So we CAN #PlowTheSidewalks. The original pilot was $1.5-3m. The reduced pilot was budgeted for at $500k, but rejected after Mayor Johnson forced it to be legislated anyway.

❌ Today, for a second quarter in a row, City Council has ghosted CTA at the quarterly hearings THEY mandated by law. This is profoundly unacceptable, particularly as we are rapidly racing toward a critical deadline for NITA board appointments that will have to be approved by Council.

Bike-a-palooza is coming up quick! Join us at Welles Park this Sunday, June 28th, from 5-8pm, for lots of bike fun, from test rides of bikes and ebikes to safety tips and a whole lot more!

A city report has found that Chicago's bike lanes don't hurt businesses. blockclubchi.co/4epHwpd

The deal also pumps millions of dollars into renovating the terminal — and saves the half-million people who use the station each year from potentially being kicked to curbside bus service.

Victory! After years of advocacy, Chicago City Council just voted 38-10 to save and fix the intercity bus terminal. This brings the City of Chicago’s intercity bus service into the future and solidifies our place as a major transportation hub in the Midwest. elpc.org/news/chicago...

🎉 It's official, we saved Chicago's intercity bus terminal! Today, Chicago City Council voted to purchase our former Greyhound terminal to establish a publicly-owned intercity bus terminal. This is a massive victory, and a testament to the years of organizing that brought us here today!

We still need your help in urging the City of Chicago to buy its intercity bus terminal before the ordinance moves to full council for final approval on Wednesday, June 17! Email your alder using this easy form from our partners at Better Streets Chicago. Then pass it along to a friend!

As our community continues to grieve the loss of Riley O’Neil, we joined @sashaannsimons.bsky.social on @wbez.org to discuss how we can make our streets safer — and prevent further tragedies like this from happening again.

Chicagoans, please take a few seconds to fill your info, they send an email automatically you don't even have to do it!

I’m currently in the lobby at this bus station. My weekend trip to visit family in Ohio cost $110, far cheaper than renting a car (~$400) or flying (~$300) and more convenient than Amtrak (arrives in Cleveland at 5am). Bus travel is great, actually, and we should make it easy and popular!

We’re so close. Keep putting on the pressure so Chicago buys its bus terminal! Intercity buses are an essential public service, especially for low-income people. Even once we have a high-speed rail network, intercity buses will be needed.

🎉 BIG NEWS – today the Committee on Housing & Real Estate has officially approved the purchase of 630 W Harrison to establish a publicly-owned intercity bus terminal! This now goes to full council for final approval. We need you to contact your alderperson today urging them to get the job done!

A ride and vigil honoring CDOT worker Riley O'Neil was held in Bridgeport. He died after being hit by a vehicle in an unprotected bike lane, the very kind he dedicated his career to replacing. Find this story on CBSChicago.com.

The bicyclist killed in a fatal Bridgeport traffic crash Friday was a Chicago Department of Transportation employee who had devoted much of his career to bike infrastructure, according to the city agency and others who knew him.

Our hearts go out to the CDOT complete streets team and all those who knew and loved Riley. We will honor Riley’s memory by continuing to fight for the safe streets he deserved — and that he spent his time in service to our community trying to win.

Riley was one of the few people you meet in public service that was always positive, always kind, and always believing he could play a role in making something better. When you find a magic Riley rack that is still free Divvy parking, Riley left it there for you. 💙🚲

CDOT lost the best of our team yesterday. We're heartbroken. In memory of Riley O'Neil, please refer to these bike racks as "Riley Racks". He led Chicago's bike parking program for several years. Our hearts are broken, but we want to make sure his legacy lives on 💙🚲 Please spread the word

Like we said a long time ago: Fund transit, not stadiums.

🎉🚇🚌 It’s official! The Northern Illinois Transit Authority is here, ushering in a new era of public transit for our region. Take the pledge to keep fighting for transit and email your legislators urging them to keep the promise of NITA at savetransit.org

🎉 Today the City took another big step forward in saving our intercity bus terminal, as the Committee on Finance unanimously approved an amendment to the Canal/Congress TIF to include the current Greyhound Terminal in the district. This is a critical first step towards municipal ownership!

From Us: the Editorial Board needs to stop being shills for the automotive and fossil fuel industries that have locked us into a transportation system that’s only 2nd to guns in how many people it kills every year.

This is IDOT, the same agency that wants to do giant swaths of lake infill to straighten out its lakefront expressway so people can speed even faster — only increasing runoff and particulate pollution.

The sw side is making the news this month. Unfortunately it’s because of all the high-speed crashes on our major streets. Eight crashes over a roughly eight-week span, with 25% of the people involved dead. Please pray for the families grieving a loss; they need strength and support right now.

On the left is @illinoisdot.bsky.social’s goals. They greenwash with pretty renderings, but we know better.

Today we joined @maryldixon.bsky.social and @pksmid.bsky.social on @wbez.org to discuss safety on public transit and answer caller questions about how we ensure everyone feels safe and comfortable and has access to the resources they need. Take a listen!

We’ve been sold personal joy while our civic spaces, values, and conversations have been eroding. There’s nothing wrong with personal joy, but it is limiting.

Meanwhile, in Chicago @illinoisdot.bsky.social is doubling down on a lakefront expressway largely because they’ve spent 13 years designing it and dismissing public opinion and would rather be done than do the right thing.

Today was a momentous day: a promise made 60 years ago, never forgotten, and now becoming a hard fought reality for Far South Side communities who’ve dreamed of this day for decades. The Red Line Extension has officially broken ground, charting a new era in Chicago transit history!

✅ It’s a good thing that CTA is ending its private security contract, and local news is not sharing with you the full picture.

They’re just taking us down the same road that @illinoisdot.bsky.social has laid out for projects like ‘Redefine the Drive’ where they prioritize moving cars at the expense of everything and everyone else.

“This body has not only a responsibility to the citizens of Chicago to ensure that Chicagoans have world class access to intercity bus travel, but you have a duty to the American people to ensure that our national bus network doesn’t collapse.”

Statement on behalf of of Sierra Club Chicago, Southeast Environmental Task Force, @betterstreetschicago.org & People for Community Recovery, regarding Chicago's City Council vote on a Zoning Chair cc @mayorofchicago.bsky.social @chicagompo.bsky.social

I have vivid memories of picking friends up and dropping them off at this station because the bus was the only affordable way for them to reach Chicago, and it'd really suck to lose it to real estate BS. Fingers crossed.

Yes!!

🎉 BIG NEWS: the Community Development Commission just unanimously voted to recommend that City Council purchase Chicago's intercity bus terminal! This is a HUGE step forward in our years of advocacy to save intercity bus travel in Chicago.

"There's no we we could do that in the US." 20 years ago there was no way they could do it in France, but here we are.

Sometimes people are worried about letting their kids ride the train, whether in New York City, or here in Chicago, but Doug Gordon of @thewaroncars.bsky.social explains how his kids started riding transit, and what it teaches them about the world!

Public transit deserves to be celebrated and valued, and needs it's stories told! That's something Nora Leerhsen mentioned during a recent conversation with @thewaroncars.bsky.social at an event hosted by @betterstreetschicago.org! How do you celebrate transit?

Better Streets Chicago put on a fantastic show this past Saturday, featuring @thewaroncars.bsky.social hosts Sarah Goodyear & Doug Gordon giving us some Chicago history and interviewing acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen, and comedy group Funny You Should Care giving us great sketch comedy!

On Sunday, 18-year-old Damian Gomez was tragically killed in a hit-and-run while biking on the Southwest Side. If you are able to, please consider supporting his family as they grieve.

When people say the Southwest Side doesn't need biking infrastructure, we need to think about the young people dying while riding their bikes on these roads. 18 years old. Devastating for this family and community.

It sure is and a lot more on that 🔜

My cup feels so full after this event. AND my buses home and the transfer between them were perfectly timed. Is anything better!!!

Great event tonight with @thewaroncars.bsky.social organized by @betterstreetschicago.org with laughs by @funnyyoushouldcare.bsky.social. Inspired to hear the hosts of the podcast I've listened to for years talk about Chicago, and to see such a great crowd turn out!

Doug and Sarah put on a fantastic show, and we were so excited to get to photograph it - we'll have some shots coming in a few days!

Many thanks to @betterstreetschicago.org for hosting us and to the more than 200 people who came to our LIFE AFTER CARS show in Chicago this evening. The lovely coda to it all was riding the bus back downtown with our guest, Acting @chicagocta.bsky.social President Nora Leerhsen!

#MajorTaylorTrail cleanup happening on Sat. 4/25. We would love to see you there. #bikechi If you have work gloves, please bring them. @chi.streetsblog.org @betterstreetschicago.org www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...

Join us TONIGHT for a fun time with @thewaroncars.bsky.social! There’s still some tickets available — purchase online or at the door, and come learn about what a Life After Cars can look like!