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Free high resolution maps of Chicago on which to draw

November 28, 2012 / / 0 Comments

For a Grid Chicago article I was writing, I wanted to draw on a map to demonstrate to readers where people were commuting and not commuting. I wanted the map to show CTA lines. I didn’t want to use a Google Maps screenshot because it would have been low resolution, and I didn’t think the styling would be appropriate.

I opened up TileMill and whipped up my own maps! I already had the base layers set up for the Chicago Bike Map app, so I duplicated that project and then added the Chicago Transit Authority and Metra train lines with data and styles prepared by OpenPlans (created for its Chicago bike sharing Shareabouts installation; download the data and styles here). Highways, the most common geographic reference point in cities, are also included on the map.

Data comes from OpenStreetMap contributors and the styling is OSM-Bright.

Go grab them on Flickr. Use them as needed but please provide attribution to “Steven Vance, OpenPlans, and OpenStreetMap contributors”.

Chicago map, with Metra

Chicago map, with CTA

Chicago map, with CTA and Metra

This is not an acceptable way for transit operators to deal with slow bus traffic

November 26, 2012 / / 8 Comments

The bus operator of a 36/Broadway bus drives illegally in the bike and parking lanes on Clark Street between Goethe and Schiller Streets in Old Town on October 30, 2012, at 17:24. I’ve already reported it to the Chicago Transit Authority’s feedback@transitchicago.com email address. Although the run number isn’t visible in the photo, you can see the bus number in my other photo. Couple that with the time and location and you can find the driver.

There are two better ways, but it’s a kind of Catch-22:

  1. Reduce the number of cars on the road by providing fast transit that attracts more passengers who used to drive cars.
  2. Provide fast transit that attracts more passengers who used to drive cars, by reducing the number of cars.

This pisses me off. Driving in the bike lane and parking lane, to bypass automobile traffic congestion, is not how to speed up bus traffic. Gabe Klein talked a lot about CDOT’s partnership with CTA in my interview with him (see below). I kept bugging him in the interview about CDOT can actually speed up CTA. He didn’t say anything that was meaningful or systemic, though. Sure he mentioned the Jeffery Jump and other BRT projects, but how do you speed up 100+ bus lines in the city and get more people on transit? You reduce the number of cars. That’s the only way. Or build more grade separated transit, which is extremely costly.

There are many ways to reduce the number of trips by car. I already told you one, in the Catch 22 above. But you can also improve the bicycling infrastructure. Except it’s useless if it keeps getting driven and parked in.

Vance: What about CDOT’s ability to manage congestion? That greatly affects the CTA’s ability to run buses reliably for over 1 million trips per day. Aside from signal optimization and upgrades around the city, including Transit Signal Priority, the plan doesn’t mention goals to change road congestion (like decreasing the number of single occupancy vehicle trips). Can you address this?

Klein: For one thing, we don’t have full control over the parking meters. In my prior life I was really working with the parking system to upgrade it, and to use that as a congestion pricing mechanism. However, the private entity that manages the parking. They’ve upped the prices, but it’s not dynamic (which I think is optimal) but we’re interested in working witht he company to give a better customer service experience with parkers. Like giving better information. If they knew about the parking and traffic situation downtown, they might use another mode.

Knowledge is power, and there’s way we can get the information out there.

We did have to prioritize what we want to do in two years. We’re a small DOT. We’ve a lot of work on our plate, but we don’t have a lot of resources.
800 people, includes front line workforce. With consultants, it’s over 1,000.

Even though we don’t run CTA, we work seamlessly with them. I feel comfortable doing transit stuff, especially on BRT. We’ve gotten $150,000 from Rockefeller to work on “soft costs”

BRT can help relieve congestion. It moves considerably and it can be an alternative to driving.

Carrot and stick, you see cordon pricing, parking pricing, parking info (seen in Europe).

We’re trying to use a lot of carrot. Give people a lot of options. So the SOV isn’t the default on every trip. I can walk my kid with me to the grocery store and not get run over. It’s about firing a lot of different cylinders.

Part of this interview was published in Grid Chicago in May 2012 about the Chicago Forward Action Agenda.

Converting shapefiles to GeoJSON, and other format conversions

November 12, 2012 / / 0 Comments

To develop the Chicago Bike Map app, I had a problem I thought would be simple to solve: load train lines into a Leaflet-powered map. I had the train lines stored as a polyline shapefile but Leaflet can only read the GeoJSON format or a string of geographic coordinates representing lines.

I eventually found a solution (I can’t remember how) and I need to share it with you. The converter can do more than ESRI shapefiles to GeoJSON. It can reproject the data in the conversion. It can convert from several formats to several other formats.

The site is called MyGeodata Converter. You upload a ZIP file of geographic files – .shp and its companion files (.prj, .dbf, .shx), .kml, and .gpx. Let’s take the Chicago Transit Authority train lines shapefile straight from the City of Chicago’s open data portal. It downloads as a zipped collection of a shapefile and its buddies and we can take this file straight to the Converter and upload it. The Converter will unzip it and read the data; it will even identify the projection system (for Chicago-based geographic data, its common to use NAD83 Illinois StatePlane East FIPS 1201 Feet (SRID 102671, the same as SRID 3435).

The Converter will convert to one of the following formats, with same or new projection; accepts SQL statements to extract a subset of data:

  • ESRI shapefile
  • GML
  • KML, KMZ
  • GeoJSON
  • Microstation DGN
  • MapInfo File
  • GPX
  • CSV

WorkCycles Fr8 fits on the CTA’s bus-bike rack!

November 11, 2012 / / 12 Comments

If you ride a bike more than you use other transportation modes, and you visit online forums, then you probably know that the correct number of bikes is n+1. I got a new bike this year, but it was partly to replace the cargo carrying capabilities I lacked after selling my Yuba Mundo in the spring.

Two weekends ago I passed by the Chicago Transit Authority headquarters to test if my WorkCycles Fr8 could fit in the Sportworks VeloPorter 2 bus-bike rack the CTA uses on most buses (it’ll eventually replace the red ones). I don’t know if Pace buses have the same model.

It fits! (I feel like saying “It blends!”)

I already knew that the WorkCycles Transportfiets would fit, having made a video of it last year. But they seemed to be of different dimensions (they probably aren’t) and I wanted to check ahead of time lest I embarrass myself and delay a bus if I tested it in the field.

Actually, I wasn’t worried that the Fr8 wouldn’t fit, I was worried that it wouldn’t fit securely under the spring-tensioned arm with the yellow grip. I have a burly front rack and metal fenders that wouldn’t be able to budge. See how that worked out for me in the photo below. Additionally, my bike weighs 50 pounds unloaded (and without the red basket) – the Sportworks specifications note that each bike tray holds 55 pounds. Phew!

Last weekend I took the Fr8 on its first ever train journey, from the Clinton Pink/Green Line station to the California Pink Line station. The Pink Line uses the 5000-series cars, which are brand new from Bombardier’s factory in New York. They have the distinction of providing two wheelchair-accessible spaces in every car instead of one. This means there are two fewer “modesty panels” in the vestibule. It offers more room to position and park your bike – it works out great; see photo below. It still doesn’t provide enough room for a passenger to bring a bike aboard, stay put, and let other passengers in and out of the door. Passengers with bikes will still need to pay attention to the announcements to know which door will open at the next station and move their bike accordingly.

Looking for a WorkCycles of your own? You can contact them directly in Amsterdam. Shipping is €200, which is a really good deal now. You can also contact J.C. Lind Bike Co. who will become a dealer soon.