Tag Archives: Chicago

America’s best buses

Good announced the winners of the Best Bus Ride contest. (Actually, they announced them a week ago but neglected to inform me, one of the actual judges. As my brother Jeremy would say: Hated it!)

“Judges’ Selection: Green Line Rapid Transit Kansas City, Missouri

Best Bus Ride - judges' selection

Image: Arthur Cherry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Judges Selection Photo will be featured in the next issue of GOOD magazine and will receive a monthly unlimited ride transit pass on your system, a year subscription to GOOD magazine, and a Transportation Alternatives’ “Room to Breathe” poster.

People’s Choice: The #29 in Chicago, Illinois

Best Bus Ride - people's choice

Image: Alex Burchard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our People’s Choice winner will receive a Contested Streets documentary, a Not For Tourists Guidebook, and a one-year subscription to Transportation Alternatives’ Reclaim Magazine.”

The Midwest represented, despite the fact that the majority of the finalists were from the West Coast. (Three of the 15 were from Seattle, in fact.) My pick (also from the Midwest) didn’t win, but these two were high on my list.

Can’t wait to do this again next year.

Transit in the news

1) An ad against buses–on a bus.

The political ad shows a Rapid transit bus that has morphed into a pig. It’s eating money and spewing pollution.

“This pig stinks!” it reads in bold letters.

What is most surprising is the venue — it soon will appear on the back of a Rapid bus.

A group paid $290 to place the 21-by-72-inch ad on the bus for a month to show its opposition to a transit system millage campaign.

(Source: Grand Rapid Press, via Mass Transit magazine)

2) Chicago businesses request higher taxes to increase investment in transit.

The state must give the Regional Transportation Authority the power to raise additional revenue, including increasing the sales tax and levying a gasoline tax of up to 5 percent per gallon, the business-backed civic group Chicago Metropolis 2020 said.

“This is a group of business people standing up and saying, ‘We’re willing to push for additional taxes, including a gas tax.’ This is very significant,” said George Ranney Jr., Chicago Metropolis’ president and CEO.

[…]

“Action is needed this legislative session to prevent further damage to the region’s economy and global competitiveness,” the group’s executive council said in the letter and position paper, which were obtained by the Tribune.

(Source:Chicago Tribune, via Mass Transit)