil rights
supposed to be right, you know, you're not gonna listen to
the Black 1 the same little group.
Same little group. I've seen them come down here.
Trying to make a difference, but you're talking to people
that are Democrats the Democratic machine.
And you keep voting them in you didn't vote them in that's
true for slate it.
They they slate them and sometime they have 2 Democrats on
the same slate and you keep doing the same thing over
sometime. I I wonder if you white folks are as smart as as
people. Say you are.
You must be like these black folks. Keep a voting for these
folks this corrupt machine.
That's how you can have a Revolution by getting rid of all
of them the Black 1.
The white ones the Hispanic and the 1 as we this is like a
communist system. They don't listen to you. Listen young
man. Get up here. Y'all signed up and you gonna speak very
Eloquent, but it goes in 1 year and out the UPS.
So you got more sensitive than Mr. Blakemore you think?
Mr. Blakemore has gotten off of that machine man.
Thank you, Mr. Blakemore.
Art, next speaker is Miss Jessica Jackson.
Yes, Miss Jackson.
I'm sorry.
so, um
in the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Junior
and I think he uh said this right before his assassination.
he said
we got some difficult days ahead of us.
And he's absolutely right. He was right then and it's
right. Now the city of Chicago has some very difficult days
ahead of us.
the government here
It can't last it can't function this the bottom is going to
fall out of this because this way too corrupt. So what you
all are going to do for the DNC is pretty much like how
people do when they have company that come from out of town
that they haven't seen in a long time. And so they go and
you buy up a whole lot of stuff to try to fix your house up
and because you want to show off
For your friends that come to town.
That's what's happening with the DNC. Chicago is getting
ready to spend a lot of money to show off.
To the country and to the world that the DNC is here. So
y'all gonna suddenly get all these illegal immigrants off
the street all of the sudden all these women with these
kids that's hanging all over the city begging everywhere
you go. They all a sudden gonna get off the street all of
the sudden all this money that y'all spent on this illegal
immigration all of the sudden it's going to be okay and as
soon as the companies go back home.
The city gonna be just like you are in your personal life
stuck with a bunch of bills.
that you can't pay
that you got to sit there and scratch your head about and
your friends that you showed off for ain't going to pick up
none of that slack. That's what's gonna happen with Chicago
after the DNC leaves here. It's gonna be a whole bunch of
money that can't be accounted for bills that can't be paid
the city gonna be scratching their head going to be taking
more and more money from the taxpayers going to raise up
this tax that tax this tax that tax trying to men just
clearly broken situation.
It's a disgrace and the bottom is going to fall out because
it's built on a lie everything about it is built on a lie
and a lie never stands it never stands.
you'll see only thing we got to do is sit back and let
black Chicago keep doing what black Chicago doing because
y'all tried your best to keep us out the media. You tried
your best to keep us off this mic, but it was too late. The
impact is already been made. It's all over YouTube It's All
Over social media about black Chicago and how we turning
red and how we going against this immigration. It's too
late. It's way too late.
Thank you very much. Uh noting non-member Alderman Cardona
here present for Quorum good, uh, well present.
Nonetheless. Very good to have you sir. Our next speaker is
Dominic Amato.
Thank you guys. Uh, hi. My name is Dominic Amato, and I'm
the transportation co-chair for the S Club of the Chicago
chapter. Uh, I have lived in Chicago for over 10 years and
I chose to continue living here because of the ability to
live car free with almost no sacrifices needed to make that
happen.
a large part of that is due to the access and breadth of
Transit coverage this system provides that is not equally
distributed to the out of the city the wealth of access in
Lincoln Park is not the same as it was when I lived in
humbled or Douglas Park.
Well the access and breadth of the coverage that the c c c
provides me to stay I will say I have felt the services
provided have taken the noticeable downturn in reliability
since then.
When I moved back for grad school in 2013, the CT was
transitioning to a TAP card system and was bouncing about
the Bus and Train tracking service.
Things were looking promising and the CTA was modernizing
to the benefit of riders. Well, the tap card system has
made things easier and faster. The tracker reliability has
become anything but
Ghostbusters have entered the Lexicon as scheduled buses
never appeared and I'll do frequently you are met with a
sign that's Services temporarily down or not available.
The CTA has lost the trust of its Riders. It's 1 thing to
be laid. It's an entirely different experience when a bus
says it's coming only to never appear.
Reliability has always been an issue with the CTA. The
first time I moved here in 20 2008, uh, the bus launching
was an off criticism of how the system will operated.
16 years later and largely. Nothing has changed. I
frequently take the 22 and 36 buses to work and they are
supposed to operate in at 12 minute intervals.
I think the number of times they have I've had to wait for
20 minutes or more minutes only for 2 to 3 buses to show up
at the same time. Uh outnumber is the times they show up as
you would expect running 5 buses is an hour means nothing
if they all show up at the same time.
well, some of this ultimately falls on The Operators and
the training they receive we are not helping them to
succeed bus bunching largely occurs because of congestion
points along the route that make what would have been
properly spaced buses into anything but
the solutions aren't novel and we can easily implement the
changes to make the system work better for everyone Sigma
priority should be the norm not the exception on every
Major Street here in Chicago.
Bus stop bump outs so that operators don't have to sit and
wait for cars to politely let them in it should also be the
norm.
Dedicated bus lanes that are actually enforced or even
materially separated from normal traffic Lanes. We aren't
trailblazing new ideas. Here. We are playing catch-up.
We need to stop subsidizing cars at the expense of
everything else.
The cta's own report on the bus Network starts Uber and
lifters are rough competitors for ridership. If that is the
case then clearly the cost of those Services is too low to
allow them to not only compete but also increase congestion
and degrade the reliability of services in the city.
um
If we want to improve equality to access them we need to
make things a Level Playing Field. We are asking our
transit system to not only compete but to do so at a
disadvantage to a privileged group who for too long. It had
the whims of city planners at their behest. It's time for
us to make a city that works for everyone and that starts
with access to Reliable transit for everyone. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Romeito.
Our next speaker is Jim Merrill.
Good morning, everyone, uh chairman laspada members of The
Pedestrian Traffic Safety Committee. Thank you so much for
this opportunity, uh on behalf of active Transportation
alliances thousands of members across the city of Chicago.
Uh, we just want to thank you for this opportunity to voice
our support for bus priority streets. Um, but we're not
here just to talk about infrastructure and operations.
We're here to talk about people.
Chicago is Working Families young people older adults and
people with disabilities all depend on our buses to
navigate their lives for years. Bus riders have seen the
average speed of Chicago's buses decline as a result of
traffic congestion clogging our streets. This is more than
just an inconvenience.
It means loss time at home with family.
It means arriving late to work or school. It means working
people being forced to use more expensive Transportation
options because the bus is not reliable enough. It means
people with disabilities or older adults literally being
stranded in their homes.
Our bus riders deserve better our people deserve better.
We are calling for the creation of a dedicated network of
bus priority streets to provide our residents with a faster
and more reliable way to move about their lives.
Such a network would have a transformative impact on our
city addressing some of the most deeply embedded inequities
in our transportation Network.
Bus priority streets, especially when executed correctly
can bring Rapid Transit style service to corners of the
city that have never seen.
That have never been served by our rail network.
The Chicago Department of Transportation and Chicago
Transit Authority have a plan better streets for buses that
gives us everything. We need to make this transformation a
reality.
The better streets for buses plan is a toolbox. Now we must
do the hard work of deciding how and where we will deploy
these tools to best serve the people of Chicago and we are
calling on you members of city council to be bold in your
leadership and to embrace this opportunity to make big
changes.
We need dedicated lanes for our buses to get out of
traffic. We need Transit signal priority to keep them
moving prepaid and level boarding at train style stations
to give Riders an easier and more comfortable and dignified
experience.
These elements take into together are the gold standard of
bus priority streets around the world our long-suffering
bus riders deserve nothing less than the very best. We can
offer better streets for buses gives us the tools to do
just that but it's up to us to do the work.
We have to be willing to be bold recently C Dot and I dot
presented plans to rebuild North Lake Shore, uh drive
without dedicated lanes for Transit a move that has been
criticized by our own Regional Transit Authority and many
elected officials. We're making the same mistake again.
This is not the kind of big thinking we need in this
moment. We can and will do better and we look forward to
working with members of the city council and bringing bus
priority streets towards Chicago. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Merrill.
Our next speaker is Michael podgers.
Hi, good morning. Uh, thank you chair laspada for having us
here today and hosting this hearing and all the members of
the city council who are joining us, um first and behalf of
better Street Chicago, I would like to thank you all for
having this hearing about bus improvements and
infrastructure. Um, this is obviously a extremely critical
move that the city needs to be making. Um, unfortunately it
is 1 that is probably coming many to many years far too
late. Um, I think as we have established over the last few
years, uh, the city of Chicago's transit system and frankly
the transit system across the entire region has been uh
grossly under invested in over the past several decades.
Um,
Many more decades than I've been alive. Uh
And well, these hearings are a great moment to discuss the
improvements that we need to be making um, and we should
have been making for a long time. Now, there are still
many, uh glaring gaps in our investments and uh and our
blind spots as Jim mentioned a moment before this past week
the Illinois and the Chicago Department of Transportation
announced their preferred alternative for the
Reconstruction of North toukabou, Lakeshore Drive. Also,
the project is also known as redefine the drive. Um,
unfortunately the project team, um, which was presented by
C dot at the task force meetings, uh opted to go with an
option known as the essential which is also effectively the
status quo or rebuilding Lakeshore Drive as a highway in
this case with no Transit priority whatsoever. Um, it is
probably notable that along that quarter over 70,000 people
ride the buses along the north lake front every day and the
bus system on the south lake front serves over 40,000
Riders a day. Um, which is over 100,000 Riders.
Uh on an average day that is um higher than uh all but 3
CTA lines and all of the Metro lines. Um, this is a system
that really demands Rapid Transit investment and we should
be looking even higher than just buses for that quarter. We
should really be thinking about things like right Light
Rail through running service, um and investments in the
parallel services such as the Metra and the CTA.
Services Chicago is a city that could absolutely handle a
much more robust transit system. Not only to serve existing
Riders, but to serve the hundreds of thousands of people
who want to be riding the system every day Who currently
don't because of services are lacking. Um, we did a survey
last year that found 50% of a car owners would like to give
up their cars, uh, 81% of Chicago and to have reported that
they support increasing investment in transit according to
I do surveys, um, according to Dot and sedarat surveys for
redefine the drive 60% of drivers in the corridors would
choose Transit if the alternative for better. Um, we are at
the point that we need to make really drastic radical
changes and well hearings like this are a good start. We
need the city council to provide the support to C Dot and
the CTA to make sure that these things can happen. So, uh
something to think about as we're getting close to budget
season. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Michael. Our next speaker is Lena
Guerrero Reynolds.
Hello. Thank you so much for holding this hearing my name is
Lena Goro Reynolds, and I'm a Communications and policy
Advocate with the environmental law and policy Center. I'm
here to speak about 2 kinds of bus infrastructure the city
bus and the Intercity bus with which are both critical for
the future of our city.
Transportation is the leading source of carbon emissions
and many other air pollutants in Illinois led by personal
passenger vehicles public transportation is the solution
but especially the bus by moving many more people instead
of 1 or 2 in cars a bus creates far less emissions per
passenger and is more spacious and a desk dense Urban
environment about half of all transit trips in Chicago land
are served by CTA buses Alone 5 times more trips than all
of Metro and connecting many more neighborhoods beyond the
L.
Every time someone takes a bus instead of a car there's far
less air pollution less traffic and healthier communities,
but if buses get stuck in traffic, they're slow and
unreliable, which pushes people to drive and makes more
traffic. So we need a better bus experience to break the
Vicious Cycle as we've heard from other colleagues here bus
Rapid Transit can set the city free so the city bus free
with dedicated lanes and accessible stations. Chicago
should know all this already. We've been talking about it
for years, but we've yet to see a real brt route come to
life much less an interconnected Network.
So let's look at some Midwest Neighbors after Cleveland,
Ohio launched its Healthline brt system in 2008. EWR ship
jumped 47% in 1 year brand Rapids, Michigan launched the
Silverline brt in 2014. It decreased travel times from 47
to 27 minutes and increased ridership by 47 by 40%
Um many other cities across the Midwest have bus rapid
transit systems, and we're falling behind our peers and
failing our fellow Chicagoans if we neglect to do so
Next the interest city bus which has some of the same
benefits to get people out of cars and reduce
Transportation emissions, but here are existing bus
infrastructure is at risk our Greyhound station sold to a
private developer and we could expect a condo high-rise
proposed for the land when the lease ends. This October
Greyhound is 1 of several interesting city bus companies
that have used the station with a peak of 82 daily buses
carrying over 500,000 people to farm more destinations than
Amtrak.
Even if you think we could find a better station or better
solution the reality is there's no viable alternative. We
can secure by October. There's not enough space at Union
Station and if the current 1 shutters dozens of bus runs
could cease to operate passengers would be confused and
lost in the rain and snow out on street corners Chicago
must purchase or lease the station to at least have time to
study the best solution. These buses serve folks with lower
incomes less access to cars and higher unemployment than
average.
People with disabilities students getting to school women
seeking reproductive Health Care LGBT homeless Youth and
domestic violence survivors are just a few of the thousands
who depend on this station now and don't deserve to be
kicked to the curb.
So, please set the city bus free from traffic and protect
the Intercity bus as a Lifeline for our most vulnerable
Travelers. Thank you.
Thank you very much Elena. I love you when public comment
is followed by Applause. This is a really good meeting. Um,
our next speaker is Stephanie Blumenthal.
Good morning. My name is Stephanie Blumenthal and I'm
commenting on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Council
as their climate programs policy manager.
The Illinois Environmental Council represents over 150
organizations including active Transportation Alliance. You
just heard from rad, Illinois and others focused on
Transportation policy in Chicago.
Increasing the frequency efficiency and reliability of
Chicago's bus system has the potential to positively impact
the lives of Chicagoans on a daily basis ensuring that
everyone has access to Transportation not just for their
commuting needs but to use to reach educational and
recreational opportunities as well as medical appointments
is essential to the well-being of residents throughout our
city.
Increasing the number of bus rapid transit or brt routes is
a critical next step to expanding Transit access while
expanding the number of brt corridors. I hope to see
members of this committee consider the importance of
prioritizing the use of electric buses instead of typical
diesel-powered buses public transportation is an important
method to control congestion on our roads.
And yep to control congestion on our roads and using
electric buses instead of typical diesel powered buses can
decrease harmful emissions that impact Community residents
particularly those who walk or ride their bikes nearby?
If we want to encourage Chicagoans to engage in all forms
of Transit including active modes such as biking walking or
scooting. We need our streets to ensure their health and
safety seeing bikers inhale diesel emissions while waiting
at a light behind a truck is unsafe and unhealthy for all
involved.
By ensuring the new brt routes are supplied with electric
buses. We are moving our city forward in a meaningful Way
by reducing congestion increasing Transit access and
decreasing emissions often in areas with disproportionately
unhealthy air quality to begin with
according to the respiratory Health Association in their
2022 Dirty Dozen report 12 of Illinois's 102 counties
ranked in the top 9% of all us counties at risk of the
health societal and economic impacts caused by diesel fine
particle air pollution.
3 counties in Illinois had diesel engine particulate matter
2.5 or PM 2.5, uh averages above the state average this
includes Cook County with 28% higher PM 2.5 levels in the
state average diesel pollution containing PM 2.5 causes a
wide swath of respiratory health issues these include uh
has respiratory health issues, which can include premature
death issues ranging from asthma to heart attacks can be
attributed to pm2.5 exposure reducing. The number of diesel
emitting vehicles in our communities is an important step
to take to ensure that Chicago ends can be in their
communities and stay healthy.
Expanding. The number of brt routes in Chicago will
decrease congestion increase Transit Mobility and with
electric buses can improve air quality around the city.
Thank you.
Thank you very much Stephanie. Our next speaker is Heather
and Heather. I feel like I may not say your last name,
right? I think it's Heather Heather dubby. Okay, awesome.
Thank you.
Um, hi, I'm Heather Debbie. This is my first city council
meeting some like super excited. Um, I'm a CPS Middle
School teacher. So it's also nice to have like a really
friendly audience.
Um, you can imagine. Um, I am here representing people who
are upset about the roads. I'm a pedestrian. So I walk
everywhere. Um, and I really believe this um saying that
cities are for people not cars and I think we've all been
socialized right? We've all grown up with car Centric
infrastructure where we believe we could we should be
allowed to get from point A to point B in our own personal
vehicle as fast as we possibly can.
Uh, and that's very very dangerous if you use the roads and
you're not in a car, so as someone who walks everywhere
including I walk my children to our neighborhood school.
Um, I am here advocating to improve the physical
infrastructure of streets, especially those around
neighborhood schools. So last year, um for my birthday my
husband and my kids their third graders got me a foam
brick. So if you've ever seen Instagram, you've seen people
be able to safely cross streets and cars will stop for you
if you hold up a brick. Um, so they got this for me because
I do commute by foot everywhere and I am too scared to use
it because I'm also a woman walking alone, right so you
don't want to make the wrong person angry with the foam
brick last week. I was walking to pick my kids up from camp
at their neighborhood School building which is an old Urban
Park. So very safe residential neighborhood. We're very
lucky. I had a backpack full of library books because we
were going to watch the library right after and I'm
crossing the street and if you've ever crossed a crosswalk,
especially in Chicago, you know people don't wait for you
to get across the street.
So I was 1/3 of the way across and somebody went and I was
like, I'm still in the crosswalk and she said walk faster
and luckily. I'm a grown up. My husband was right there and
I was like, I'm not going to fight with somebody. Um, I
just kept walking.
I live on a residential road. I was going to our
neighborhood school. We need raised crosswalks especially
around neighborhood schools. This is so so so important.
Um, I want my children to be independent. I want them to be
able to walk to school by themselves and people are like
you love in Chicago. It's so scary. I'm like, yeah cars are
so scary. I want my kids to walk to school by themselves.
So this is something that I've learned about and read about
in order to get cars to slow down. We actually have to make
physical infrastructure changes if you ever sit outside of
your house on your porch, I'm sure you see people driving
down the street like this.
That's gotten worse and worse and worse. So those of us who
are really advocating for a safe streets. I second
everything everyone else said about the the bus lanes. It's
amazing. I'm begging you to be bold and put people first.
Uh, so these are for people not Cars. Thank you.
Heather thank you so much. You should go into our back
catalog. We had a really great hearing on the complete
Street strategy and what that means for our neighborhoods
you you would really dig it. Um next up. We have Joe
schwieterman.
Good morning, committee members, uh staff members of the
city. Uh, I am here, uh to
just try to raise awareness of the potential mess the city
may have in a few months, uh with the uh inner city bus
situation. They give you a little context when Flex
Mobility bought Greyhound, uh about 3 years ago,
they didn't purchase the terminals those were held by the
previous owner who spun off, uh, several dozen terminals to
a private developer.
Uh that 3-year period has sort of been a grace period to
find a solution.
Uh for cities to uh, come up with a plan to live, uh with a
different terminal or to acquire the terminal and so forth.
um
It's created a lot of really messy situations around the
country. Philadelphia is a good example where they lost the
station very similar to ours, uh for other reasons.
And the uh, the industry bus companies have had to move
twice, uh in both cases the neighborhood rose up. There's
negative publicity. There's people on the streets with
their bags and the rain, uh, now they're trying to move to
a parking garage and no surprise the neighborhood is rising
up and saying, you know over our dead body we go here.
We're going to face that here. Uh Amtrak has made clear that
Union Station. Uh, the Great Hall is is designed and for
the tenants Metro and Amtrak and is not uh equipped for
inner city bus Travelers, uh, the curb is very busy there,
uh other spots around the city have potential but we're
disappointed that the city hasn't systematically looked at
the options and presented those options and say we can't
save the terminal. So we're proposing this or we think we
can um, and the clock's ticking. We think Greyhound and
Flex Bus and the and the 3 other cars will have to move out
probably in mid september and I know the city council
mostly recesses during August, so
It's uh, it's a very tough situation. Uh, the other thing
I'll say is that others? We're a great Global City and
other cities around the country, New York, Boston,
Washington Atlanta Denver Los Angeles. They have all come
up with strategies to uh, serve inner city bus that has
public involvement.
Uh, so we fear that Chicago could be uh a force to react
and start a soap opera of of
Solutions that don't work well with systematic effort to uh
to savor extend the lease for the terminal. Thank you.
Thank you, Joe.
Our next speaker is James Anderson.
My name is James middle initial R last name Anderson, and
I'm speaking today to make this committee aware of the
impending problem of the Greyhound bus terminal located at
630 West Harrison Street, which will be out of business at
some point in October.
Now Mr. Chairman you and the committee members May wonder
why this is your concern after all Greyhound is a private
business and their parent company chose to make a few quick
dollars by selling their real estate holdings. And if they
want to do Less business in Chicago, so be it we can't save
every private company from its own unwise or short-sighted
decisions.
However, this body does care about people in Chicago and
has taken action for instance to reduce food deserts.
Perhaps yellow banana is not an example of success, but the
city did provide that company with 25 million to remodel
and reopen grocery stores in neighborhoods with no
alternatives.
With the bus terminal we need a short-term solution. So bus
service here is not interrupted in curtailed and a
long-term solution of which there are many options for a
bus terminal under the ownership of the city the state or a
Public Authority. It is a revenue producer just like the
airports.
Public ownership would serve more than the 500 passengers a
year that Greyhound serves on Harrison Street.
Because other companies that are not part of the Greyhound
system would be able to use it these 500,000 people are
either our Chicago residents about whom we should care and
about whose Transportation needs and options we should care
or they are visitors bringing Commerce into our city. They
should not have to stand outside in a city where it's
winter 10 months out of the year.
Mr. Chairman you and the committee should be aware that a
letter in support of resolving. This Transportation tragedy
was submitted to the mayor signed by 24 organizations
representing advocates for transportation people with
disabilities the environment neighborhood groups and the
Chicago land Chamber of Commerce the time for doing nothing
and hoping this resolves itself is over.
Unfortunately, I've heard Rumblings that some people are not
interested in having a bus terminal in the West Loop
because of the terminals supposed downscale clientele. I
don't see any evidence that such Rumblings are coming from
inside this room. But if any of the honourable members of
this committee or the council hear this in the community,
they've got to realize it's nonsense. It is true. There are
desperate people riding Intercity buses people desperate to
escape domestic violence people from anti-abortion States
coming here for desperately scarce reproductive health
care, and there are ordinary people who are traveling to
and from places that train doesn't go
this bus station does not have a problem with vagrancy
begging solicitation or any of the ills that literature and
Motion Pictures have ascribed to bus stations.
You know what people are doing at the bus station.
They're waiting for the bus.
Thank you very much. James. Our next speaker is Keanu F
goer.
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee. My name is Fabio
gitler and I'm a Transit Advocate with commuters take
action. Uh, first of all many thanks to uh, Alderman
laspata and the committee for organizing this hearing. I'm
really glad we're talking about Transit more and more.
We like to think of our city as a world-class City. We have
a world-class downtown world-class companies world-class
universities world-class hospitals worldclass airports and
worldclass people and culture. However, I think it would be
lying to ourselves if he said that we have world-class
Transit and let's be honest with ourselves and work
together to make it better.
Cities around the world are working hard to raise
car-centric mistakes of the past miles and miles of urban
highways are being torn out in favor of infrastructure that
puts people first.
But these cities actually still managed to provide great
Transportation access to their people. How do they do it?
Let's look at the Paris Olympics right now where half the
city center is closed for cars, but people still get around
and how does achieved by having a great Transit System?
Improving Transit also improves safety the likelihood of a
fatality when traveling by bus or train is at least 20
times smaller than when traveling by car.
We are the only developed country in the world that are
traffic fatalities are on the rise, and I believe that the
correlation to our pervasive car dependence is surely not
coincidental.
And that's why I'm excited to be talking with our expanding
our Transit and buses today. Our bus network is old and
tired, but I see better streets for us in the future bus
Rapid Transit should be a question of when and not if I'm
dreaming of frequent buses with Prepaid boarding white
doors and little boarding for seamless accessibility. I
want buses that can zoom past traffic and get priority and
intersections. I see buses that make transferring easy and
dependable.
Instead of it being an afterthought. The CTA has had a bit
of a rough patch lately, but let's work together and turn
things around. I want a bright future for our world-class
City and to make that happen. We need to improve our
Transit. Thank you.
Thank you very much Cano. Our next speaker is Denny via
Lobos.
Good morning. My name is Danny Vio Lobos from Venom Park as
someone from the southwest side who has relied on the bus
to get here. I can attest that buses are a critical life
line for residents looking to move around in our car
dependent margins of the city yet. This Lifeline is on
Teeters. I asked CTA C Dot and members of the committee to
please consider not just improvements to existing bus
infrastructure. But look at making sure Chicago buses the
most comfortable convenient and quickest way of getting
around between neighborhoods.
I hope to assist in this present and long-term effort in
helping our buses compete and win for ridership.
For starters the city has to do more on expanding bus
shelters. I depend on the 62 Archer 47th and 54 B Cicero
buses to bring me home and into the city.
I could count up to 2 or 3 Max the number of bus shelters
along my roots to say it is unpleasant and uncomfortable
standing along Cicero and Archer waiting for the bus would
be an understatement.
uncomfortable unsafe and inadequate stations not only
deters ridership, but it is Injustice to our elderly and
most vulnerable protection from the elements, especially on
rainy days. Like today is the basis for a safe and
enjoyable bus experience yet. That is the quality of life
our community on the margins does not have
After we have taken care of bus shelters bus Rapid Transit
presents an incredible short-term opportunity to get Riders
to their destinations quickly and on schedule.
I welcome the development of an Ashlan and Western brt
line, which is a significant step forward. I encourage you
not to stop there. We need a brt line along kedzi Pulaski
Cicero and Archer. I only asked at bus schedules run
frequently enough to make taking the bus more frequent and
it more efficient convenient and worthwhile than driving
but also brt can only work if it is enforced.
And drivers stay in their Lanes buses should be equipped
with cameras to find vehicles that get in the way of moving
buses.
Further while brt is a considerable late forward. We have
to think bigger for a growing Chicago. We need to bring a
real light rail network to the city that works along brt
and serving even higher passenger volumes bringing
additional Transit options, like light rail is the only way
we are going to make the CTA irresistible. We're getting
around with the right infrastructure. Like I have provided
taking the bus can become just as common as driving the
better we connect our neighborhoods. The faster our city
can grow doing buses right is only part of building an
economically competitive and globally recognized CTA for
people and business. Thank you for your attention to these
important matters.
Thank you very much, Danny. Our next speaker is Francesca.
Larray Waldman.
Hello, it's wonderful to be here in front of all of you
today. Um, we actually submitted public comment on behalf
of flicks North America the uh parent company for Flex Bus
and Greyhound on Friday. So I will leave with that. But um
just want to stress again the importance of infrastructure
that is safe comfortable accessible and affordable and
connected in moving towards a sustainable Transportation
future, uh the need for an Intercity bus station.
That is well connected to public transportation safely
accessible for pedestrians and passengers in a prime
example of the type of infrastructure. The people of
Chicago deserve is urgent, um, and we are eager to continue
the conversation to find a truly G great solution for the
city of Chicago. Thank you.
Thank you very much Franchesca. Our next speaker is W of
Robert Schultz III.
Good morning. Good morning. My name is W Robert Schultz III
and I represent the active Transportation Alliance.
and the transportation Equity Network
and for most of my life, I've been fighting for black brown
broke and disabled communities and I'm here to say that I
moved to Chicago 34 years ago because it had a good
transportation system. I didn't want to drive anymore. What
Chicago needs now is not just a good Transportation, but a
robust transportation. In fact, we need to live by the
Mantra the good is not enough. We need to transform the
system to be more robust and I've been advocating for that
recently. I want to thank some people in the room Jen Molly
Dave for making some uh progress, but I'd like to see the
type of progress with our B.
Process that we've seen with our bike system. It's been very
transformative in my lifetime, uh here in Chicago. I've
been biking like a madman because we have uh, protected
bike Lanes. I want to be back on buses like a bad band
because we have bus Rapid Transit, uh, the thing I hear
from the community is reliability speed length of travel
time. All of those can be improved with uh bus
infrastructure. Um, I want to also thank you. Uh, I heard
some great statements by uh by ottoman, uh, ottoman Cardona
and ottoman Cruise who's uh online this weekend, uh, shout
out to them for their great work and advocacy and uh, I
just want to say that uh over the last year. I've been in
DC I've had some virtual meetings with our federal
legislators. I met with the green caucus I talked to uh,
Senator Vinz committee last week about the need to improve
public transportation and um, we're working actively with
uh Transportation Act, uh Equity Network to really support
bus Rapid Transit before I end my comments. I want to Ping
2 things 1 more bus shelters and 2 we need a Greyhound
station.
Thank you.
Thank you so much Mr. Schultz. Our next speaker is Kyle
Lucas.
Good morning, uh, thank you to the chair and to ctnc do for
being here today. And uh being with us to talk about the
bus. My name is Kyle Lucas. Um, I'm the executive director
of better Street Chicago and I am so excited to talk about
the bus today. Uh for too long CTA buses have been
deprioritized and left in the dust in our city and that is
just a a damn shame apologize for my language, but it
is because our buses are the lifeblood of our city. Um, you
know, I fell in love with Chicago when I first visited by
taking a CTA rail line, but it was in the bus system where
I really found that I had freedom and I could go anywhere
in the city. Um, so I'm really excited that we're having
this conversation to finally prioritize the bus make it a
robust system and get Chicagoans from point A to point B,
uh to do their everyday, uh things that
They need to do in their lives. I am really concerned though
that there is still a constant struggle for us to get the
city on board with basic improvements to Transit. Um, this
isn't a criticism of anyone who is here presenting today
because many of them are partners that we have worked with
to ensure that transportation is prior that Transit is
prioritized but with Chicago and Halsted Advocates had to
fight for Transit priority right now. We are fighting for
Transit priority across our lakefront and members of the
Chicago Department of Transportation are telling us that we
can't prioritize Transit. They're lying to our faces and
saying that nobody wants to take transit more on the
lakefront. It flies in the faces of their own survey data,
it flies in the face of our survey data.
We're also you know having to fight them to ensure that we
actually Implement bus bus priority across the city and I'm
I'm concerned that if we don't get the entire Chicago
Department of Transportation on board on the same page and
not just leaving it up to 1 Project team that actually does
good work that we're going to have a really difficult time
seeing through the vision of ensuring everyone has access.
So I think that that's something that the city council
really needs to push for. Uh, we also want to make sure
that buses don't get stuck in bus lanes because people are
using them illegally and so we want to make sure that we
have the opportunity to um hold people accountable for
that.
Behavior there's a vision zero legislative package that
enables us to do that through citizen reporting and I urge
city council to support that. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Kyle. Our final in-person speaker is
uh Courtney cops.
I am super passionate about Transportation so much so that
I schedule time off of work to be here today.
Thousands of Chicagoans don't have that privilege. There
are thousands of Chicagoans stuck on a bus right now
sitting in traffic and the solutions are readily available
and have been available for years and I am immensely
frustrated that we are just now having conversations.
About funding and doing the improvements that we should
have done decades ago. I've lived in Chicago for 11 years.
And 4 11 years. I have hated writing the bus because I know
it can and it should be better.
The average bus speed in Chicago is under 10 miles per
hour.
and I
I am just gobsmacked that that is not.
Like embarrassing to city council and I'm wondering how
often people in city council ride the bus.
I have an idea because if they did the bus would not be as
crappy as it is.
And bus riders deserve better. The CTA is bleeding
ridership because the bus is a crappy experience and we
need CTA and C dot to work together.
to fix the issue
the technology exists all that we lack is the political
courage to put bus riders first.
and I'm hoping
you know at least 5 years from now.
2 years from now we can say Okay, Chicago has 50 miles of
bus only Lanes. We have 500 upgraded traffic signals that
give the bus priority like something that we can actually
be proud of and we can say like bus riders.
We've saved bus riders this many hours.
You know of sitting in traffic, we've given people their
time back.
Because I can't tell you how much time I've wasted over the
years sitting on a bus sitting at a red light waiting for
everybody to get on the bus all this all that time wasted.
can't tell you how many trips I've decided not to take
because I don't want to spend a freaking hour and a half.
Just trying to travel from 1 end of the city to another
when that same trip would take me.
30 minutes in a car but it'll take you an hour and a half
on CTA. We got to get it together. Please fund it. Let's
get it done. Let's get it done well, and let's get it done
fast.
Thank you.
Thank you, Miss. Cobbs. And our final speaker with us
virtually is Mr. Peter says Nika Peter.
Hello.
First of all, thanks to Heather at Old Irving Park for
highlighting the need for safer crosswalks and that kind of
ties into what I want to talk about. I'm back for the
fourth month to comment about a matter of pedestrian and
traffic safety the proliferation of illegal unwarranted
stop signs on residential street intersections. There are
National rules to follow shown in the manual on uniform
traffic control devices the mutcd.
See that or their consultant ignores or misinterprets the
mutcd.
There are state law to follow section 11-30 authority to
designate stop and yield intersections.
seed do or the consultant ignores or misinterprets 11-30
there is I dot guidance to follow shown in the Bureau of
local roads and streets manual chapter 39-28 C multi-way.
stop signs C dot or their consultant ignores or
misinterprets the Bureau of local roads manual.
C dot is required to perform a proper warrant prior to
installing stop signs at any intersection.
C dot or their consultant ignores or misrepresents the
requirements to perform a proper warrant illegally letting
Alders via direct introduction violate the mutcd violate
state law and ignore the ID DOT requirements about the
installation of stop signs on residential street
intersections.
Instead of just registering public comments to this
committee. I've left 17 messages for the C Dot Public
Information officer Miss shraider since May 10th. None have
been returned.
I've left 15 messages for C Dots Miss samadhi since May 24
nonnewaug.
Is clearly acting illegally irresponsible and
unprofessionally?
I don't know if it's the desire to please Alders that
guides the C do Behavior, but I do know that the continuing
efforts to install illegal and unwarranted stop signs on
residential streets intersections violates the public trust
and diminishes pedestrian and traffic safety. Thank you.
Thank you very much Peter. Um also noting non-member, uh
order Andre Vasquez with us great to have you sir the team
50 games under 500. I think right now impressive.
the this concludes the public
this concludes the public comment period the committee also
received 16 written comments, which were distributed to
Alders and will be recorded in the monthly rule 45 report.
Today we have 1 item before the committee, which is a
subject matter hearing on bus infrastructure improvements
and their impact on mobility and fabric safety. No votes
will be taken before we get started. Why why are we having
this conversation? Besides all of the purposes that those
who gave public comment have made abundantly clear. I will
say perfectly and I I think we have enough copies of the
better streets for buses flyer for those in the audience as
well. But just on the 17r mentioned by the CTA, there are
251,000 average weekday Riders on these better streets for
buses corridors. Uh, I'm really proud and grateful that 2
of those Riders are myself and my daughter Lucia. We really
love taking the 74 Fulton to the Peggy note Park Museum to
the Lincoln Park Zoo. We love taking the Western bus to
Wells park really great spaces. I think it was Stephanie
who talked about not just getting to
work but those educational and recreational opportunities
that is how we get to live our lives and I'm really glad
that she loves being on the bus. I'm really glad that that
is a an essential part of her life. And I'm really glad
that we have a lot more positive Buzz experiences than
negative. But also those there are those times that you
tell your daughter that the bus is going to be there at 3,
and there you are.
Return and you're telling her that the bus is still right on
its way like that that can be a frustration and I remember
a time this was about a month ago that we were at diversity
and Logan.
In the rain and I'm feeding her strawberries to distract
her from the fact that the bus isn't here yet.
I am bought in on CTA buses. I'm not going anywhere but
those are the kinds of experiences for those who maybe are
more iffy on what CTA buses can be. Uh, it shapes their
experience and the shapes whether they're going to be
returned bus customers.
And the wonderful thing is as we've pointed out. We have
this magnificent toolbox for shaping bus experiences from
the time you leave the door to the time you're dropped off
of your destination shaping what that experience looks like
and as some have commented on this is not a new piece of
work in Chicago, but we're catalyzing great work. That's
already happening. I think it was the first year that I was
in office. We established, um bus priority zones on Western
Avenue a couple years after the that the initiation of bus
only Lanes on Chicago. We are building on infrastructure
that has already proven successful and now in powerful
powerful new ways.
To speak on that to present, uh, we have vague creation of
Murthy managing Deputy Commissioner and Dave Smith complete
streets director from C Dot and Molly poppy Chief planning
and Innovation officer and Kara Bader VP of strategy and
Innovation from the CTA. We have a lot of information that
we're going to go over. I would encourage colleagues to
feel like you can jump in with your questions comments
Curiosities as we go along and we will try to take care to
pause for questions as well.
that
Said uh, we also have in the Box Jen Henry and Jason meter
from the CTA.
Speakers if you would be sure to state your name and title
for the record and let's roll.
Good morning. I am Victor from earthy managing Deputy
Commissioner with the Chicago Department of Transportation.
Uh, thank you chairman labada. Thank you members of
committee Council those of the public who have been engaged
with this issue today and throughout for having us here for
this presentation and conversation.
Um our conversation today really does build off some of
those previous subject matter hearings. We had earlier this
year at this committee on um, safe and comfortable
multimodal networks on um, uh complete streets investment
framework on um,
the complete streets guidelines because the same design
thinking approach necessary to achieve those, uh,
objectives and those topics we talked about and the same
investment framework necessary for those really is Germaine
and relevant to the topic. We're going to talk to today.
And when it comes to design approach, uh, it echoes a lot
of what we heard, uh today in the public comment what the
chairman just spoke about which is the foundation for our
streets for all modalities is safety and comfort because
the journey on the transit system begins when you leave
your house getting to the bus stopper train stop and then
making it safely to your destination and then doing that
same trip on the way back in the evening.
Uh at the same time we need vibrant.
streets streets that are full of residential development
Economic Development to create those destinations and
vibrant places that people want to travel to and so a lot
of our work that we do, uh with streetscapes with building
the city and enabling the city to grow supports the transit
oriented City. We are talking about by creating that
density of destinations so you can run efficient service.
And we ultimately designed streets to see doth. There's a
large part of what our department does and our talented
individuals who work there and certainly what we've talked
about of this committee around Clarity organized streets
predictable movement of all the modalities and inefficient
use of space is a foundational principle to building a
Transit supportive City.
Similarly on the investment side the goal is to get as many
improvements out as quickly as possible and start
delivering those benefits to as many Chicagoans as
possible. And so the investment strategy framework for
Transit, which we'll hear about today really Builds on the
investment framework for all the modalities. And so that
means sustained and systematic investment through all the C
dot Capital programs getting those tools which we we know
how to build to all the 10,000 bus stops across the city,
which is again that Foundation tools that can apply to all
corners of the city all Wards. It means scaling and
filling, uh, like the recently completed extension of bus
lanes on Chicago Avenue from Western to brand and
Sacramento filling in the Gap at Chicago Hallstead so that
those proven Solutions in those quarters that have tools
are strengthening those and adding to what's already
working and trying to get that work out faster.
and finally, it also is reconstructing and holistically
reimagining corridors to be Transit oriented main streets
to sustain both lifeblood of mobility and lifeblood of
community as we're doing for example in the 10th Ward with
South South Commercial Avenue or on the west side with West
Chicago Avenue or South Ashland Avenue and trying to build
uh, these Transit toolbox elements into all the major Ceda
Capital programs so that we have a holistic design that
really reflects the mobility Vitality safety and
accessibility that we want to achieve as a city
pick up.
All right. Sorry about that. Um, so without further Ado I
will pass it to our complete streets director Dave Smith,
uh, and our colleagues from CTA to uh, go through the
remainder of the slide deck. Thank you.
Good morning, everybody. Uh, my name is David Smith with
the Chicago Department of Transportation, uh, very happy to
be here and um, you know want to start out with really
echoing a lot of what we heard in the public comment, uh
segment of today a Transit focused city is a people focused
City and the way that we interact with it now our uh
streets our sidewalks and our public spaces has a Major
Impact both at the individual scale of how we get our kids
to daycare how we get to work. How do we get to the
Friends? Our friend's house the park? Uh, but it also has a
major impact on a much larger set of CommunityWide and
Citywide quality of life goals, so,
Issues that are really a top of mind for most families and
people within the city the kitchen table issues Economic
Development affordability access to education and
employment.
public and environmental health Public Safety Traffic
Safety all of these very important issues that are top of
Mind of everybody have an inherent aspect of mobility and
transportation in the ability to have options that are
efficient safe and comfortable for getting around and
exploring our city. And so when we talk about the framework
of uh, Transit Investments,
Yeah, all right, huh.
uh, so when we are talking about, uh, Transportation
infrastructure and Investments and particularly around
Transit, uh, we're really need to be focusing in on uh, 2
large contexts 1 how do Transit Investments fit within our
larger multimodal strategies so that people have as many
options that are safe efficient and comfortable for getting
wherever they need to go. Uh, and then secondly most
importantly is the experience and the perspective of the
person who's riding Transit, uh, and the user perspective
and so um, when we take that approach, we really have a
holistic approach of improving public transit from every
step of the way. Uh,
Chairman laspata mentioned that the experience starts when
you step out of your house, you leave your front door, and
it ends when you get to your final destination, so we've
really uh created this strategy around 3 main components of
that Transit experience first, uh, getting to the bus. So
everything that we're doing around pedestrian safety
expanding our cycling Network traffic calming, uh, ensuring
that people can uh, simply walk from their starting point
to get to the bus stop is critically important and a a
really fundamental approach for making Chicago a Transit
focused City.
When we talk about waiting for the bus looking at bus stops
and really making sure that we're prioritizing the bus at
those bus stops by uh, implementing bus boarding islands
like you see here in the photo. We can eliminate conflicts
with other users and really prioritize and give more space
to the person who's riding the bus to make it a more
enjoyable experience and then riding the bus coming down to
Street design looking at intersections and corridors where
we're giving priority to Transit through things like
dedicated space, uh and traffic signal improvements.
and so as you can see by this map, we are making these
Investments, uh across the entire city, uh, this, uh, map
shows and highlights a combination of uh, existing and
planned Corridor improvements.
um it highlights these uh, kind of these pink heat map areas
are where we've really focused in the last couple of years
years and improving the accessibility of bus stops making
sure that uh, everybody can access the bus stop and it can
really be functional for everybody.
uh, and then highlighting, uh outlined in blue here a
number of corridors that we'll talk more about uh in the
presentation but corridors where we're studying, uh, and
moving forward with a variety of um, Street, uh,
improvements intersections corridors, uh, things like that.
So we're really working, uh, all across the city and we
want to use this hearing as an opportunity to talk about
the important Investments that we need to make for today
tomorrow, uh, and immediately, uh, but also talk about Big
Ideas as we look forward, uh into the future.
This map will continue to grow and evolve as we move
forward in making Investments. Uh, there's a lot of work to
do but we look forward to partnering with the council with
the public Cross City agencies to get the work done.
Good morning. I'm Molly poppy. I'm the chief planning and
Innovation officer at CTA. Uh, I just want to quickly talk
about who our bus riders and why we're focused on the bus
and a little bit about how the better streets robust and
the infrastructure interplays with the other work that's
happening at CTA around Network design and things like
that.
First and foremost our bus system, uh is about writers and
over 95% of Chicagoans live within a half mile of a bus
stop.
On the rail side.
30% of Chicagoans live within a half mile of about of a
rail station. So when you think about how you prioritize
and where our Riders are coming from our writers are coming
from every corner of the city for bus, uh, another
important statistic is 22% of all of the trips on Transit,
uh in in Chicago involve a transfer to bus so people may be
starting on rail transferring to bus or starting on bus and
transferring to rail and so bus really is that integral, uh
piece that connects our city connects our writers.
Um something that I think Alder lpat will appreciate and
others that something my team told me early on is over 350
million passenger miles are ridden every year on CTA 350
million that is longer than a trip to Mars and back.
So as you think about what our system is how big it is how
many people use it? It is a huge integral piece of the city
of Chicago, um another piece that I want to point out of
who's writing 71% of bus riders, uh are primarily people of
color versus 52% of customers on rail. Uh, there's also uh,
Tends to be a lower income. Uh, so median income for
customers who primarily ride bus is between 31,000 and
40,000 compared to customers who primarily ride rail their
median income is between 75,000 and 100,000.
So as we think about who's riding and the primary goals of
of better streets for bus, it's about establishing that
Citywide framework to guide how CTA and C dot utilize the
infrastructure and better streets for bus really come is
part of the what I would call 4 pronged approach, uh to
improving bus. So the butter streets or bus is the
infrastructure plan. It's how do uh CTA and C do work
together to make sure that the streets work for Boston for
bus riders. Additionally. We have a lot of conversations
about service which we heard uh from commenters today,
which is the network. How do we think about the network and
how does the network ensure that it serves uh serves
customers and there is not gaps in the network and that's
what we talked about. Bus Vision, which you may have heard,
uh us talk about as well or heard seen the stories the bus
vision is really the sister to better streets for bus bus
vision is about the network design, uh, and better streets
for buses about the infrastructure. Uh, Additionally the
other approaches to bus that we need to think about is
customer.
experience we heard a lot about uh bus shelters and benches
and how do we make sure that that is a a good customer
experience, um around the bus and then lastly, uh part of
improving the bus service is about technology. How do you
make sure that you can leverage the technology that's out
there and leverage that to ensure uh a good experience for
writers.
Hey Molly. Yeah, uh before we move on I'm gonna model the
productive Interruption. Yeah.
You go back to that previous slide.
Could you talk a little bit more about the map that we see
on the right hand side and what that tells us about how bus
service has recovered? Yeah. So what this is really showing
is um density of ridership sort of all over the city and
it's overlaid with where you see, uh, the better streets
robust Corridor there in in black. Um, and so actually
Alderman the spot if you let me jump to the next slide, I'm
going to you you uh, helped to trigger, uh, this sort of
conversation around ridership and who are our core writers
and where we're seeing that recovery, so,
Um, what I would note is bus ridership is recovered a lot
better than rail. Um, we have seen about uh, a little over
70% of bus riders have come back to the system. It's
actually 95% of pre-pandemic level levels, um on the
weekends. So as we think about who's riding at the bus
riders are really coming back by by comparison rail is
about 50 a little over 50% of preco ridership. Um, and so
We also think about adding service. That's also a critical
part of how we look to continue to drive more ridership.
So, um the chart up there shows, uh, year-over-year
ridership changes. Um, the First Column there is those are
routes that we have not increased service on and the
ridership growth, uh to date is about 9% When you look at
the service, uh, there's about 48 routes that we've
improved service on that. We've added service improved
frequency that ridership growth is actually 18% So 2 times,
uh, what it is for those routes that have not seen increase
service. So as we think about how to drive ridership adding
service and speeding up the bus and having it more frequent
is really going to be critical to continuing to get get
back those those Riders. They answer your question or
really, thank you. Uh, so that's just a little bit of level
setting of who are our Riders. Um, why bus is important and
a little bit about sort of the the overall framework that
CTA is taking around bus. It's the infrastructure. It's the
network. It's the
the technology and customer experience. I'm going to turn
it over to Carrara who's going to walk through the
specifics of the better streets for bus plan.
Pader, uh vice president of strategy and Innovation at CTA.
Thanks everyone for joining today.
So the better streets for buses plan is oriented around 2
primary components first is the network of corridors
themselves. And then the toolbox of Street treatments that
represent infrastructure that could prioritize bus at
certain points on those networks. You know, why do we have
a focus on networks? Because I think as a few people I've
mentioned already today Chicago has a really great grid
system grid system already and that's inherently, uh
productive for Transit. And so choosing a network-based
approach means that we can build a predictable path for our
Riders. Um, that is both convenient that connects to other
destinations and thinks about those riders that aren't just
going to work and home but are dropping off a child picking
up groceries at the end of the day are making a necessary
visit for care, um a after work,
the better streets for buses framework thinks about not
only the network but the toolbox to um, identify the
overlap between where uh CTA is providing service and C dot
as um, the primary governor of the right of way, um can
deliver deliver treatments on the street the sidewalk the
signal that can impact the bus riding experience.
um, so looking at the network itself, uh, it includes 17
designated corridors that covers over 185 miles of Chicago
Streets. So nearly 45% of the weekday. Bus rider is riding
on 1 of these, uh, 17 Corridor and actually 65% of
residents live within a half mile of this network. So going
back to the previous slide twice as many people live within
a an adjacent distance to 1 of these corridors as they do
our rail network.
Um and in determining these corridors we engaged over 1300
riders in exercises that include detailed public comment,
um, ideating on specific intersections where they'd like to
see improvements, um detailed interviews with Community
organizations and stakeholder groups. Um, as well as um,
you know dedicated ideas that were submitted wanting to
hear you as a writer. What would make your experience
better?
Um, it's important to think about this network because at
certain segments, uh, Transit traffic is actually 30 to 40%
of total throughput of riders moving through those
intersections. And so it's really the street that is moving
people and the vast, you know outside chunk of those people
are riding on transit.
so when it comes to uh Transit infrastructure, we've
organized, uh, the the toolbox into 3 main categories,
which reflect the experience of the user. So, uh focusing
in on bus stops looking at intersections and then looking
at corridors or the street, uh to prioritize uh bus
operations,
Uh, when it comes to bus stops, we're largely talking about
accessibility improvements making sure that everybody can
use the bus. Uh, no matter uh, your ability your age, uh,
or how many people are traveling with you. Um,
So we've got a a whole series of programs. We'll highlight
uh in a little bit later, uh, in terms of accessibility
improvements across the city, um, a big part of improving
bus stops is also thinking about The Pedestrian environment
the sidewalk Crossing, uh, and making sure that people
could cross the street and get to the bus stop safely and
comfortably as possible.
with intersections, we have a a program called bus priority
zones where we're targeting complex intersections that are
resulting in uh, a more significant amount of delay for the
buses to get through those intersections, uh oftentimes.
It's at uh, really busy traffic signals. So we have a few
different, uh programs that are very exciting around, uh,
traffic signals and Technology with communication to the
buses to really prioritize Transit.
and then when when it comes to streets, uh, we're looking
at uh, and implementing continuing to uh plan for dedicated
bus lanes, uh bus boarding Islands. This has been a really
big effort, uh over the last couple of years, uh, and then
looking at bus stop location. That's something that we do,
uh on every single project working with the CTA to figure
out how can we position bus stops to really, uh,
incrementally improve, uh bus operations along a corridor.
uh, and then uh bus rapid transit or brt is really a
combination of various elements, uh of the of the toolbox
and um, you know, when you look around the country at
cities that have implemented brt, it looks uh, it it can
look very different. Uh, it's a different combination of
those elements, but fundamentally, it's uh building
stacking those types of improvements, uh on top of each
other on top of each other. Um, it largely starts with a
focus on dedicated space and then continuing to add those
uh, different toolbox elements on top of that.
I mean a couple of the components that are often talked
about in terms of brt raised platforms on board fare
collection signal prioritization and stop spacing you'll
see that all of these infrastructure components are already
are already contained and the BSB toolbox. Um, and as Molly
talked about earlier, we're investing in areas where
raising service and frequency can deliver a more
predictable and better experience for Riders. Um, so when
the conversation opens on how do we bring brt or something
like brt to Chicago the better streets for buses framework
really is the opener for that discussion and the places
where we would prioritize um, looking at the right of way
and how we could deliver a quarter long solution.
Uh the question for either Carrara or Dave you talk on the
slide about how again delivery is. Well, yeah delivery is
not necessarily A 1 size fits all model. The Purity cities
have taken a variety of approaches. I'm wondering if you
can share based off of like our review what are some of the
approaches that pure cities have taken on brt.
Well from an infrastructure standpoint, I think there's
some very good examples when you look at um cities like San
Francisco Minneapolis. Um,
And it really focuses largely on providing dedicated space
but also layering in layering in these different
components. So, uh improvements to traffic signal
technology prioritizing buses, uh at the busy
intersections, um is a really important 1, I think another
interesting model that uh, we're looking at closely is in
New York City with their Select Bus Service program, which
is a very scalable version. I think of uh, uh bus
improvements dedicate really focused on dedicated bus
space, uh on Commercial and arterial streets and that's the
program that they've really, you know, expanded, uh,
greatly over the in the last several years. Thank you.
so, um
To uh, talk about our complete streets and and multimodal
strategy. Um,
Transit Investments improvements to the bus is really uh 1
chapter in the multimodal approach. Um, we've had previous
hearings within this committee on the cycling strategy, uh,
our Traffic Safety strategy how we're delivering complete
streets improvements and the transit strategy and the
approach is really, uh, another piece of this and the
better streets for buses plan really embodies that
Uh earlier this year we presented to the committee on our
guidelines for the evaluation of complete streets Design
Elements, and at the heart of that document is outlining,
uh, an approach where we outline a variety of programs that
we have within the department. Uh, and we have a complete
streets, uh toolbox and it's really important that we're
matching the scale of the type of improvement with the
scale of the program.
And when we do that we can have a very clear sense of how
we can systematically improve Transit operations across the
city, uh and Implement infrastructure across a variety of
programs. So for example, programs and projects that we've
categorized as resurfacing, you know, we are routinely uh,
improving bus stop accessibility improved Crossings bus
stop location.
as we move up into the scale of a project, um, which we call
reconfigure where we're fundamentally redesigning the
street making changes to the the layout of the street and
how it operates. We start implementing bus priority, uh
zones bus boarding Islands, uh bus lanes Chicago Avenue
being uh, an example of this, uh, chairman had mentioned
and then our rebuild category of projects which is um
streetscapes program, um reconstruction projects where we
have a much larger ability to to add in, uh, traffic signal
Investments, uh, Vig mentioned, uh, Grand Avenue, uh, as a
recent, uh ribbon cutting which is really, um, an important
complete streets project within the city. So all of these
elements the ability to add these sort of Stack up and uh
increase as the scale of the project increases
Looking at a couple of recent projects over the last couple
years. Um, first looking at bus stop accessibility, um CTA
and C dot have partnered to install more than 2,000 tactile
signs at stops covering 16 routes across the network
primarily to Aid, um, uh riders that are blind or low
vision in identifying the specific stop location, and we
worked in partnership with cta's Ada advisory committee.
The mayor's office of persons with disabilities and other
Transit users to identify those routes that um in the pilot
stage would be most
Impactful in terms of additional wayfinding features and
we've now secured funding to scale the signage to all bus
stops in the next couple of years.
additional accessibility improvements have been made in
terms of stops where riders that need to wheel to the stop
via various mechanisms, whether it's a stroller wheelchair
other um, and at the stop, there might not be a level
service to deploy a ramp and there might be additional
barriers to accessing the bus, um working with seedat and
leveraging city funding, um, C Dots upgraded over 90 bus
stops in the last couple years and plans for a 100 more.
Um, slowly being allowing us to chip away at the
approximately 13% of stops within our Network where um, we
have an identified barrier for um, someone Wheeling towards
the stop.
And uh when it comes to bus stops and and reconfiguring the
street a program that's been very successful over the last
couple of years is our uh bus bump out and boarding Island
program, uh, We've installed over 40 of these in the last,
uh, 2 years plans and uh design plans, uh completed for
around 100 more of these for installation this year and
into next year and that number is going to keep growing
But uh, the bus boarding island is really a great piece of
infrastructure. That works well for everybody no matter how
you're getting around provides expanded space for people
waiting for the bus a lot of times, you know, you may have
a sidewalk. Um, that's very narrow. And so if you've got,
you know, multiple people waiting for a bus you can
actually have like sidewalk congestion. And so this
provides more space, um specifically for getting on and off
the bus it allows for easier ramp deployment for the CTA
bus operators the bus, uh, generally with these stops in
the travel Lane. So when it comes to uh Street or roadway
operations, we're really prioritizing Transit at these bus
stops IT eliminates the need for the bus to merge, uh over
to the curb to the bus stop and back into traffic makes
operations a lot more efficient and as a customer and as a
user, uh, it's a lot more comfortable.
It also uh doubles as a pedestrian curb extension or Refuge
space. So it's significantly improves the visibility of The
Pedestrian and and improves the safety of the roadway, uh
for everybody.
Uh to highlight, uh a good example of this, uh that we
implemented in the last year or so, uh on the 87th Street
between Damon and Vincennes. Um, you can see the photo
here, uh to the along the curb line is your parking Lane,
uh, and the bus just pulls right up to the bus. Stop
doesn't have to merge back and forth. Uh, and that that bus
boarding Island also functions as uh,
A pedestrian improvement with this project. Uh, we coupled
this within our resurfacing program. We implemented, uh, 15
or so pedestrian Refuge Islands a number of intersections
with pedestrian curb extensions, and then these inlane bus
stops.
Uh, when it comes to traffic signals, uh, there is a
program called Transit signal priority or tsp. Uh We've
implemented this at about 130 intersections across the city
1 of the upcoming projects is very exciting on Ashland
Avenue. Uh, it's going to be between serac and Irving Park.
It's a federally funded program and that uh will include,
uh, close to 50 intersections implementation of that will
start um in 2025 and basically Transit signal priority is a
way it's a communication system so that when the bus is
approaching a traffic signal and it's running behind
schedule.
It automatically communicates to uh, trigger a longer green
time for the corridor that the bus is operating.
when it comes to uh intersections as I mentioned, we have
our bus priority Zone Program, uh, really targeted at
generally traffic signals and complex intersections, but it
can also include more significant stretches of uh, the
corridor and dedicated space for the buses to operate on
Uh, we've done this, uh at various locations across the
city just to show some examples here Clark and Peterson on
the left, uh, Belmont Western 79th Street and the Dan Ryan
and uh, these can really provide uh, a necessary
Improvement at the the most complex in the slowest, uh
intersections,
Uh and dedicated space for buses or bus lanes. Uh, we've
been uh, implementing these uh, chairman mentioned, uh,
Western Avenue in Chicago Avenue. These are uh, we'll
highlight a couple of examples but on the left Chicago
Avenue, um is an example of a full-time bus lane. So it
operates as a designated space for Transit 24 hours a day.
Uh, Western Avenue is an example of a peak our bus lane. So
there are currently um, there are peak hour parking
restrictions in place. Uh, so during those busiest times of
the day that curbside space operates as a dedicated bus
lane and has really had a significant Improvement, uh in
terms of bus speeds.
And then Belmont Avenue, uh, which we implemented last year
as a very large complete streets project, uh connecting
into the Kimbell Blue Line station has a really uh
interesting set of
Uh Transit Lanes the photo here on the right is showing a
uh, dedicated Bus left turn lane. So that the westbound
Belmont bus has a dedicated space to pull into and make a
left turn into the Kimbell Blue Line Station, uh, which has
uh, you know, really had a positive impact this uh, the
Belmont project couples and layers, uh on top of each other
a number of different complete streets improvements from
bus boarding Islands to protected bike Lanes curb
extensions.
Uh Etc.
Dave could I get back to a question on Transit signal
prioritization. Yes. I I feel like I heard you share that
currently Transit signal prioritization, um is only
available if a bus is running late. Is that accurate?
Yes, have we thought about?
expanding eligibility or the purpose of Transit signal
prioritization to All Buses because it strikes me we can
prevent those but
I appreciate that. It strikes me that we can prevent buses
from becoming late to begin with if we're if we're able to
more readily expand like deploy that technology.
Yeah, Mr. Chairman, thank you for that question. So 1 of
the things right now. We are doing with uh partnership with
CTA and assistance from the federal government is piloting
a new uh, and we will talk to this in a minute. Um,
Technology format for Transit signal prioritization the the
current technology sort of requires on a lot of Hardware
hardware for the bus to say. I'm a bus. I'm here Hardware
at the signal to say I hear you you're here.
the future is um, you know, as you're familiar maybe with
your you know, my Amazon smart home Google smart home as we
all have 1 of these and it
getting the internet of things to work so that the signal
is equipped with communication CTA buses are equipped with
communication. So what we're trying to do is a proof of
concept if the signal that knows where it is in the bus
that knows where it is can talk to each other we can scale
transition signal prioritization to uh, I believe almost
500 more locations Citywide because we're trying to build
that uh communication infrastructure into our all our
signal modernization and B tsp. Ready Citywide as we
Do reconstruction projects as we do new signal projects?
And as we modernize our equipment, I appreciate it. I
didn't mean to jump here. But yeah, let's I know we're
going to be digging digging in on that. Thank you.
So looking a little bit more specifically at the bustling
projects, we've implemented and some of the key outcomes.
Um, you know, the 1 of the largest and most significant
early on is the loop link project which established
dedicated Lanes boarding platforms shelters that I've
tracking screens and Q jumps along Michigan Madison Clinton
and Canal in the loop area, um, after the implementation of
loop link travel time improved by as much as 12% during key
times of the day for Transit vehicles on those routes and
ridership growth outpaced other routes and it's important
to acknowledge that at the time that Loop link was
implemented the greater traffic speeds in the Central Area
were decreasing as we've seen congestion increase overall.
Um, we also received a lot of positive feedback. So the
customer experience is that writers felt safer on those
platforms. They felt like the waiting experience was
better. Um, and it was a key project that demonstrated that
you can prioritize bus and the bus experience without
overall systemically compromising traffic throughout the
greater downtown.
Jeffrey jump, um followed shortly after Loop link and
established rush hour and Peak Direction bus lanes as well
as Q jumps tsp, um and high quality branded stop
infrastructure, uh to the j14 route. Um, and similarly we
saw am peak times improved by as much as 8%
Western Avenue has been 1 of um, the most effective projects
in terms of speed, uh, speed improvements for bus, uh,
addressing the major pinch Point around, um, the blue line
and progression through the Logan area, uh with the Western
Avenue Lanes bus speeds improved by as much as 21% during
peak hours and then really importantly our customers
noticed that so 73% of customers said that they felt that
they had a faster experience and 2 out of 3 customer survey
said it made them more likely to take transit.
We've seen similar positive feedback on the Chicago Avenue
Lanes, um with the 2 additional segments installed in 2024
as Dave indicated that has created a nearly 4 miles of
continuous bus lanes and key Gap filler sections are in
planning phases now, um, the 66 is also notably 1 of the
highest ridership bus routes in the CTA Network. And so
we're bringing that infrastructure to places where Riders
are are benefiting from it.
um in early phases the reduced runtime from this
infrastructure Improvement was about 11% during rush hours
and similarly 80% of our customers said that they felt like
they had a faster trip and it made 3 out of 4 customers
report that they would be more more likely to ride the bus
as a result.
Okay looking at what's coming next?
Um, the first is the comprehensive bus bus quarter priority
study.
And basically what this is going to be doing is looking at
4.
4-door length, uh sections of the better streets for buses
Network and evaluating opportunities to uh, propose
comprehensive infrastructure that would prioritize bus
along these networks. So quarters that'll be included are
Western Pulaski Fullerton 55 Garfield and Cottage Grove.
Um, and we're leveraging funding from both the investing
cook grant program as well as the state of Illinois, um to
really do a robust analysis of who's moving through these
segments of the street, what will be the key trade-offs
involved and installing or recommending bus priority
infrastructure and how do we create a cohesive vision for
what? Uh Transit priority on these on this infrastructure
might look like so CTA is currently um procuring some
outside support that will help us in this study and we
anticipate kicking off in the fall, um and our plan for
probably more than a year of comprehensive Community
engagement around what these sort of intersection
treatments might look like what the anticipated impacts
might be and hearing directly from not only riders in the
community.
But writers moving through the community what they'd like to
see in terms of the next uh phase of infrastructure on
these quarters. By the way. We have a question from
Alderman Ervin online Alderman Ervin.
Uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman, uh, I'm listening to this,
uh conversation and uh, I am a bit intrigued. Um,
I understand the uh moves that c died and CTR making this
relates to the uh, pedestrian, uh bump outs. I see them
along a route to my ward as we're doing the resurfacing.
my question is you talked about the technology that would
allow for buses to move quicker through uh through traffic
is this similar to what avalanches and uh other Public
Safety vehicles have and do our Public Safety vehicles in
Chicago have that technology implemented.
Uh, good afternoon, um or good morning Aldren. Um, we will
get back to you through the chair on the the second part of
your question around the um emergency vehicle, um traffic
signal Redemption. I know what you're talking about you
sometimes see it in the suburbs with the white flashing
light, um with regard to the transit buses. The the concept
is essentially, um,
Our our traffic signal timing, uh to get a little bit nerdy,
uh have a lot of parameters that it's constrained by right.
right. We need to make sure pedestrians can cross the
street. We need to balance the sometimes. We have 2 transit
routes Crossing major Transit routes like Western Avenue
and Irving Park.
the concept behind Transit signal priority is to
you really at those edges make those little adjustments to
giving a little bit of more green time, uh, when needed to
provide that advantage to Transit vehicles to stay on time
while at the same time not disrupting the whole network and
you know causing cascading effects to to other Transit
Vehicles. So it is it's a tool that has um, Dave and others
said it really like layers up. If you have the bus lanes
right those provide dedicated space and help insulate
Transit vehicles from all those things. We know happen to
the city people turning people stopping people parking you
layer on the signal which can provide that little bit of
extra Advantage too to your going down the bus lane, but
you can you can keep time and get those green lights when
you need them. So it's sort of invisible. It's uh, not
necessarily what you're seeing in the suburbs with a
special Transit signal, uh with um, a sign that says
Transit signal but it's really in the back end of the the
signal timing the signal controller working with the CTA
control center.
and the schedule and the signal programming in the traffic
signal controller to make those very small adjustments that
you may not even see them, but can help the bus, you know,
get those successive green lights when needed
Thank you and 1 1 other point on this. Uh, what are other
cities doing in this in this space for uh public transit or
organization? And and I'm going to just I just I I kind of
did almost like a a work study. I was recently in New York
Philly on the east coast and it seems like they've adopted
some things that I don't see that we have adopted and it's
we've always been said to have the worst traffic in the
nation.
and
what what other things and other municipalities or other
jurisdictions are doing that we could adopt um, that will
will help in this endeavor to make that Transit move a
quicker for those that want to use Transit. I like the same
time preserving the white blades and if you want, you know,
trying to meet all the needs of everybody in this space.
Uh, thank you Alderman. I I think the toolbox the better
streets for um buses toolbox sort of has all the
industry-leading tools that we see Coast to Coast. Um, as
you know, every city probably has a little bit, you know of
a flavor what they've tried what's worked.
I'll start with what we've done in Chicago in the last
couple of years, which is really leading on the bus stop.
Uh, because that's that foundational experience where
um, we heard some of the public commenters talked about
getting from A to B, but really Transit is getting from
A to B B to C and C to D and so strengthening the that that
relationship from a journey starting point to uh bus stop
is where I think we're doing a lot of leading work and
probably have 1 of the most aggressive programs in the
country to build in Lane bus stops, which really goes back
to kind of the
the older days of public transportation with trolley cars
and how trolley cars moved and had priority to stop and let
passengers on and off.
Um, I think other studies, you know, we we've heard a lot
from this, um body about brt and certainly other cities
have implemented brt. We have our experiences here with the
loop link and even the Jeffrey jump. Um, I think where you
see a lot of energy around brt is cities that don't have
these Legacy rail systems, which are so as Molly said right
the rail system and the bus system both the CTA Rail and
the Metro Rail really work together as an integrated system
and some of the cities that have probably got um, you may
hear like more extensive brt systems. They're doing that in
place of the rail network. They don't have and so in
Chicago, I think we're in a different place where we have
this, um, luxury this amazing grid
Bus system and this very robust rail system. And where we
are right now is trying to really augment those things that
are very solid foundations with a toolbox. That's very, um,
locally specific to how people ride how people make those
transfers so that we can strengthen, you know, these
incredible assets that have invested in for hundreds of
years, uh to work better in a very locally specific way.
And although I would just put um, you know to build on
that. I think 1 of the the key things that we see in other
major cities as well is um, you know, the dedicated right
away and how that that is expanding to see a lot of
commitment, um from local governments to fund that and I
think that's where you really as you continue to look at
what we see in New York or LA or San Francisco. Even our
Midwest peers in Columbus and Indianapolis. It really is um
the local funding as well that helps support that
dedicated, um right away.
Uh, thank you all for that 1 final point. I'm going to talk
about which I I found like interesting.
I traveled in New York and had to pay 17.63.
to drive into Manhattan
Uh, I know it was via. I'm not sure which Bridge or tunnel
it was it went through but but I thought that was an
interesting concept and we had talked about uh congestion
pricing for downtown.
And what are the thoughts on what that could do to help
speed up, uh speed up bus or even rail Transit, uh into the
downtown area or even possibly across other areas of the
city because it's interesting on the East Coast. I think
the the monument the State Monument of every state should
be a toll group because I've never paid so many tolls in my
life. Um, but I I I'm trying to understand the impetus of
that and what it means for our overall transit to implement
such policies, uh what we were contemplating doing in
Chicago.
Sure. I'll take a first swing. Um.
I I think when we look at the East Coast cities
particularly in New York, um, they do have the um unique
geography that's very different that creates these natural
barriers like the river into Manhattan on both sides. And
so there's a very obvious place to put up those toll booths
and create that uh, Revenue collection Point as you
mentioned and demand control point, which is really what
those um, uh fees are trying to do is is manage demand into
a very across very, um, limited access points into
Manhattan. You only have finite capacity of bridges and
tunnels.
And then you have a very constrained area, uh in Chicago,
you know, we sort of have the benefit of having this.
expanse all the way to the West in terms of very robust
Street Network a lot of paracity right a lot of fine grain
streets that help traffic circulate the create
neighborhoods. And so, uh the idea of pricing here would
look very different just even physically and that they're
um, it's hard to find that exact Gateway point. I mean you
could imagine the bridges around the loop, but once you get
you know past the Chicago River, there isn't anything like
that. Um, as far as the conversation we we'd be happy to
you know,
Follow up with you more. Um, but more broadly. I think I
tried to say it earlier right demand management is the key.
Um is a very fine Edge between providing access and
mobility and affordable access to mobility and those
pricing tools that create demand management and revenue to
fund these types of Investments. We're talking to today so
it has to be very
Carefully balanced so that it's not such a big hammer. So
to speak financially that you're starving access and really
something that can be done. I think it has to start with
some of the Investments up front to
Create the options to start building that register culture
as the chairman of talked about and then you can get to you
know, something that sustains itself that brings in more
demand management more Revenue more investment and really
create that positive cycle. Um.
yeah, I think the only thing I would add is, you know, we
have uh, our partners Across the Nation who do have
congestion pricing, um and talk about where that funding
goes to its really important is when you look at investing,
uh in congestion pricing is that it comes with a um
commensurate investment in transit. So people have
Alternatives. Um, and so that I would say is as you look at
congestion pricing, it's always looking It's always
important that you have that cared in the stick, right? So
you're investing um in transit at the same time that you're
looking to Prior, you know, sort of deprioritize if you
will other modes, I would also note we do have uh, maybe
congestion pricing light a little bit around ride share. We
do have um, some work that you know ride share is is more
expensive and there's also um, you know activities that uh
around special events, especially CTA is able to continue
to assess the locations or ride share vehicles are not and
that's another good way to encourage people to take
transit, especially at big events. Um, and what we see is
when you get somebody on Transit once or twice they have a
good experience. We start to see them coming back more and
more.
uh, and so those special events are really good, um sort of
gateways if you will to uh getting someone to ride Transit
more
Thank you. Uh, thank you panel. Thank you chair.
Thank you very much, sir.
All right, and so to balance out the to balance out sort of
the network based approach of the bus priority quarter
study. Um, we're also working in partnership with C dot to
uh, do a second round of scoping for bus priority zones.
Um, and so that'll look at up to 15 additional
intersections along the corridors that are listed here. Um,
and as chair leata indicated bus priority zones is very
unique because it's a program that was launched with local
funding launched through the city of Chicago and C Dot's
partnership and and leading with creating these the space
on the street for buses. And so this is a great example of
where now we've leveraged Federal funding to scale that
program and look at areas that um, we can put shovel in the
ground over the next couple years.
and I think if you look at
a big part of the reason why we've been really successful
over the last several years in terms of complete streets
implementation and multimodal approaches, um, having local
the availability of local funds has been a really
significant part of that. Uh, so that uh, we've used local
money to uh, improve bus stop accessibility like we talked
about um all across the city
Uh in Lane bus stops intersection improvements dedicated bus
lanes. Um, we've used that local money for all of those
improvements and that gives us the ability to move at a
faster pace and really think about what we can do this year
and next year, uh versus using state and federal funds
which has a much longer timeline and administrative
process. So the availability of that funding has been
really transformational and uh, we want to see that
continue.
Uh in terms of Transit signal priority, which we talked
about Vig was describing, um kind of the changing
technology, uh around Transit signal priority. That's what
this um, kind of messy graphic on the right is but really
talking really showing an outlining a centralized system
where we can scale up to more, uh, improved traffic signal
intervent, uh, traffic signal infrastructure at a at a much
quicker pace.
And so we've got in addition to North Ashland, which will
be starting next year. We've got the Roosevelt Stony Island
and Broadway Sheridan corridors, which are uh, moving along
in terms of uh, design towards implementation. And then
we're in the process of identifying additional corridors
that will utilize some federal money that we've already
secured.
Yes question comment from Alder Basquez. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
Point of information so it's it's good to see how many have
been installed looking at additional. What is the total
number look like of what you'd want to cover everything
because I don't think folks have an idea of like what
percentage to goal with that kind of looks like.
Yeah, um good afternoon Alderman we have about 2,800
traffic signals in Chicago of those approximately will get
you through the chair if you'd like 26 2400 intersect to
CTA route. So most of our signal system is on there 2 real
streets. Most of cta's bus network is under Durrell
streets, um, you know the goal with um,
modernization and sustain Capital funding is to modernize
our entire signal system and you know as we've talked in
this body before really we're figuring out the challenges
of how do you how do you get from dozens and hundreds to
thousands and ten thousands sure just a scaling challenge,
um of running these tremendously impactful systems, um, if
this model bears fruit and you know, the proof of concept
is um, um successful, you know, we think we can get to like
500 very quickly. Um, that number would continue to grow as
we
Build out, you know projects with new signal controllers and
modernize the signal controllers throughout the city. Yeah,
it'd be great for us to kind of like regularly know kind of
what the progress looks like and see what economies of
scale might yield as far as doing more. So, um, yeah like
you said as well as a metrics to show what the Improvement
Improvement looks like in setting benchmarking that so we
know how we're doing going forward. So, thanks appreciate
it. Thank you, sir.
uh, okay, and so to uh to round things out, um, and and
additional, uh, traffic signal infrastructure program is
called, uh, queue jump and this is a little bit different
in how it functions and traffic signal priority a queue
jump, uh, we have uh, some of that on the loop link, but at
a at a red light, it gives the bus a head start, uh to get
through the intersection and so, uh, Chicago is part of a
new federally funded program. Uh, it's it's a pilot
program, uh, where we are, um going to be including this
type of infrastructure at about 20 intersections as part of
stage 1 of the pilot program that's based on the available
funding, uh, that the federal government has given for
stage 1 then we become uh, automatically eligible for stage
2, which is a larger, uh pot of money and so we'll be we're
continuing to identify these locations and and move this
program forward and we'll definitely keep in touch with the
the committee as
Advances, but this will be another really useful Improvement
for uh prioritizing Transit at complex intersections.
Thank you so much gentlemen, um happy to take questions
comments from the room and I see a question in the back Al
Yes, uh, we got a list of them some which we've emailed to
kind of get through the chair. Um, but I think
1 I appreciate the direction things are going in. I think
sometimes figuring out the speed with which they're getting
there seems to be a problem.
Um sometimes for CTA in general but really for big
infrastructure projects to try to figure out so although
we're having conversations about bus rapid transit.
studies what is the timeline look like from start to hey,
we might actually get a design for something to
building it all out because I think being very realistic
about what that looks like is helpful for Focus understand
how we're progressing if things are holding us back. Um
Etc.
Yeah, so maybe to speak to you know, what the polar end
sort of a brt, like implementation could look like you know
realistically if you're seeking Federal funding there are a
lot of process Hoops that we'll have to go through and
requirements and checkpoints that we would have to hit. Um,
and so looking at the small starts program which FTA
supports that might be a process that 4 years
optimistically maybe 6 or 7 realistically, especially um in
previous iterations of this that
We've been through um, but positively that process is
starting right now. So the best priority Corridor study is
really that first community-based design and and
Alternatives Engineering Process, that would say here's
where we could do this. Here's where the trade-offs might
be and, you know us working with elected officials and
writers to to get that consensus around advancing a larger
scale Federal proposal. I'd also say Federal funding isn't
the only option so like 1 good example in recent history
the state of Minnesota and their 2023 budget did a pretty
significant funding package for Transit and that included
not only operations funding starting to address fiscal
fiscal cliff issues. But um significant State funding for
what are the next few brt, like corridors that are
happening in the Twin Cities area. And so that's another
way of us thinking about you know, if we want this
infrastructure to come more quickly and we want to think
about whether or not we're in sync with Federal Cycles, um
having this conversation robustly with the state as we are
talking about State funding for Transit. I think that
Minnesota is a great example where they've been very
pointed and said not just helping with service. We want to
make sure that we're supporting infrastructure and and
putting money behind to do that.
Yeah, sorry. I appreciate you saying that because I think
it's a state is talking about consolidating agencies. There
is a benefit based on how this conversation moves forward
because if there's more skin in the game at different
levels of government, you can then present that to the
federal government say look the state. We're all lined up
on these services that we know speak to each other. They
work together, um by appreciate that yes, I know other
folks wanted to answer kind of like timeline. Yeah, and I
think part of it too is is not letting perfect be the enemy
of good. So making sure that you see like with BPZ and you
know, we see another other communities and I think Market
Street in San Francisco is a good example, they started
small and they continue to build off of it. So as we look
at the better streets for buses plan, we have the corridor
study, which is really that full quarter, but we're not
stopping work. We're still have vpz in the area to look at
pinch points. We're still going to continue with the
accessibility and and um bus stop improvements. So I think
that that's kind of a shift maybe that the agencies have
taken is primarily we would study everything and then we'd
say, okay, this is perfect. And now what we're doing is we
need to study everything.
And that goes on 1 track and then we dual track the what
are those quicker infrastructure wins that we can get off
the the ground sure.
Just to give some color to 1 Molly said, you know, I'll
I'll take Chicago Avenue in the First Ward we work with the
German to implement. Um dedicated bus lanes from Ashlyn to
Western extended them. Now this year further west. Um, now
we're thinking of coming back and saying wait a minute we
can add the bus bulbs the Inland stops augment that
Uh Western Avenue, uh in the 40th Ward, we're doing
resurfacing this year where we're thinking about adding
Inland stops and those improvements.
I can come back and say you know now this is we're
socializing that bus stopping in the travel Lane, which is
a form of Transit priority.
And then we've done Logan to George Peake our bus lanes,
right? Can we bring that to the north and we can convert
those Peak our bus lanes to full time bus lanes. So those
um getting in as Molly said what we can get in through
various Capital programs and then continue augment that
also really shows the out of the possible, uh, and allows
both agencies to sort of learn from those projects and get
real world results. Why are we seeing whatever performance
level we're seeing. How do you get 11% to 22% to 33% and
get those you know gains that we want to see both
qualitative and quantitatively through continuous, you
know, iterative Capital delivery that informs those
planning studies. So they're not just theoretical planning
studies, but they're calibrated and in real world data.
Yeah. I I really appreciate the answer because it is kind
of always a work in progress, right? You know what you want
the idea to be you see how it plays out on the ground, uh,
no pun intended and then really how it affects everything
but I think the challenge that we have as government is we
don't communicate
That's neighbors, right? So all this is happening here. We
may talk about it in committees, but your neighbors aren't
seeing Oh, this is actually moving in a direction. We're
actually making these improvements as we're talking what
connections can look like right? Because I think everyone
wants a system that connects people not only to where they
work taking their kids to school but like to each other in
ways that are meaningful, but we don't necessarily promote
all those improvements, right? So,
It becomes challenging like if we talked to Advocates say
yeah, this might be 5 10 years down the line without
showing the actual steps of progress in a way that I think
would be extremely helpful. Um, I also think you know, I
think 17 out of 18 of the altars that share Western all
signed on to say we want to see brt. So, um to kind of lead
into the next thing, uh,
We I would be supportive want to know if you'd similarly be
supportive to actually having a working group of those
altars help move all that around with Communications and
figure out improvements. So it doesn't feel to someone we
may not in be in the weebs. Um as only theoretical
so would you all be down if we had a working group of the
altars to share Western?
I mean, I think Alderman as we worked on the western
Avenues to study or our street skips together, right? We
always develop our communication and engagement strategy
with the elected official offices and your constituents and
we'll as we get these um, planning funds that CTA spoke to
online. We'll definitely reach out to you and your
colleagues about the that right. Um, yeah, I think during
group structure because
um, we need your input both from your point of view and the
conduit you bring from your um,
Again on the ground with the residents and constituents who
you hear from also to your point. I think I think it's
actually a really good place to start now because we've got
49 40 47 and 50 that kind of started this conversation that
can talk to our colleagues about here's what the benefits
were. Here's what we saw some pain points, um that I think
can be very informative and that might get lost in
translation over time, right if we're not sitting talking
through it. So, um wanted to highlight that uh congestion
pricing. I'm really glad uh, our colleague chairman Ervin
brought it up. Uh, so
I get this idea that the geography is different and there's
challenges but that's only when you're thinking about it is
like physical structures as opposed to geocoding right you
could the same way you got your tsp. Um, um software right
in a little pieces in different intersections. You could do
the same thing just at the
Order of the city and have it all be geocoded. So if you
got your phone and you're coming in.
you'd be you'd get a charge on your phone right like
are there other models that have done that anywhere to look
at that because I think
what I know is our city.
Is not the most Cutting Edge when it comes to Innovation or
technology, but we're getting there right? I think Nick
lucious at DCI does amazing work and understandably of
trying to figure out contracts, which my understanding was
some of the challenge in trying to get smart streets, uh
infrastructures.
Set up. So are the cities that have done any Geo coding. Is
there any kind of research on that and you can do that
through the chair if there's not like
Sure. Yeah, we'll follow up through the chair. Okay? Yeah
Molly. Did you want to add something? I was just gonna say
I think London England is a good example. They they have
Geo fencing that they've done. Yeah, I'm sorry in London.
Got it. Um, I think it
I I don't know of an example inside the United States. Uh,
but I can name some examples sort of internationally where
that exists. So I think you know internationally is
probably where you would look to um, just because they are
uh, they do tend to sort of prioritize that technology in a
different way than than we sort of see um in the US. Yeah,
it would be great if Chicago made somebody else the Second
City when it comes to that stuff and like literally let on
it. So I think I think finding out learning from that that
obviously lets you know, that there's people out there that
do this kind of work as far as infrastructure and building
it up in a way that I think would be extremely helpful to
us here. Um,
yeah, uh
you could also do it.
Like not completely right you guys have studies of like
which streets are the most congested in the city?
I would imagine. Yeah, I think 1 thing that's important to
contextualize is we've talked a lot about sort of like a
cordon style congestion pricing, which is you would draw a
barrier and then everyone that comes in or out um, I think
Molly mentioned a little earlier that's not the only type
of pricing we have on the right of way. And so you can also
think about congestion pricing and terms of the variety of
lovers where we're pricing who's using what element of the
right of way at any given time and so, you know within this
ecosystem of congestion pricing is also what's the parking
pricing what's the loading zone pricing um and thinking
about other managed lanes that are um managed by people
other than c dot but thinking obviously about our
interstates and other inner jurisdictional roads that have
some form of managed pricing already on them. And so, you
know congestion pricing is also really an ecosystem of us
thinking about who's entering which spaces and what are the
price for a single occupancy vehicle versus another type of
vehicle. And so I think we can follow up with some of that
um information that we have as well. Yeah, that'd be great.
I know I got a little PTSD when you mentioned Chicago
And parking pricing, so I'd probably get a little bit of
distance there. But I think the other thing that isn't
discussed is like graduated fines and fees, right. So we
had looked at this because other really other countries do
it where you do it is almost like um, a percentage of
somebody's um annual income right? So that way if you're
making more
still proportionately the same as somebody making less
without having the impact because I know we talk about
equity and thinking through this that
some of this to me is just math, right you can you can make
the tweaks to make it work. And I think if you targeted
higher congestion areas and worked in progress to get the
whole city covered you'd actually kind of do the same way
you're mentioning with brt. It's like you're doing things
while talking about what the goal is.
Yeah, I think 1 of the unfortunate things in the US is
there's actually a lot of very interesting research being
done around pricing. Um, particularly on the west coast
preco and I think that Co really, um, like derailed for
lack of a better term, um, some of the efforts around there
to think about Equitable approaches of implementing
something like a a a, you know, Statewide pricing approach
on certain highways and you know, the California area for
example or Seattle and thinking about sort of what is the
price someone can pay versus should pay, um, a lot of
progress happen sort of in the later 20 tons on that and I
think that sort of Co and how it reframed, you know, some
of the essential work we were doing sort of slowed that
down in the US. Yeah. No, I completely appreciate that. I
think um,
to kind of transition
So we talked about the infrastructure builds and those of
us who have experienced it Chicago has experienced it you
see your streets getting fixed. You don't want to see them
getting fixed. You want them already fixed and that causes
its own problems, but something that we've seen that's also
doable. In other cities is like quick build stuff where you
just put things that take up space and they aren't cement
necessarily but have like a lifespan of 5 to 10 years to be
able to try it. I just haven't seen Chicago really do much
of it. I need to close as we get or like paint and post on
things and um,
uh to Deputy commissioner's point if we have all these
tools of the trade to other cities have why are we not
using those?
yeah Alderman, um
I think something that I would stress is that with the
availability of local funding we've been able to move a lot
quicker and we see that whether we're talking about
pedestrian improvements bus improvements bike improvements
rapid delivery and even concrete being able to move quicker
with having that local money available. So, um Chicago
Avenue as an example something that we have really been
building on over the last couple of years. Um, we're able
to do those permanent installations with a much more
condensed timeline when we don't have to go through the
process of State, uh and federal funding sure, but I guess
when it if you're doing the quick build stuff that it would
be even
Quicker and cheaper wouldn't it?
Like I've seen stuff that looks like just
hard rubber that like will literally create a traffic
circle or like a bulb right? So if somebody if a ward
wanted to Pilot it buys an altar said hey this
intersection, I'd like to try this out in a way that might
be faster and cheaper. Is that a is that available to us to
be able to do
Yeah Alderman, I we can follow with you more on this for
sure, but I would say the general approach that we take to
materiality is trying to use those quick build items where
we're bringing kind of new geometries and New Concepts into
the city. So an example is, you know, left turn traffic
coming or um as we piloted in your award the the driver
speed humps AC the driveway on the protected bike lane
where we we have a kind of a established template and
they're saying now we can keep dialing in a new particular
problem. We're trying to solve like left turns or people,
you know turning right with some of the more maybe you can
call in to call them proven. I think it's really probably
over a life cycle cost more effective to get those
permanent, you know, like traffic circle's, you know, the
department knows how to build them. Just you know, keep
cranking right? We have the back to the um question of
scaling. Um, I do see your point about, you know, getting
more rubber ones out.
They'll need maintenance. And so if we can get it in in a
more permanent fashion and have it last, you know decades
rather than you know years and months. I think it's
probably you know over life cycle cost and Effectiveness,
um the right approach. So yeah, you know, we we try to um
match the the the materiality to kind of the speed and
intent of the project um and are trying to be you know more
um forward with like permanent design when we you know,
where this is something that's, you know, proven and known
and just have to keep chopping wood know I I appreciate
that I think for me like looking at it as almost like a
separate tool there's things where the community doesn't
know what they want or they're automatically reflexively
opposed to something without knowing what the change would
feel like that I think doing some of those is like
temporary to go here. Look we just did this in the sky
didn't fall. I think Co actually allowed us to do that with
some of the shared Street infrastructure and a way that
allowed us to like lead to more that I think. Um, it's
something we'd be more than happy to partner with and uh,
yeah, I think you can
until there's a number of members of the council as well as
a committee that are really focused on Transit and
transportation. We might just start caucusing up just to
get the whole working group and be able to help you all um
overcome some challenges I get the last question I have and
is related to a little bit more to the smart streets pilot
because I think
Something that I kind of learned is concerning as it relates
to anything Technology based and that's trying to figure
out the contracts and the vendors when it comes to this
stuff. So um are there challenges related to that that we
can help do the municipal code? Right if the Department of
Law is reading things a certain way that we need to change
things to fix. Uh, what what have been pain points as it
relates to Contracting and legislation that we can help
facilitate and move past.
Yeah, maybe it's something we can follow up with you, uh
offline Alderman and sort of think through you know, where
we came from where we are. Um, I think 1 of the value and
Lessons Learned and doing the pilot was not just the pilot
itself in terms of what we hope to get online of the
technical work and learning about uh, the capability of the
technology but it's also as you said the the the governance
and institution and business side of the pilot, how do you
understand something like that up? Uh, and we'd be maybe
happy to chat more 1-on-1. Um, yeah and and sort of share
some of those learnings. I appreciate that. I mean, I think
some of us articulated in the last council meeting in the
challenges we had with the chief procurement officer in a
way that I think might have caused challenges as it relates
to that. Um, but I think just when you talk about
legislation,
trying to like
be able to modify technology and take it into account.
We're talking about folks who came up with the municipal
code before we had smartphones and how do you legislate for
things like that? So I think the more we can work to
improve and clarify things for y'all. So y'all can move
quicker, um the better and thank you for the amazing work
you do there's always going to be a healthy tension of
those of us that want to see things moving faster. I think
it's just part of service. So, uh, thank you all again. And
thank you chairman. So just
1 thing um, if I met, you know, I'm not on your procurement
Authority. We have our own CTA as our own procurement
Authority but something that we did at CTA, um was we
actually created a concept called Innovation Studio that
allows us to quickly pilot Technologies. Um, so we put out
problem statements. We have people submit ideas to us. And
then we're going to start piloting some different
challenges. Um, this is something that a couple dots have
done throughout the or Transit agencies have done
throughout the country. And so that was something that our
board gave us the authority to do that follow with
procurement rules, but also allows us to move way quicker,
uh through the process. So, um, that's just something that
it works for us because we're we are governed differently.
Um, but it is something that is is available and I think is
something unique for technology because you are right
technology change is way too quickly. Yeah, uh, you have to
be able to be nimble with it and uh government procurement,
uh, is the uh, opposite of yes. Yeah, uh, if you could send
to the chair like where that's written in the way you're
governed because I think being able to create those similar
spaces and opportunities.
That are still in line with what our laws are is extremely
important for us to be agile and to move quickly when
technology moves as quick as it does. Thank you.
Yes, Ottawa women may not happen more.
Thank you cheer.
Thank you chair. Um, I want to thank everyone who came
today, um from their busy lives to give public comment. Um,
Whether you're still here or had to go back to work, I
appreciate your voice. Um, thank you everyone here in the
box and also on the panel. Um, I I wanted to say that I am
a lifelong CTA writer.
um starting in the 10th Ward where I was born and um, and
when we moved to the suburbs and coming back and going to
high school, um all around the city, um, and now
representing the 48th Ward where you know, we're very
condensed but we have 1 of the most uh Transit rich
Wards in Chicago and High ridership. Um
And uh, I I was late today because I could not trust the 22
to bring me here. So I grabbed a Divi and I ran in the
rain, uh to get here on time. So I apologize for my
tardiness.
Um, we also did a a survey in the 48th Ward and uh, we have
a a great representative from CTA Jeff Wilson who's working
with us, um to listen to the concerns of all of our
constituents.
and um
I want to tell you that the number 1 reason why people come
to the ward office or call is because of um issues around
Transit and buses particularly.
Um, we want CTA to work.
and and uh, and and we are working towards that end and I
hear that we're um Coming closer and closer to pre-pandemic
levels not every bus line, but we're we're getting closer.
So I think you for your work on that.
Um, I want to thank this team from cedat for working with
us in the 48th Ward, especially around safety around our
schools. I heard the mother who spoke today. I'm a mother
too. I'm really proud that my kids were able to walk to and
from school. I think every kid should be able to do that.
So um, and we have 5 incredible schools. So I thank you for
prioritizing that and for listening to community voice.
It's really important.
Um, there's so many things that that you um talked about
today. Um, our our Ward Trends older adults and um, a lot
of people walk and um, the um accessibility features that
you're talking about is is really important. Um, I was just
in Oakland and I um, I was impressed with their um,
crosswalk signals auditory signals too. Um, so I'm glad
that we're moving in that direction.
Um, I wanted to
Again, thank you for the work. Um on Clark Street,
especially as we're building out protected bike Lanes, you
know, our younger um,
people who live in the ward are now they feel like they can
actually use those Lanes to get to and from school and
that's really important. Um, and we also see development
happening on on Clark Street and um, this is really
important for for my ward, uh, where we have a lot of um,
business corridors and um, our local businesses are really
suffering right now because we have um, people who are
thinking about and who have left the ward, um, because they
don't feel like they um can take advantage of the amenities
including for public schools and our public transit and um
our local businesses. So but we all have to work together.
So I'm really glad that we're having this conversation. Um,
my question actually has to do with the refine the drive
and I'm really
disappointed that I dot is not here.
And I would like to know if that is in the works to have I
Dot.
Come to committee at some point to talk about refine the
drive.
Is that possible chair?
There there's a lot of things that are possible and would
be deeply appreciated. And that's a I would say that's a
relationship that the committee is still working at
establishing in beefing up.
Yeah, because part of the issue in the 48th Ward, is that a
lot of our
Our streets are controlled by I do.
And we again, um 911 calls the number 1 reason for 911
calls in the 48th word has to do with um vehicles and
traffic safety and um,
That's that's real and um what's happening on um, the plans
around doable right? Lakeshore Drive also concern me
because that is a
That's the reason why we have so many busy streets in the
fortieth Ward. It's a it's a receptacle for all of these
vehicles.
And um, so I guess I I'm curious to know about the timeline
and um when
construction is supposed to happen or when funding is
supposed to happen. I feel like decisions are being made
right now about the design of um to sell the Lake Shore
Drive and my community is very concerned about um about
that. I will say without putting any of these fine folks on
the spot I'd say the concern is far beyond your own
Community. I would say when I look at this better streets
for buses map. I do see a blue line that runs along the
lakefront of the city and I can imagine what that long blue
line represents.
We are we're not done having conversations around doable
Lakeshore Drive, and we will we will make sure that you and
your community are included in those conversations.
Thank you chair.
My question around bus Rapid Transit is well firstly I'm
very inspired by what's happening just to the west of us on
Western with bus rapid transit.
um
Is it possible to have bus Rapid Transit on Dabo Lakeshore
Drive?
I can maybe take a first attempt of that. Good afternoon
Elder woman. Um, I think when you look at brt around the
country as the uh other speaker spoke, it comes in
different formats, right? It is the layering of the toolbox
to the context. Um, you have the vanis br2 in San Francisco
which runs in the center of the street. Um,
330 foot blocks right very very short blocks, every block
is a traffic signal. So it's a very dense Urban grid, you
know, that's 1, uh, maybe end of the spectrum. Um, you
know, another project that was just visiting Albuquerque
this um for my vacation, right? They have a beard to the
resident center of the street very very different. Um is
more of like, um, what we might call around here like a a
Suburban State Highway type of a context and the way that
they've treated that is it's very different, you know, they
moved all their bus stops to in between the streets so that
the bus stops are not the corners they're in the middle and
that was something you know, that was very near to me.
With disabled Extra Drive, um and you know CTA can certainly
add to it. It's a very unique the existing service is a
very unique service right where it picks up people
throughout the neighborhoods like on um,
Um, Sharon Road, right and it gets on the drive runs
Express on the drive and then leaves the drive and then
runs through, you know, Wacker and Michigan and LaSalle
Street. And so what that um, Transit service really takes
advantage of is being expressed on the drive, right? It has
a area of pickup runs Express and um,
then um drops people off at their destinations and vice
versa. So what the model has to kind of fit the the context
and what the service plan is and where the passengers go
and so, um, I hope it's not a non-answer in the sense that
I think
there are absolutely Transit enhancements that can be
applied from the toolbox to every single Street Corridor in
context but that they should be tailored to really make
those um benefits to Transit customers and Transit
performance that are relevant to the way that the transit
service is structured.
Yeah, I mean, I don't really have anything I think you know
to add on to that. I think the most important thing is we
think about brt or any type of of Street infrastructure.
Um, it is working with the community and making sure that
the community is able to advocate for what they want to see
they're ultimately the writers. They are ultimately the
users of the system users of the road. Uh, and so I think
as you uh in the north do s Lakeshore Dr. We're in
Um Community engagement, uh process right now, there's so
um, that's what I would say. I think the most important
thing of of all of this is the toolbox is all great. All of
the the different components of the toolbox is essential
but the community um is is uh, the most important tool in
the toolbox to tell us what they want to see and what
matters to them uh on the street,
Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Um, I'm interested in
all of the community engagement.
That you will do moving forward and um, I just again wanted
to thank you for having this hearing and um, I appreciate
all the work that you're doing to make all of Chicago
better. You know, I've been um, trying very hard to take
bus whenever I can um, not just in the on the North side
but across Chicago, um, and and you could tell the
difference between, you know, the buses that run on the
North side and the buses that run on the South Side. So I'm
glad that improvements are being made especially, um that
Jeffrey jump and um, the 6 going south and further, um, and
look forward to all the work that we have to do ahead
together. Thank you.
Thank you so much order woman already checked in.
So, I mean just to conclude I really appreciate everyone's
presentations today. Every time I think I've I've learned
all there is to know on this topic and learn something new.
I learn about the breadth of tools that we have available
And we do have this really wonderful robust toolkit called
better streets for buses. And now the question in front of
us is what are we going to build with it?
And I'm excited for all of us to get to answer that
question together. We we see through this we we kind of saw
Echoes of this in the Chicago cycling strategy is there is
no 1 thing that we can build with this toolkit. There is so
much that we can build I will advocate for all of it. I
will continue to advocate
For brt and I'll close by saying this we talked about that
being a primary tool in areas that did not cities that did
not have the fixed infrastructure that we do and I feel
that the reason why it is still relevant in Chicago. Is
that our fixed infrastructure the L?
Is built on an assumption and I think it's an anachronistic
assumption that what Chicagoans are trying to do is to get
to the loop.
and
I think that's a false assumption. I think our fixed
infrastructure is not designed.
To get me from my ward to almond vasquez's Ward or to older
woman monah hoppenworth or to or to persons. He goes truly
and sincerely, um, if you're trying to get to from
Or most uh to a little village from Logan Square to Midway.
Your options are to go to the loop and then back out.
And so that's why I feel like for all that we can create
there is a very strong and meaningful space for brt. And
for everything that we're trying to build so I I thank you
all so much for being here today for this conversation
together and with there being no further business before
the committee may have a motion to adjourn old woman may
not happen with so moves all those in favor signify by
saying I
we are adjourned. Thank you so much.