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Showing posts with label chicago transit authority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago transit authority. Show all posts

Thursday, January 11, 2024

#TBT Michigan Avenue in Roseland

Long time no see. Allow me to wish you all a Happy New Year. Hopefully the past holiday season was a wonderful and joyous one.

I found the three pics below in the Roseland History Group on Facebook and just though this was a great look back at Michigan Avenue in the past. And my hope is that one day it could go back to its former glory. Especially once that Red Line extension is finally built

The first two pics shows the area surrounding the long demolished State Theater which is about one block north of 111th Street. It appears these two photographs below are shown on the Cinema Treasures site credited to Dr. Gene Ossello and was taken in 1967.

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Red Line extension gets $2 billion, one step closer to reality

Well this is what the Sun-Times says that $2 billion is pledged towards.

The $3.7 billion Red Line extension has “advanced to the final phase” of the painstaking, federal funding process. The feds are making a $2 billion commitment to cover half the cost and authorizing CTA to advance to the engineering stage, which CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. called the “final step ... in order to begin construction.”

The CTA hopes to award an engineering and construction contract and begin preliminary work before the end of this year, then reach the final step — a full-funding grant agreement with the feds. That would pave the way for construction of the extension and four stations to begin in 2025.

“You have heard us talk about this project for decades, but I’m here to tell you the project is now happening,” Carter told a news conference at the Red Line Extension Community Outreach Center, 401 W. 111th St.

The Red Line extension includes new stations at 103rd; 111th Street near Eggleston Avenue; along Michigan Avenue near 116th Street; and the new terminus at 130th Street near Altgeld Gardens.
Here's a WGN story about this which aired on the news yesterday. It features comments from Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Mayor Brandon Johnson, CTA Pres. Dorval Carter, and Ald. Anthony Beale as he will benefit from this new L branch. [VIDEO

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Uncontrolled bus almost backs into oncoming traffic on 95th!

 

[VIDEO] Just had to share this with you all and it seems very scary. An unmanned err sorry not very PC it had no operator driving. It had no driver and it rolled backwards into traffic and had two CTA personnel try to stop the bus from the outside. One of them seemed to be trying to stop the bus from the front. Well bad idea, very dangerous idea.

They were able to stop the bus, anoter CTA driver was able to open the doors to the bus and probably knew what control to activate to finally bring the bus to a stop.

In the description from YouTube channel locoooo

The operator of the bus did not apply the parking brake prior to getting off the bus . When the bus shut off for idling , it began rolling back into oncoming traffic

This video was filmed on May 17, 2023. 

Monday, March 20, 2023

Chicago Tonight: CTA & City eyes community centric development around future Red Line extension #Ward09 #ChiMayor23

 

[VIDEO] I suppose this could be a question for both Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson for the 2023 runoff, what is their position on the CTA Red Line extension. What would they be able to do to make this future extension into Ward 9/Roseland a reality?

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

CBS Chicago: City council approves funding for CTA Red Line extension

 

[VIDEO] Here are a few more details from Crain's, this TIF was noted in a recent CTA video about the future extension from 95th Street to 130th Street.

The City Council on Wednesday approved the creation of a new tax-increment financing district to create $950 million over three decades to help pay for the $3.6 billion extension of the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line from 95th Street south to 130th Street.

“Our community has been disconnected” from the city, said Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, whose Far South Side ward will be home to much of the extended rail line. Beale, who’s a frequent critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, thanked the mayor for pushing for the TIF to support the project.

The new TIF will capture future property tax growth within portions of five wards—the 3rd, 4th, 11th, 25th and downtown 42nd—to pay for land acquisition and other costs involved in the project.

The 5.6-mile extension plan also includes four new stations to be located at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue (between 115th and 116th streets) and a new 130th Street terminal.

Monday, December 12, 2022

CTA Red Line extension project

 

[VIDEO] Obligatory update on the Red Line extension via CTA. The extension is moving forward towards securing funding. You see footage of Mayor Lightfoot announcing a TIF that would contribute towards building the Red Line extension to 130th Street. This was uploaded to CTAs YouTube channel two days ago.

We also see a concept of the new stations on the extension. Seems lofty to see at least in the distant future new residential development and a coffeeshop named for Makayla. Hmmm I seem cynical?

Well I like to see where some of these communities will be especially if projects like this come to fruition. Perhaps there will be a Makayla Coffeeshop in the community in the near future and hopefully other amenities beyond that. Wait I like the idea of a Roseland Coffee House, and right on the same lot where the old Coffee Pot restaurant used to be.

Another term that has come up in this video is equity. Equity in public transit and equity in as far as who gets contracts to build this new infrastructure.

My deal, however, is when will this project get the federal funding and go forward? 

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Anyone having issues with CTA bus service?

 

[VIDEO] Are you experiencing issues with CTA bus services on the south side? 

According to this report from ABC 7 Chicago absenteeism is the reason why buses are delayed. Absenteeism out of the 77th Street garage are at 18% out of the 103th Street garage it's 17.6% however on the north side at North Park it's 10%. CTA has about 1000 vacancies for frontline positions with the majority of these open positions for bus drivers.

Thursday, October 6, 2022

I'm sorry I missed out on CTA 75th anniversary part 2

 

[VIDEO] I mentioned the old L cars in a previous post which showed a ride on an old CTA bus. These L cars and buses are part of CTA's heritage fleet and on October 1st the Chicago Transit Authority celebrated 75 years. 75 years ago the CTA was created merging Chicago's previously separate and privately owned transit services - primarily the L and streetcar services - and the merger of the bus service would come separately in 1952.

What you see in this video is the 4000-series car. And sadly I never had the chance to see these in actions in my life as they were retired long before I was born. I think before this series served on CTA's L system most of the rolling stock were wooden cars. These cars were the ones permitted to run through the State Street subway when it was opened for service during the 1940s.

I'm glad artistmac was able to record most of heritage fleet that were on display this past weekend.

Monday, October 3, 2022

I'm sorry I missed out on CTA 75th anniversary

On October 1st you could ride some of the heritage fleet equipment from old CTA L trains to old CTA buses. Such as this one which marked a lot of my transit rides in my youth the old fishbowl GM buses. I would've been very cool to have taken a ride on one of these buses again. [VIDEO]



Sunday, August 7, 2022

Block Club Chi: Red Line extension is now closer than ever

 The most recent reporting on the future Red Line extension which will take the L further south into Roseland to 130th Street. As I read this article no money has been allocated to start this project yet.

Block Club Chi:

Thursday, April 21, 2022

State ends mask mandate on public transit

 I didn't update this when it happened, however, worth sharing for those of you who ride public transportation especially. CTA was still putting up tweets saying mask up until restrictions are lifted and then Gov. Pritzker lifted them on Tuesday the same two as the last two posts.

From the recent press release 
To align with the ending of the enforcement of the federal mask mandate on public transportation following a federal court ruling, Governor Pritzker today announced he will revise Illinois' executive order executive order lifting those requirements for the State of Illinois. As a result, masks will no longer be required on public transit, in public transit hubs, or in airports. Executive Order 2022-06 will be amended to reflect these changes. Local municipalities retain the right to establish their own mitigations, including masking requirements on public transportation.

I also want to add the most recent tweet from CTA on this subject 

From the NBC Chicago article you see where Midway and O'Hare stands with masks, Uber if you use that service, and for those of you who ride Metra & Pace masks are now optional there as well.


Sunday, March 27, 2022

Sun-Times: CTA worker charged with shooting man at Red Line station

 This incident happened at the 95th terminal at 2 AM Saturday morning

A Chicago Transit Authority employee is accused of shooting a man multiple times during an argument at a Red Line station on the South Side, according to Chicago police and CTA officials.

Sylvester Adams, 53, was arrested moments after the shooting at the 95th/Dan Ryan station early Saturday morning and charged with attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon, police said.

He was scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday.

Cell phone video that was posted to Twitter appears to show Adams arguing with the man just before the shooting, which police said happened just before 2 a.m. Saturday at the 95th/Dan Ryan station.

What led to the argument was not immediately clear.

The man is seen pushing Adams to the ground, who gets up and appears to reach into his pocket and pull out a gun.

The man who shoved Adams then walks away down a set of stairs, and the transit worker follows him, the video shows.

“He got his pipe, boy,” a bystander at the station says before the CTA worker appears to fire one shot from the top of the stairs, pauses and then fires off several more rounds in rapid succession down the stairs, the video shows.

I've seen video of an altercation taking place at 95th which involves a CTA worker being shoved on the ground by a customer. And this Sun-Times article cites that this same video was posted to @CPD1617Scanner. I won't embed that tweet here, however, I will link to it. All I saw was the shove and the worker following the man down the stairs.

CPD1617Scanner shares a lot of videos of things going down around the city and their vids have been shown on such cable outlets as FOX News.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Seen the new 7000 series L cars on the Red Line yet

 

[VIDEO] It appears they're in service on the CTA Red Line as of Monday. Chicagoland Transit on YouTube is showing these newest train sets in action either on the north side and as far south as 63rd Street. Perhaps I'll finally see these trains in action and certainly ride on one.

If you're tired of facing the aisles when you ride this train doesn't have aisle facing seating. Aside from of course priority seating for the elderly or passengers with disabilities.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

CTA Red Line extension meeting regarding the station at 130th street

 I'm sorry I haven't be able to adequately advertise these virtual townhalls regarding the CTA Red Line extension. One had just passed last night, however, regarding the proposed station at 103rd Street as you see in the flyer below. There will be two other meetings on the 103rd Street and Michigan Avenue stops later this month.


Meanwhile StreetsBlog Chicago has a recent story about the meeting about the 130th Street stop for the proposed Red Line extension

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Can't wait to see this new train on the red line extension

 

[VIDEO] This video was shot in October on the north side showing a test run of the future 7000-series cars that will soon be running on the Chicago L. And in spite of the title, perhaps we'll see this train running on the CTA long before construction begins on the red line extension that is still being discussed.

The horn is different as it sounds like a real horn, younger generations of Chicagoans have heard horns from trains that sound more electronic. And the design is certainly much different almost reminiscent of the old 2000-series, 2200-series or even the 2400-series (especially the colored front ends).

Another quick note according to the 7000-series page at Chicago-L.org these cars are being manufactured at a plant on 111th & Cottage Grove right in Pullman. The 2000-series cars were also constructed there in 1964, the last L cars to be constructed in Chicago.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

CTA Red Line extension project #RLEReady #Ward09

[VIDEO] CTA has a new video out about the CTA Red Line extension that is still being planned that takes the Red Line further south into Roseland and Altgeld Gardens where the final destination is 130th Street. The next critical phase for this ambitious project is construction which is expected to cost $2.3 billion half of that would come from federal funding and the rest from non-federal funding i.e from the city of Chicago, state of Illinois and/or even CTA itself.

I like these renderings of the various stops on the southbound Red Line extensions.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

CTA Dan Ryan 1969 grand opening brochures

 

[VIDEO] I enjoyed this look back at the L as it was over 51 years ago. The unveiling of then new bright shiny object on CTA. The line many riders might complain about over the years. One of the busiest on the system. Its been through many changes, but I wonder if this compares to it's grand opening.

Also artistmac made a quick shot at the fact that 50 years later the L still hadn't been extended further south since then. However, plans are in motion though most won't be happy until those plans are executed finally.

I look forward to the future grand opening of the Red Line extension.

Friday, June 19, 2020

Tribune: CTA and Pace buses will begin collecting fares again, as riders slowly return to public transit

If you've gotten used to boarding the rear of a CTA bus during the course of this coronavirus pandemic, that time is ending. If you enjoyed avoiding paying your fare, especially for those of you who prefer to pay with cash as opposed to using a ventra card those days are about to end.
In another sign that things are getting closer to normal in the Chicago area, the CTA and Pace will start collecting bus fares again, and the CTA will end rear-door boarding.

The CTA will require customers to enter buses via the front door and pay fares starting Sunday, while the Pace suburban bus service resumes fare collections Monday.

Both agencies had waived fare collection as a way to protect operators and passengers from the coronavirus. But since the agency started rear-door boarding in April, the state and the agency have adopted other ways of keeping people safe, including providing masks for all drivers, requiring that passengers be masked, and implementing new cleaning technology, said CTA spokesman Brian Steele.

The agency limits the number of passengers on buses to no more than 15 people on a 40-foot bus and no more than 22 on a 60-foot bus. The CTA also has a ridership information dashboard on its website that shows when buses are the most crowded to help people choose a better time to travel.

Keith Hill, president of the bus drivers’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, said his group agreed with the resumption of front-door boarding. Hill noted the CTA had agreed to increase the “standee line,” or how far passengers have to stand back from drivers, to more than six feet.
In addition to outdoor dining, opening the lakefront, even allowing businesses that provide such services as barbers, pedicures, tatoos, etc to reopen it's a start!