Where is Public Transportation Heading?

6030179287_348c3d3630_z — Wicker Park Image by Joshua Mellin

The Active Transportation Alliance launched Riders for Better Transit to organize transit riders in the Chicago region so they can fight for better service such as BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) around town, modernizing the Red Line, and modernizing Union Station.

Riders for Better Transit thinks that more investment in our rapid transportation system at the state and national levels would make public transportation an even better option than it is now.

You can take their survey and you might even win a gift card. Check out their site while you are at it. Tell them what issues are most important to you. Take the survey by Sept. 30 and be entered in a raffle for a $100 Visa gift card.

In 2010 the CTA cut bus service by 19 percent and rail service by 9 percent in order to make ends meet. That’s no way to get more people to use buses, the L and trains.

What riders need are improvements like a universal fare system. Think, one card to ride them all, CTA, Metra and Pace, so you could transfer from one to other to get where you need to go. While there are apps to track buses and trains for CTA and Pace riders, posting up to-the-minute arrival times online for all trains and buses in the region, and adding permanent signs at bus stops and train stations for people without a smartphone would be a great improvement. Why should arrivals and departures be unknown in our age of 24/7 connections?

Check out the site, and get involved if you see public transit in your future.