Old enough to remember when CTA insisted they never cut any service during Covid

Happy Autumnal Equinox. Happy Chicagohenge. Today, we move into another season of the year.

And… no bsky.app/profile/unra...

perfect, no notes

Big news about Broadview, if true

lol go birds

Train on the ground?

More people living in your neighborhood means your share of property taxes will be lower. Let people build more housing

Retvrn

Bus vs. house on the Northwest Side twitter.com/dunningwatch...

If you like expanded UP-N weekend service, you’ll love regional rail. We’re probably about 95% of the way there in terms of infrastructure, all that’s left to do is #BuildTheTunnel

Once again poking my way through the West Side on the Blue Line, thinking about Oakley Terminal again

Today, Chicago’s third-busiest regional rail line got its most robust weekend schedule since at least 1981. These people are about to board a train during the middle of what was a two-hour gap in service. As a transit planner, there’s almost nothing better than watching people use a new service.

I have a major piece in Bloomberg Citylab today. Should the US let transit fail, as Pennsylvania is already doing? And if not, what are the arguments we need to let it succeed? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Regional coordination update: right now the fastest “transit” trip between two DuPage County Metra stations is a 4-mile walk

Happy new UP-N weekend schedule day to all who celebrate schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternat...

Time flies when you're having fun: the next #YardSocial train crawl is one week away! Our annual OktoberWest train crawl is next Saturday, September 27, shaking things up this year by riding the *other* West Line. Crawl kicks off at Oak Park (technically Forest Park) for lunch at 11:30am.

Will next carjacking or road rage incident will prompt USDOT to pull funding for highway authorities? www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Taking is too easy. But that’s the way it is.

So this story claims the CTA has 14 days to comply, but the actual letter was apparently sent over a week ago, so apparently the CTA only has six days to respond if they haven't done so already www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

HARDEST PHOTO OF 2025 JUST DROPPED

Freedom is when you get tear gassed by the secret police for protesting on a public street

CTA wants a bailout: more taxpayer money to let them keep doing what they’ve been doing for decades without changing or adapting. Advocates want a transformational investment that not only funds the system but fundamentally changes how we serve a 21st Century metropolis. The two are not the same.

lol Pace just passed me because a car took down the light pole that had the bus stop sign on it #BackboneOfTheSuburbs

Trump dissolving natural regional enmities and inspiring the rise of True Chicagoland Solidarity. Truly the hour of the Great Khan is at hand @nomads.bsky.social

Regional coordination update: the county/CTA put a Narcan vending machine at Harlem/Lake, a half-block away from where the Village of Oak Park has had Narcan distribution for the past few years

Office hours at the Caboose, so let’s open it up for another #BuildTheTunnel AMA for the commuter crowd. Whatcha got?

If you’re in Naperville, or other burbs, you can even tell people you’re from Chicago now and we won’t make fun of you. New battle lines have been drawn.

It would be a great afternoon to #BuildTheTunnel yard-social.com/crosstowners

Naperville rise up

Bus stop consolidation should be paired with crosswalk enhancements at the remaining stops

In this update from the Iowa Assoc. of Railroad Passengers, there’s new details on the Chicago-Quad Cities (Moline) corridor, with its ongoing challenges spending the long-active federal funding and restoring this route to service.

This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.

1st Ward town hall to discuss and learn about the state of transit in Chicago with Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, Rep. Kam Buckner, and a representative from the CTA. The Den Theatre 1331 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago, Illinois 60622 Saturday, September 20, 2025 12:00pm - 1:30pm docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

📍 Join us this Saturday at Truman College for a State of Transit Town Hall. 🗣️ Speak out against service cuts and discover what’s ahead for our transit system. 🔗 Register now to be part of the conversation. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Buses get stuck in traffic. Motorists *are* traffic.

Forest Park Branch currently has an “emergency single track” because of a busted rail at Western, in case anyone was wondering how things have been on the West Side lately

Real lazy downstate reporting that totally glosses over that the transit bill would also include $200 million annually for downstate transit operators www.25newsnow.com/2025/09/17/r...

What’s at stake here is free speech. Across the board, we’ve seen the Trump administration use the power of government to go after anybody who’s criticized them — and in this case, Jimmy Kimmel. We need to all stand up and speak out.

No matter how bad the headways get, there’s always another train later. Don’t do this.

📍Jeffery Blvd (Bryn Mawr) #BuildTheTunnel

Just 4 weeks until the October veto session! This Saturday, September 20th there are TWO transit town halls to learn about how transit is essential to all Chicagoans, learn how to get involved, and ask any questions. Join us at the Den Theatre or attend at Truman College on the North Side at noon!

Metra board meeting notes: CFO says that, with the RTA's mandated 10% fare increase in February, Metra won't truly go over the cliff until late 2026/early 2027. However, without a fiscal cliff solution in Springfield, there will likely be a *second* fare hike later in 2026 & service cuts in 2027-28.

👀 assets.metra.com/s3fs-public/...

Minor hiccup with all of this: LiUNA and Local 150 publicly supported the transit bill

Not the point but Franklin Park doesn’t have any Chicagoans

The federal government is killing federal transportation grants nationwide because the projects they would have funded are designed to help pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders—rather than drivers.

Amid these ICE raids, something folks should understand about the Chicago suburbs is that a lot of stereotypes about the era of white flight from the city do not apply. A lot of these folks were priced out of Chicago and many commute to work here. They are part of the same social fabric.

This also describes conversation with more than a few of my friends

One of the fiscally-irresponsible shell games state Republicans are trying to play with transit is earmarking interest from the Road Fund for transit operations, which will inevitably zero out once we use the Road Fund for its intended use