Things in Washington, D.C., are nuttier than ever in the wake of the multiple Trump-related felony convictions earlier this month, but at least some reason prevailed this year in regards to federal transit policy.
That’s not to say that there weren’t some low points. Drivers had fatally struck six people on bikes on Chicago streets as of mid- December. In August cyclists were particularly shaken by the death of Angela Park, 39, a spin instructor and triathlon coach who was run over by a truck driver in Greektown during the morning rush.
Transportation-related equity concerns continued to be a major issue this year. This summer the Chicago Police Department admitted that officers have written exponentially more tickets for bike infractions in some communities of color compared to majority-white neighborhoods as a strategy to conduct searches for contraband.
Meanwhile, the $41 million Loop Link express bus corridor has resulted in only modest speed gains. The Active Transportation Alliance also put out bus service report cards for all 50 wards, and found that most parts of the city got mediocre or failing grades for speed and reliability. Clearly if we’re going to stop the ridership bleeding, we need to implement robust time-saving features like camera-enforced bus lanes and prepaid boarding.
