What do you guys think about the River walk? Blair Kamin had a piece on it in his blog yesterday. I walked down there to check it out yesterday. They do appear to be making good progress.
I can't wait to go for a walk on it on a nice summer day, though it will be even better when it runs under the remaining bridges as well. It will be nice to be able to more closely interact with the water while still in the loop.
Concidering they've been talking about this since I was 8 its about time. I remember in the 90s they wanted the riverwalk to go to 18th Street by now. What ever happened to that?
In the Chicago Tribune Today, there is a nice piece on innovative ideas on how to improve ridership and performance of the CTA.
I really appreciate that the idea of constantly expanding and extending the trains out to further and more far flung suburds is rejected. We need to improve , fill in, and consolidate the system and in some cases, discontinue service to unreasonable locations, not just keep adding more and more tracks.
Syn - I agree with you except for the proposed blueline extensions to Woodfield/ Schaumberg and Blueline south branch to I-88 corridor. These 2 markets are ultra dense, techno burb edge city mega employers. I'd be willing to bet I-88 employs more people than the Loop. If we are going to get the millions and millions of increased users this is where we can find them in the short term. Infilling the city neighborhoods with more rail while ideal - and Id like to see it happen - the population settlement patterns arent there yet. Plus, theres a racial divide that will never be solved until the Federal government gets out of the landlord game. Simply put - people with money refuse to live next to public housing unless it falls below 10% - even then its spotty.
I say run that train to DuPage - I88 Yorktown is 2 miles south of the UP west line and 2 miles north of the BN SW line - its right in the middle of 2 of the busiest metras and would relieve the Eisenhower corridor - have you been on that thing lately? Its like a mass migration every day!
Actually my first post was somewhat misleading, if you read the report, I believe his primary focus is on more bus routes, more buses per route to reduce waiting times, and of course improvements in the quality and maintenance. He also discusses rail improvements which do consist of some new tracks. He specifically discusses focusing on areas that meet the following criteria.
• Medium to high densities of population and structures
• Mixed uses
• Limited parking
• Significant traffic congestion
• High quality transit service within walking distance
• Poor highway proximity
• Convenience retail within walking distance of most residents.
• Street frontage orientation (vs. campus style or other inward facing orientations)
The corridor you describe may fit these criteria. I believe the point is to stop trying to cover every single location equally, which tends to result in large underutilized areas and a general reduction of the overall system quality. Currently our resources are divided too thinly. If we instead focused the resources more finely, we could improve quality in the areas of highest use, which would have a cyclic effect of encouraging additional people to live in these areas.
That Aaron Renn paper is really interesting, and i found much of it really good. In particular, i found myself mostly convinced that extensions of existing lines should be held off on until infrastructure and rider experience improvements are made, though i very much question whether the circle line should be involved in that.
In my opinion, increased density in the loop is a fantastic thing, and i agree with the notion that it should be actively promoted. But in the long term, the Loop is physically just not a large enough area to trust with the entire future of the city. Too a certain extent, i believe we need to start developing the 2nd loop which will act as an addition to the center... a complementary loop.
It seems to me that a circle line could define a vague central district around the loop, granting the benefits of a centralized location to businesses and residents who cant or wont pay the premium of a Loop address.
Also, im very, very, very weary of any privatization of CTA function. As a matter of fact, im deeply distrusting of it as im a firm believe that THERE IS A SOCIAL FUNCTION inherent in public transportation. I could see myself accepting privatization of specific areas, like Loop busing, or airport rides on CTA Lines. But those privatized lines would need to be very strictly controlled, and their profitability great enough to ensure that the CTA can still maintain low density of use lines with the overflow profits of private sectors...
One thing I wish the City and the CTA could work out is bus operator signal control for all stoplights along bus routs by the 2016 Olympics. Busses, EMS, Police and Fire trucks should be able to automatically switch a light as they approach turn or stop to ensure maximum efficiency and pedestrian and or passenger safety. Imagine what an improvement it would be in safety if school busses can make an intersection go red while they pick up or drop off students. A lot of the scheduling problems with bus lines in the city is the inability to control traffic, thus making it impossible to predict arrival times, traffic control capabilities would save time fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles which would only need to stop to pick up or drop off passengers. Sometimes pedestrians can out walk CTA busses in many congested areas and that is one of many problems in service and public perception the CTA needs to overcome.
A lot of these issues go hand and hand. If you improve overall quality and ridership of the system, I think in some ways, the tendency for the stations to be homeless shelters goes down. Specifcally, stations and buses that are kept clean and policed (ie. more staff/security) shouldn't have as much of a problem. In my experience, the worst problems with crime and garbage in the stations occur in secluded locations, such as elevators and switchback corners. with more people around using the system, the opportunity for this negative behavior goes down.
At the same time, it would also be nice for the stations to have people monitoring riders and enforcing basic standards such as wearing shirts, shoes and not being covered in feces. I guess it is some kind of personal liberty issue? I'm not sure why the CTA can't impose their own guidelines.
Have you been on the Red Line at Howard after dark?
It's the farm in the zoo and the haunted house all in one!
No, there are some really creepy characters on the red line. I stopped one one early evening from fondling this woman and messing with someone else and really got into it with him. Everyone else just stood there thinking it wasn't their problem. If I hadn't interceded, they would have been next! I stopped the train and the cops took him away. There need to be more police on the red line and fewer in places like the Viagra triangle.
The red line needs cleaning up but the 'hood is back!!!!
Yup exactly, that is a good point. I have been on the red line very late at night, and you are right, it can get out of hand. In those extreme areas and times, addtional security on the trains and at the stations is a must. This should include stopping certain people from entering the system.
Letdown
I think the CTA could also consider privitizing certain functions within the system, such as the cleaning of the stations or security. In this way they would maintain control of the transit systems, but perhaps save money by awarding 3 year (for example) contracts to clean the stations etc.
It's not just Chicago... This past Friday I got off work and went down into the Columbus Circle station for the subway ride home. Upon getting down to the platform level, I was immediate overwhelmed by the smell of body odor and human feces coming from a skell sitting on a bench. It was so strong I literally gagged... If my train hadn't shown up right then, I would've had to leave the station before throwing up.
(And later that night, a bunch of neighborhood thugs staged a near-riot in the street behind my building beginning at 4 AM and lasting for over an hour.)
As usual, the police are generally worthless in such situations unless somebody is actually waving a gun around.
I pretty much despise Rudy Giuliani, but I agree with his "broken windows" idea of policing. If transit systems -- and cities in general -- want to attract people and businesses, they need to get serious about quality-of-life issues and not just major crimes.
Rome a city known for its street crime has an interesting method for policing the subway and preventing its mass transit system from being a rolling homeless shelter, they simply require you to time stamp your fare card. When you enter the system you buy a paper ticket it is printed at the vending machine which can be quite a distance from the tracks and then you go onto the platform and insert your ticket and the time and date are stamped on it. You have 45 minutes to travel to your destination then you must buy another ticket and get it stamped, you can do this on any vehicle in the Roman Metro system Bus, Tram, train, subway.
Zurich has another interesting way of dealing with station security, and that is to make each station the place for 24 hr commerce, so if a similar strategy were to be applied to the CTA every station would have a Walgreen’s or other 24hr pharmacies, dinner or other business in the station. Imagine the convenience of a platform pickup window for prescriptions, and those business interests would make sure things remain safe and pleasant for the CTA passengers and their customers. Many CTA El stations handle thousands of passengers daily it is unfortunate that not a single one has been designed to capitalize on this foot traffic and help contribute to a busy populated place. Jane Jacobs called this “eyes on the street” or in this case eyes on the station, or bus stop, activity prompts attention which discourages some people from doing bad things. The station in Zurich that Calatrava designed is an excellent example of this, the security concern was with the underground transfer tunnels between the two platforms that serve three tracks, this is where a shopping concourse was introduced and two or three shops out of the twenty stay open all the time. You can get a beer and pretzel anytime, along with aspirin for the ensuing hangover. Also in Zurich if you “soil” a transit vehicle you are fined for the total cost of the cleanup, something we should think about here. If you tag or bomb a train you have to pay for the cost of cleaning the entire train inside and out.
One thing I dont buy in that paper is his critisicm of Metra - saying a ride to the station to go on a train isnt beneficial and shouldn't be promoted - I disagree because if you ride 3 miles to Metra to take a train 50 miles to the city - thats a net decrease in carbon, energy and all traffic. Why discourage that? I smell a little "I dont approve" of your suburban lifestyle sentiment in there. He specifically says Glen Ellyn = good other burbs = bad. Personally I think the CTA needs to taken away from the Chicago Machine and put into the hands of a Regional Authority with taxing powers and spending athority. The city is incapable of doing anything honestly and efficiently - unless you count ghost pay rolling and machine voting efficient.
Right on. The eyes on the street concept was what I was trying to get at in one of my earlier posts. You've made it much more clear, thanks!
The transit system in Hong Kong is much like the one you are describing in Zurich, the stations, including the subway, are bright and well lit, with all sorts of shops. Everything from 7 eleven convenience stores to cake shops, book stores, and boutique purse shops. It enlivens the space and really makes people treat it as they would any other clean public space, with a basic level of respect and care.
I really like the idea of a multi tiered busing system. Rather than building an entire second loop, or perhaps in the meantime while such a system is being constructed (I would imagine it taken 10+ years to build) the CTA could offer shuttle buses around the loop and to the immediate area around the loop. These would be priced very cheap (perhaps 25 or 50 cents a ride) and run very very regularly around the loop and up through river north, perhaps down to Roosevelt and throughout the near westside. This would be extremely cheap and could gain a lot of riders. Imagine if you wanted to go from the merchandise mart to the south loop (a walking trip or perhaps 15-20 minutes) and all you had to do is step out the door and catch one of the many buses running around regularly. This would be useful primarily in the most dense areas at the most busy times, but could bring in additional riders and get peoples used to the idea of using the CTA system.
Another idea, also from Hong Kong, is to work towards turning the Chicago card into a go everywhere, do everything card. This also works well in Hong Kong, once you put money on the card, you can spend it at 7 Elevens, or all kinds of other activities, such as at the movie theater. It is a nice convenience and encourages use of the system as a whole.
The guys blog is Urbanophile, and he seems to have quite a resume of papers and research on many US cities, not just Chicago, so I think you are right, he probably does have a pro city bias, but I wouldn't label him a run of the mill anti suburbanite, In my opinion, his ideas are pretty comprehensive and level headed.
Ok, I've now suffered through a long commute on one of the new buses during all times of use : peak hours on a busy line, off-peak hours on a constantly busy line, and off-peak hours on an empty line, and I have to say:
The design of the new buses is absolutely asinine.
Anyone else had the (dis)pleasure of riding in them? What on earth possessed the designer to include enormous plastic barricades is what I want to know, and why did they take out half the seats at the same time?!
I am not sure which buses you are referring to, can you find an image or something? I take the #11 bus, as far as I know it is one of the new designs, and I don't have a problem with it at all.
What would you think of closing the top level of loop streets permanently to private vehicles? Say Congress North to the river and the river east to LSD. Make the top streets taxies, buses, trams, horse and buggies, bicycles, and pedestrians. Private autos have to use the lower two levels and all parking garages have to close their top level entrances if they have other entrances on lower levels. Maybe rideshare vehicles can be allowed to park on the street for free as a means to subsidize their use and further expansion.
I also agree with a regional transit Authority but I think it should be a 4 state authority. And we should stop the Peotone airport, No New airports unless you have carriers already lined up. And, for crying out loud, don’t vote for Mayor Daily. Socialist, republicans, libertarians, anarchist are all better choices than Chicago Democrats, just ask our former Governor soon to be radio shock jock. What will his show be called the F***ing golden hour?
Im all for transit improvements AND car capacity increases. The idea of creating a lower wacker was visionary - we should have more subterainian roadways. I also support the idea of converting the old beltline rails and rail rights of ways to truck superhighways and making a 2 tier highway system - 1 for cars 1 for trucks. We could have it all. We used to think that way.
I agree with limiting private automobile traffic in the loop and surrounding areas. Fees on parking garages should be increased substantially and new buildings should have the number of parking spots per unit decreased, not increased as has been the trend.
Evilp,
The cost of roadways per individual user are much too high and we've been subsidizing them for too long. the construction costs and maintenance costs of maintaining our roadway system and the development styles it supplements are much too high. Municipalities should begin the gradual process of getting out of the road construction industry. If new roads are really needed and are economically viable, they should be funded by the automobile and gas industries. I'd love to see how well the automobiles would compete when we stopped building their infrastructure. As it is now, when we build a road, it is just seen as standard government work, even when it involves running some stretch of road out to a handful of houses in the middle of nowhere, but when we build mass transit rail lines, that have much better performance in terms of environmental impacts and energy costs per rider, it is seen as some kind socialist handout.
Of course we still need to maintain our interstate highway system and most of our existing infrastructure, as we can't spontaneously change the development of existing buildings, but we should stop expanding the system through the addition of new none critical road stretches and adding lanes to our current roadways. Adding new lanes only encourages the unsustainable development.
Thats not entirely true - thats exactly what my automobile and architecture professor said to. Truth is the road leads to increased comercial activity, retail activity and general conectiveness that is impossible to measure, but the economic multiplier is definately real.
Most of the aversion to autos is the pollution factor. If cars were to approach 0 emission than why not have them all over? Cars are cool. People like them. They are great invention and offer personal freedom. I still say expand both. We could solve conjestion with smart road and GPS cordination using complex modeling - Id love to get in my car and type my destination and have the computer slot the cars appropriately to get us there most convienantly - it could happen.
Are you opposing the suburban sprawl that occurs with new roads?
I do think we need to work harder to protect the prime farmland in the path of Chicago Land’s suburban sprawl. Do more of your shopping at farmer’s markets. Buy plants for your garden form local growers and be insistent that local nurseries source plants from local growers. Buy a farm share even if you can’t eat all of it give the excess to a local shelter, or neighbors. Buy green energy certificates using wind power. Wind power could be one mechanism to slow suburban sprawl. There are probably a few organizations that buy endangered farmland a tax deductible donation is probably a good idea. The government is not doing much to protect farmland in fact they do quite the opposite, perhaps the US department of agriculture should use their model of the national forest system to protect prime farmland.
that is a pretty massive IF, the fact is that cars are one of the most environmentally unfriendly modes of transit available, the only other major ones really worse are subsonic and supersonic air travel, which have the offsetting positive quality of providing extremely rapid transit. Emissions are part of the problem, but not the only part. Efficiency is another part, the drag coefficients and energy consumption per passenger mile can be as much as 5 times that of Bus systems.
Transit stops also provide stimulus to retail activity and connectiveness, without the associated environmental trade offs. If you produce your zero emissions car, let us know, but in the meantime, how about planning around existing conditions? I don't have an issue with cars in all cases, but clearly their use in cities can be detrimental to the urban fabric, inhibiting the very qualities and services that a city is most capable of providing.
Yup. I oppose surburban sprawl, it is very unsustanable to run roads, water and lines all across the country to service such low density. The cost of maintenance alone is crushing.
Synergy hit it right on... the inherent cost of low density development and all its trappings make it, in my opinion, the least sustainable option we have for mass development. I should clarify, suburban low/mid density... i suppose if we killed off half the earth we could sustain an agrarian society...
The infrastructure cost, both initial capital and maintenance are prohibitive... and personally i feel like we will, relatively soon, see the death of the typical suburb as model for development...
its a simple matter of redundancy in my mind... and this is obviously a simplified analogy, but if you have a mile of road, water, sewage and power connections, wouldn't you rather split the cost of maintenance with 20 people rather than 5?
Theres more than 5 households on this sewer main. This is rather dense. Im not totally defending it - but lets not say this is unsustainable just yet. Theres an estimated billion gallons of water leaked in Chicago everday - appearantly density + political patronage doesnt = efficiency either. I cant speak for sewer and water but for Com Ed - they much perfer the suburbs for ease of utility mantainance
50 miles south of the city
[url=http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.479985,-87.817905&spn=0.010305,0.020385&t=h&z=16
]typ. development in exurban Chicago[/url]
Stand alone suburban homes can be self-sufficient or relatively low consumers of energy. This is possible but it doesn’t happen very often. Vehicle miles necessary for people living in less dense areas go up considerably but energy efficiency in existing urban housing stock could offset their vehicular energy savings they get from effective mass transit.
Greening or weatherizing existing housing stock is a good starting point for our national energy policy since the benefits will last a lot longer than a new car or hybrid SUV.
I think the issue with the suburban homes is as much in the related infrastructure, as it is in their individual designs and energy demands.
The streets in the image provided EvilP service perhaps 10 homes and maybe 25 people per block? I would wager that the average street in my neighborhood, and much of the medium density areas of the city have 30 to 40 buildings, with 3 or 4 floor units per building, housing perhaps 150 or 200 people+ per similar stretch of road. That means you've got in the neighborhood of 5 to 10 times as many people using and funding a given stretch of road, sewer, electrical lines, internet lines etc. etc.
10 -18 ive been counting but Im sure the cost is recaptured in the taxes. The mains are pretty basic - concrete pipe and grout, they last 50 years or more. The city mains are more money and certainly run longer distances in the burbs but they are also easier to dig up compared to the city. The surban roads use a lot of asphalt but also dont get as beat up - It would be nice to have the kind of density we have in the city - I like it. But the market is the market because it affords us choices.
Its funny how the city people claim the suburbs are sucking up all the tax money and suburbanites complain the city is a black hole for money ala the Palatine / Barrington sucession from Cook County
I understand what youre saying evil and its not completely irrational, but even beyond basic infrastructural requirements, theres no economic redundancy that would ensure long term survival. Im not convinced, on the most basic level, that the infrastructure or building stock could survive a change of use like denser populations could.
I used to think the exact same thing lletdown - but the suburban housing stock is fairing better than the city's. Sace in point: Most of the flats in the city were built in the 1890s -1920s. By the 1950s they were essentially dilapidated. Except in gentrified areas they pretty much still are. The bungalows have faired much better. Contrast that to the post war ranch houses - the ranches are still concidered good stock in most places. 60 year life on the ranch - still strong. The flats in the same time frame got run down. Obviously economics and settlement dictated the abuse of the city's housing stock but these suburbban houses arent as cheaply built as accused.
That said - I totally support new urbanist planning and density for the suburbs. Just being a little devil's advocate here.
Actualy - let me retract that - I would love to see logical planning like extending the grid to exurbs - I grew up in an older inner burb which was on the grid, pretty dense with ultra dense downtown with train. Maybe Im partial but THAT model seems the best. Think Forest Park, Oak Park, LaGrange type planning.
So, there is a new Central City Action Plan for us... it involves a ton of new construction, and is a study in urban planning enhancements.
One thing that i think looks very positive about this, if it is at all indicative of the cities planning ideals, is that unlike many planners, there doesnt seem to be an infatuation with parks for parks sake. There is a lot of discussion of green and open space, but from what i can tell, they are directed. They seem to be specific and purpose driven, such as enhancing east west connections from downtown to the near north, northwest and west loop.
Theres a pretty sweet concept of a 'Kennedy cap' involved here... they are talking about constructing a park over the Kennedy between monroe and washington... now that would be incredible...
Also, this seems to be getting some harsh play from Becker, mostly due to its reliance on TIF funds... now... i understand the negatives of TIF zones. I understand they syphon off much needed tax revenue from critical and often failing public services, but it seems to me that they can possibly allow for some really expansive additions to the city... what... dont you guys trust daley?
Of it all, the Clinton St. Subway is the most critical inho right now. The west loop, near southside, River West would be seeded for major densification. Given the available and in these areas available I cant think of another major city with so much potential for growth right in the downtown. Even sunbelt cities would drool. It would also help overcome the N/S travel accross the tangle of Metra tracks just west of the wolfs point and Kinzie Station -
As for paying for it? I can rest easy knowing it will be completely fucked up, overbudget, minority contractor giveaway free for all, union payouts, graft etc. Like Becker said - it could give the Big dig a run. Also as Becker said - this is a city that sunk a quarter billion dollars into a subway station they didnt even start work on, then mothballed it. Oh - it was also one of the busiest in the city.
Chicago is at a cross roads. Its past momentum is propelling it still - the mega corporations that were evolved out of the industrial past, the transportation hubs, the freight moving and storage - all this is a gift from our past. So is the corruption and one sided machine dominated politics and waste. We can still make big plans; but can we afford to pull them off going forward? The governance of this place has to change to survive.
Aggregate Chicago
What do you guys think about the River walk? Blair Kamin had a piece on it in his blog yesterday. I walked down there to check it out yesterday. They do appear to be making good progress.
I can't wait to go for a walk on it on a nice summer day, though it will be even better when it runs under the remaining bridges as well. It will be nice to be able to more closely interact with the water while still in the loop.
Concidering they've been talking about this since I was 8 its about time. I remember in the 90s they wanted the riverwalk to go to 18th Street by now. What ever happened to that?
just curious... are you chicagoans students, practicing architects, professors? what is the general audience here?
practicing engineer.
practicing architect and gigilo
Man EP, I thought your gigilo work was just for the art of it, are you telling me you do it for the money?
Yes, and I can also be found doing a mean windmill at the Sugar Shack Tues and Thur nights
practicing architect (not licensed though...)
Intern Architect seeking work.
what is the general audience here?- Drunks mostly.
In the Chicago Tribune Today, there is a nice piece on innovative ideas on how to improve ridership and performance of the CTA.
I really appreciate that the idea of constantly expanding and extending the trains out to further and more far flung suburds is rejected. We need to improve , fill in, and consolidate the system and in some cases, discontinue service to unreasonable locations, not just keep adding more and more tracks.
Here is the full winning submission, and if you follow the links in the article, you can read other entries as well.
Aaron Renn
Hey I know him. He lives in India no place.
Does he post on archinect at all? I'd like to hear his additional insight on the topic. I'm making my way through the full report now.
Syn - I agree with you except for the proposed blueline extensions to Woodfield/ Schaumberg and Blueline south branch to I-88 corridor. These 2 markets are ultra dense, techno burb edge city mega employers. I'd be willing to bet I-88 employs more people than the Loop. If we are going to get the millions and millions of increased users this is where we can find them in the short term. Infilling the city neighborhoods with more rail while ideal - and Id like to see it happen - the population settlement patterns arent there yet. Plus, theres a racial divide that will never be solved until the Federal government gets out of the landlord game. Simply put - people with money refuse to live next to public housing unless it falls below 10% - even then its spotty.
I say run that train to DuPage - I88 Yorktown is 2 miles south of the UP west line and 2 miles north of the BN SW line - its right in the middle of 2 of the busiest metras and would relieve the Eisenhower corridor - have you been on that thing lately? Its like a mass migration every day!
Actually my first post was somewhat misleading, if you read the report, I believe his primary focus is on more bus routes, more buses per route to reduce waiting times, and of course improvements in the quality and maintenance. He also discusses rail improvements which do consist of some new tracks. He specifically discusses focusing on areas that meet the following criteria.
• Medium to high densities of population and structures
• Mixed uses
• Limited parking
• Significant traffic congestion
• High quality transit service within walking distance
• Poor highway proximity
• Convenience retail within walking distance of most residents.
• Street frontage orientation (vs. campus style or other inward facing orientations)
The corridor you describe may fit these criteria. I believe the point is to stop trying to cover every single location equally, which tends to result in large underutilized areas and a general reduction of the overall system quality. Currently our resources are divided too thinly. If we instead focused the resources more finely, we could improve quality in the areas of highest use, which would have a cyclic effect of encouraging additional people to live in these areas.
That Aaron Renn paper is really interesting, and i found much of it really good. In particular, i found myself mostly convinced that extensions of existing lines should be held off on until infrastructure and rider experience improvements are made, though i very much question whether the circle line should be involved in that.
In my opinion, increased density in the loop is a fantastic thing, and i agree with the notion that it should be actively promoted. But in the long term, the Loop is physically just not a large enough area to trust with the entire future of the city. Too a certain extent, i believe we need to start developing the 2nd loop which will act as an addition to the center... a complementary loop.
It seems to me that a circle line could define a vague central district around the loop, granting the benefits of a centralized location to businesses and residents who cant or wont pay the premium of a Loop address.
Also, im very, very, very weary of any privatization of CTA function. As a matter of fact, im deeply distrusting of it as im a firm believe that THERE IS A SOCIAL FUNCTION inherent in public transportation. I could see myself accepting privatization of specific areas, like Loop busing, or airport rides on CTA Lines. But those privatized lines would need to be very strictly controlled, and their profitability great enough to ensure that the CTA can still maintain low density of use lines with the overflow profits of private sectors...
Here's his Blog...
One thing I wish the City and the CTA could work out is bus operator signal control for all stoplights along bus routs by the 2016 Olympics. Busses, EMS, Police and Fire trucks should be able to automatically switch a light as they approach turn or stop to ensure maximum efficiency and pedestrian and or passenger safety. Imagine what an improvement it would be in safety if school busses can make an intersection go red while they pick up or drop off students. A lot of the scheduling problems with bus lines in the city is the inability to control traffic, thus making it impossible to predict arrival times, traffic control capabilities would save time fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles which would only need to stop to pick up or drop off passengers. Sometimes pedestrians can out walk CTA busses in many congested areas and that is one of many problems in service and public perception the CTA needs to overcome.
Interesting..
One of the things he proposed was making owl rides free. How would keep it from becoming a rolling homeless shelter?
There must be a way to fix that.
I was surprised to hear that the CTA ridership peaked in 1948 at 1 billion. Last year it was 542 million, I think.
A lot of these issues go hand and hand. If you improve overall quality and ridership of the system, I think in some ways, the tendency for the stations to be homeless shelters goes down. Specifcally, stations and buses that are kept clean and policed (ie. more staff/security) shouldn't have as much of a problem. In my experience, the worst problems with crime and garbage in the stations occur in secluded locations, such as elevators and switchback corners. with more people around using the system, the opportunity for this negative behavior goes down.
At the same time, it would also be nice for the stations to have people monitoring riders and enforcing basic standards such as wearing shirts, shoes and not being covered in feces. I guess it is some kind of personal liberty issue? I'm not sure why the CTA can't impose their own guidelines.
Have you been on the Red Line at Howard after dark?
It's the farm in the zoo and the haunted house all in one!
No, there are some really creepy characters on the red line. I stopped one one early evening from fondling this woman and messing with someone else and really got into it with him. Everyone else just stood there thinking it wasn't their problem. If I hadn't interceded, they would have been next! I stopped the train and the cops took him away. There need to be more police on the red line and fewer in places like the Viagra triangle.
The red line needs cleaning up but the 'hood is back!!!!
Make
Yup exactly, that is a good point. I have been on the red line very late at night, and you are right, it can get out of hand. In those extreme areas and times, addtional security on the trains and at the stations is a must. This should include stopping certain people from entering the system.
Letdown
I think the CTA could also consider privitizing certain functions within the system, such as the cleaning of the stations or security. In this way they would maintain control of the transit systems, but perhaps save money by awarding 3 year (for example) contracts to clean the stations etc.
It's not just Chicago... This past Friday I got off work and went down into the Columbus Circle station for the subway ride home. Upon getting down to the platform level, I was immediate overwhelmed by the smell of body odor and human feces coming from a skell sitting on a bench. It was so strong I literally gagged... If my train hadn't shown up right then, I would've had to leave the station before throwing up.
(And later that night, a bunch of neighborhood thugs staged a near-riot in the street behind my building beginning at 4 AM and lasting for over an hour.)
As usual, the police are generally worthless in such situations unless somebody is actually waving a gun around.
I pretty much despise Rudy Giuliani, but I agree with his "broken windows" idea of policing. If transit systems -- and cities in general -- want to attract people and businesses, they need to get serious about quality-of-life issues and not just major crimes.
Rome a city known for its street crime has an interesting method for policing the subway and preventing its mass transit system from being a rolling homeless shelter, they simply require you to time stamp your fare card. When you enter the system you buy a paper ticket it is printed at the vending machine which can be quite a distance from the tracks and then you go onto the platform and insert your ticket and the time and date are stamped on it. You have 45 minutes to travel to your destination then you must buy another ticket and get it stamped, you can do this on any vehicle in the Roman Metro system Bus, Tram, train, subway.
Zurich has another interesting way of dealing with station security, and that is to make each station the place for 24 hr commerce, so if a similar strategy were to be applied to the CTA every station would have a Walgreen’s or other 24hr pharmacies, dinner or other business in the station. Imagine the convenience of a platform pickup window for prescriptions, and those business interests would make sure things remain safe and pleasant for the CTA passengers and their customers. Many CTA El stations handle thousands of passengers daily it is unfortunate that not a single one has been designed to capitalize on this foot traffic and help contribute to a busy populated place. Jane Jacobs called this “eyes on the street” or in this case eyes on the station, or bus stop, activity prompts attention which discourages some people from doing bad things. The station in Zurich that Calatrava designed is an excellent example of this, the security concern was with the underground transfer tunnels between the two platforms that serve three tracks, this is where a shopping concourse was introduced and two or three shops out of the twenty stay open all the time. You can get a beer and pretzel anytime, along with aspirin for the ensuing hangover. Also in Zurich if you “soil” a transit vehicle you are fined for the total cost of the cleanup, something we should think about here. If you tag or bomb a train you have to pay for the cost of cleaning the entire train inside and out.
One thing I dont buy in that paper is his critisicm of Metra - saying a ride to the station to go on a train isnt beneficial and shouldn't be promoted - I disagree because if you ride 3 miles to Metra to take a train 50 miles to the city - thats a net decrease in carbon, energy and all traffic. Why discourage that? I smell a little "I dont approve" of your suburban lifestyle sentiment in there. He specifically says Glen Ellyn = good other burbs = bad. Personally I think the CTA needs to taken away from the Chicago Machine and put into the hands of a Regional Authority with taxing powers and spending athority. The city is incapable of doing anything honestly and efficiently - unless you count ghost pay rolling and machine voting efficient.
PJN26,
Right on. The eyes on the street concept was what I was trying to get at in one of my earlier posts. You've made it much more clear, thanks!
The transit system in Hong Kong is much like the one you are describing in Zurich, the stations, including the subway, are bright and well lit, with all sorts of shops. Everything from 7 eleven convenience stores to cake shops, book stores, and boutique purse shops. It enlivens the space and really makes people treat it as they would any other clean public space, with a basic level of respect and care.
I really like the idea of a multi tiered busing system. Rather than building an entire second loop, or perhaps in the meantime while such a system is being constructed (I would imagine it taken 10+ years to build) the CTA could offer shuttle buses around the loop and to the immediate area around the loop. These would be priced very cheap (perhaps 25 or 50 cents a ride) and run very very regularly around the loop and up through river north, perhaps down to Roosevelt and throughout the near westside. This would be extremely cheap and could gain a lot of riders. Imagine if you wanted to go from the merchandise mart to the south loop (a walking trip or perhaps 15-20 minutes) and all you had to do is step out the door and catch one of the many buses running around regularly. This would be useful primarily in the most dense areas at the most busy times, but could bring in additional riders and get peoples used to the idea of using the CTA system.
Another idea, also from Hong Kong, is to work towards turning the Chicago card into a go everywhere, do everything card. This also works well in Hong Kong, once you put money on the card, you can spend it at 7 Elevens, or all kinds of other activities, such as at the movie theater. It is a nice convenience and encourages use of the system as a whole.
evilp,
The guys blog is Urbanophile, and he seems to have quite a resume of papers and research on many US cities, not just Chicago, so I think you are right, he probably does have a pro city bias, but I wouldn't label him a run of the mill anti suburbanite, In my opinion, his ideas are pretty comprehensive and level headed.
Ok, I've now suffered through a long commute on one of the new buses during all times of use : peak hours on a busy line, off-peak hours on a constantly busy line, and off-peak hours on an empty line, and I have to say:
The design of the new buses is absolutely asinine.
Anyone else had the (dis)pleasure of riding in them? What on earth possessed the designer to include enormous plastic barricades is what I want to know, and why did they take out half the seats at the same time?!
I am not sure which buses you are referring to, can you find an image or something? I take the #11 bus, as far as I know it is one of the new designs, and I don't have a problem with it at all.
What would you think of closing the top level of loop streets permanently to private vehicles? Say Congress North to the river and the river east to LSD. Make the top streets taxies, buses, trams, horse and buggies, bicycles, and pedestrians. Private autos have to use the lower two levels and all parking garages have to close their top level entrances if they have other entrances on lower levels. Maybe rideshare vehicles can be allowed to park on the street for free as a means to subsidize their use and further expansion.
I also agree with a regional transit Authority but I think it should be a 4 state authority. And we should stop the Peotone airport, No New airports unless you have carriers already lined up. And, for crying out loud, don’t vote for Mayor Daily. Socialist, republicans, libertarians, anarchist are all better choices than Chicago Democrats, just ask our former Governor soon to be radio shock jock. What will his show be called the F***ing golden hour?
Im all for transit improvements AND car capacity increases. The idea of creating a lower wacker was visionary - we should have more subterainian roadways. I also support the idea of converting the old beltline rails and rail rights of ways to truck superhighways and making a 2 tier highway system - 1 for cars 1 for trucks. We could have it all. We used to think that way.
I agree with limiting private automobile traffic in the loop and surrounding areas. Fees on parking garages should be increased substantially and new buildings should have the number of parking spots per unit decreased, not increased as has been the trend.
Evilp,
The cost of roadways per individual user are much too high and we've been subsidizing them for too long. the construction costs and maintenance costs of maintaining our roadway system and the development styles it supplements are much too high. Municipalities should begin the gradual process of getting out of the road construction industry. If new roads are really needed and are economically viable, they should be funded by the automobile and gas industries. I'd love to see how well the automobiles would compete when we stopped building their infrastructure. As it is now, when we build a road, it is just seen as standard government work, even when it involves running some stretch of road out to a handful of houses in the middle of nowhere, but when we build mass transit rail lines, that have much better performance in terms of environmental impacts and energy costs per rider, it is seen as some kind socialist handout.
Of course we still need to maintain our interstate highway system and most of our existing infrastructure, as we can't spontaneously change the development of existing buildings, but we should stop expanding the system through the addition of new none critical road stretches and adding lanes to our current roadways. Adding new lanes only encourages the unsustainable development.
Thats not entirely true - thats exactly what my automobile and architecture professor said to. Truth is the road leads to increased comercial activity, retail activity and general conectiveness that is impossible to measure, but the economic multiplier is definately real.
Most of the aversion to autos is the pollution factor. If cars were to approach 0 emission than why not have them all over? Cars are cool. People like them. They are great invention and offer personal freedom. I still say expand both. We could solve conjestion with smart road and GPS cordination using complex modeling - Id love to get in my car and type my destination and have the computer slot the cars appropriately to get us there most convienantly - it could happen.
Synergy
Are you opposing the suburban sprawl that occurs with new roads?
I do think we need to work harder to protect the prime farmland in the path of Chicago Land’s suburban sprawl. Do more of your shopping at farmer’s markets. Buy plants for your garden form local growers and be insistent that local nurseries source plants from local growers. Buy a farm share even if you can’t eat all of it give the excess to a local shelter, or neighbors. Buy green energy certificates using wind power. Wind power could be one mechanism to slow suburban sprawl. There are probably a few organizations that buy endangered farmland a tax deductible donation is probably a good idea. The government is not doing much to protect farmland in fact they do quite the opposite, perhaps the US department of agriculture should use their model of the national forest system to protect prime farmland.
that is a pretty massive IF, the fact is that cars are one of the most environmentally unfriendly modes of transit available, the only other major ones really worse are subsonic and supersonic air travel, which have the offsetting positive quality of providing extremely rapid transit. Emissions are part of the problem, but not the only part. Efficiency is another part, the drag coefficients and energy consumption per passenger mile can be as much as 5 times that of Bus systems.
Transit stops also provide stimulus to retail activity and connectiveness, without the associated environmental trade offs. If you produce your zero emissions car, let us know, but in the meantime, how about planning around existing conditions? I don't have an issue with cars in all cases, but clearly their use in cities can be detrimental to the urban fabric, inhibiting the very qualities and services that a city is most capable of providing.
Yup. I oppose surburban sprawl, it is very unsustanable to run roads, water and lines all across the country to service such low density. The cost of maintenance alone is crushing.
Synergy hit it right on... the inherent cost of low density development and all its trappings make it, in my opinion, the least sustainable option we have for mass development. I should clarify, suburban low/mid density... i suppose if we killed off half the earth we could sustain an agrarian society...
The infrastructure cost, both initial capital and maintenance are prohibitive... and personally i feel like we will, relatively soon, see the death of the typical suburb as model for development...
its a simple matter of redundancy in my mind... and this is obviously a simplified analogy, but if you have a mile of road, water, sewage and power connections, wouldn't you rather split the cost of maintenance with 20 people rather than 5?
Theres more than 5 households on this sewer main. This is rather dense. Im not totally defending it - but lets not say this is unsustainable just yet. Theres an estimated billion gallons of water leaked in Chicago everday - appearantly density + political patronage doesnt = efficiency either. I cant speak for sewer and water but for Com Ed - they much perfer the suburbs for ease of utility mantainance
50 miles south of the city
[url=http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.479985,-87.817905&spn=0.010305,0.020385&t=h&z=16
]typ. development in exurban Chicago[/url]
link
Stand alone suburban homes can be self-sufficient or relatively low consumers of energy. This is possible but it doesn’t happen very often. Vehicle miles necessary for people living in less dense areas go up considerably but energy efficiency in existing urban housing stock could offset their vehicular energy savings they get from effective mass transit.
Greening or weatherizing existing housing stock is a good starting point for our national energy policy since the benefits will last a lot longer than a new car or hybrid SUV.
I think the issue with the suburban homes is as much in the related infrastructure, as it is in their individual designs and energy demands.
The streets in the image provided EvilP service perhaps 10 homes and maybe 25 people per block? I would wager that the average street in my neighborhood, and much of the medium density areas of the city have 30 to 40 buildings, with 3 or 4 floor units per building, housing perhaps 150 or 200 people+ per similar stretch of road. That means you've got in the neighborhood of 5 to 10 times as many people using and funding a given stretch of road, sewer, electrical lines, internet lines etc. etc.
10 -18 ive been counting but Im sure the cost is recaptured in the taxes. The mains are pretty basic - concrete pipe and grout, they last 50 years or more. The city mains are more money and certainly run longer distances in the burbs but they are also easier to dig up compared to the city. The surban roads use a lot of asphalt but also dont get as beat up - It would be nice to have the kind of density we have in the city - I like it. But the market is the market because it affords us choices.
Its funny how the city people claim the suburbs are sucking up all the tax money and suburbanites complain the city is a black hole for money ala the Palatine / Barrington sucession from Cook County
I understand what youre saying evil and its not completely irrational, but even beyond basic infrastructural requirements, theres no economic redundancy that would ensure long term survival. Im not convinced, on the most basic level, that the infrastructure or building stock could survive a change of use like denser populations could.
I used to think the exact same thing lletdown - but the suburban housing stock is fairing better than the city's. Sace in point: Most of the flats in the city were built in the 1890s -1920s. By the 1950s they were essentially dilapidated. Except in gentrified areas they pretty much still are. The bungalows have faired much better. Contrast that to the post war ranch houses - the ranches are still concidered good stock in most places. 60 year life on the ranch - still strong. The flats in the same time frame got run down. Obviously economics and settlement dictated the abuse of the city's housing stock but these suburbban houses arent as cheaply built as accused.
That said - I totally support new urbanist planning and density for the suburbs. Just being a little devil's advocate here.
Actualy - let me retract that - I would love to see logical planning like extending the grid to exurbs - I grew up in an older inner burb which was on the grid, pretty dense with ultra dense downtown with train. Maybe Im partial but THAT model seems the best. Think Forest Park, Oak Park, LaGrange type planning.
Has anyone tried this chicago area party line yet?
link
So, there is a new Central City Action Plan for us... it involves a ton of new construction, and is a study in urban planning enhancements.
One thing that i think looks very positive about this, if it is at all indicative of the cities planning ideals, is that unlike many planners, there doesnt seem to be an infatuation with parks for parks sake. There is a lot of discussion of green and open space, but from what i can tell, they are directed. They seem to be specific and purpose driven, such as enhancing east west connections from downtown to the near north, northwest and west loop.
Theres a pretty sweet concept of a 'Kennedy cap' involved here... they are talking about constructing a park over the Kennedy between monroe and washington... now that would be incredible...
here is the PDF
Also, this seems to be getting some harsh play from Becker, mostly due to its reliance on TIF funds... now... i understand the negatives of TIF zones. I understand they syphon off much needed tax revenue from critical and often failing public services, but it seems to me that they can possibly allow for some really expansive additions to the city... what... dont you guys trust daley?
Of it all, the Clinton St. Subway is the most critical inho right now. The west loop, near southside, River West would be seeded for major densification. Given the available and in these areas available I cant think of another major city with so much potential for growth right in the downtown. Even sunbelt cities would drool. It would also help overcome the N/S travel accross the tangle of Metra tracks just west of the wolfs point and Kinzie Station -
As for paying for it? I can rest easy knowing it will be completely fucked up, overbudget, minority contractor giveaway free for all, union payouts, graft etc. Like Becker said - it could give the Big dig a run. Also as Becker said - this is a city that sunk a quarter billion dollars into a subway station they didnt even start work on, then mothballed it. Oh - it was also one of the busiest in the city.
Chicago is at a cross roads. Its past momentum is propelling it still - the mega corporations that were evolved out of the industrial past, the transportation hubs, the freight moving and storage - all this is a gift from our past. So is the corruption and one sided machine dominated politics and waste. We can still make big plans; but can we afford to pull them off going forward? The governance of this place has to change to survive.
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