A Brief Introduction to Bicycling in Chicago

By John Greenfield
Photos by Don Sorsa, T.C. O'Rourke and John Greenfield

[This piece also ran in Momentum Magazine, http://momentumplanet.com/.]


Chicago is a chessboard, its vast, flat grid a playing field for pedalers who plot their moves across the plane.

Though situated beside ocean-like Lake Michigan, the town’s “Windy City” nickname refers to blustery politicians, not weather. Still, winters in this municipality of nearly 3 million (9.7 million metro) are often long and brutal. Despite this, or perhaps because of the camaraderie bred by the cold, a vibrant bike culture has emerged.

The metropolis of the Midwest has a long been a cycling Mecca. By the late 1800s it boasted 54 wheelman’s clubs with over 10,000 members. In 1897 Carter H. Harrison II rode the bicycle craze to the mayor’s office with the slogan “Not the Champion Cyclist; But the Cyclist’s Champion.”

By the next year about 2/3 of U.S. bikes were manufactured within a 150-mile radius of Chicago, making it the “bicycle-building capital of America.” Schwinn, founded here in 1895 by a German immigrant, dominated the domestic market for most of the 20th Century.

Mayor Richard J. Daley, father of the current mayor, brought Chicago cycling into the modern era, designating 34 miles of routes and expanding the Lakefront Trail, which now stretches 18.5 miles along the waterfront. In 1972, the 70-year-old mayor inaugurated the city’s first bike lane on Clark Street, riding a tandem with Schwinn’s Keith Kingbay.


Advocates started the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (www.biketraffic.org) in 1985 and soon found a powerful ally in Richard M. Daley, the current “mayor-for-life.” In 1992 his Mayor’s Bike Advisory Council released the Bike 2000 Plan, a small document that has had a big impact.

The City’s new Bicycle Program, staffed largely by consultants from the bike federation and bankrolled by federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grants, pursued the goals mandated by the bike plan. Over the next 15 years they striped more than 100 miles of bike lanes, signed hundreds of miles of routes and installed over 10,000 parking racks, more than any other U.S. city [the author managed the parking program].

The bike program published the excellent Chicago Bicycle Map and Safe Cycling in Chicago booklet, distributed free at bike shops. Outreach specialists from Safe Routes to School, After School Matters and Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors educated multitudes about how to get around on two wheels.

Bicycles gained access to Chicago Transit Authority elevated cars and Metra commuter trains, and carrying racks were added to all buses. In 2004 a $3 million cycle center, with indoor parking for 300 bikes, showers, lockers, repair services and more, was built as part of Daley’s new downtown showpiece, Millennium Park.

The Bike 2015 Plan, released in 2006, is a weightier tome than it’s predecessor with 150 strategies to improve cycling. Recently implemented ideas include the installation of 21 miles of “shared-lane markings” on streets too narrow for bike lanes; adding short stretches of solid-green lanes at problem intersections; and a program to train taxi drivers on sharing the road.

In March, as recommended by the new plan, City Council approved Mayor Daley’s proposal to fine drivers $150 for fouls against bicyclists; $500 if the driver’s action results in a crash. The new ordinance covers five dangerous moves: opening a door on a cyclist; parking or driving in a bike lane; passing within three feet of a bike; and turning left or right into the path of a cyclist, AKA the “left hook” and “right hook.”

On a trip to Paris, Daley was impressed by the Velib automated bike rental service, credited with doubling ridership overnight. Chicago is currently negotiating with JCDecaux to bring the system to the city’s central business district, the Loop. Although the contract would provide 1,000 bikes rather than Paris’ 20,000, the rental service would be among the first in North America.

Daley is also considering Sunday Parkways, a Latin American-style ciclovía in which a network of streets would be closed to driving and opened to bicycling and other forms of non-motorized play. The bike federation has raised much of the $400,000 needed to run three to five trials on a 7.5-mile route along the city’s historic boulevard system, mostly through low-income areas. Churches and neighborhood groups have embraced the proposal as a way to promote fitness in their communities. Pending final approval from the Mayor’s Office it’s likely to kick off this summer.

Recently, the City agreed to convert the Bloomingdale Line, a 3-mile long abandoned elevated railway on the Northwest Side, into an above-ground “linear park.” The project, championed by Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail (www.bloomingdaletrail.org) requires rebuilding several viaducts and will take years to complete, but the rugged rail bed is already a favorite with “urban assault” riders.

Aside from the bike federation and the bike program, a number of grassroots organizations push pedaling in Chicago. Bike Winter (http://www.bikewinter.org/) promotes all-season cycling with how-to workshops; a Winter Bike to Work Day breakfast; a bicycle-themed art show; spontaneous Snow Rides and more.


Other groups focus on particular demographics. Cycling Sisters (http://www.cyclingsisters.org/) strives to narrow the gender gap among local cyclists with women-only repair classes, recreational rides and get-togethers.

The Major Taylor Bike Society (www.chicagomajortaylor.org), named for the Black racing legend, raises awareness of bike issues and events in Chicago’s South Side and African-American communities.

Chicago Cruisers is a family-oriented club from Humboldt Park, the city’s Puerto Rican neighborhood. Dozens of members on classic Schwinns and low-rider bikes ride in procession each Sunday to a soundtrack of merengue and salsa.

Community bicycle centers are spread across the city. West Town Bikes (http://www.westtownbikes.org/) in Humboldt Park runs earn-a-bike programs and safe cycling classes for at-risk youth. Adults can attend Tinker Town Tuesday open shop nights and mechanics classes like Build Your Own Bike.

Blackstone Bicycle Works (www.experimentalstation.org/blackstone), located in the South Side’s Woodlawn community, operates from a multi-use space that houses several environmental and artistic endeavors. The shop runs maintenance classes for neighborhood kids and offers used bikes, accessories and repairs at a discount to low-income residents.

Volunteers from Working Bikes Cooperative (http://www.workingbikes.org/) salvage old cycles from basements and scrap yards and refurbish them in a jam-packed West Side warehouse. They sell the road bikes and cruisers at a nearby storefront; proceeds are used to ship containers of mountain bikes, spare parts and other items to sister organizations in Africa and Latin America.

Chicagoans are also served by a variety of for-profit shops; the Chicago Bike Shop Database (http://www.chicagobikeshops.info/) is a detailed directory. Commuters should check out Uptown Bikes; Boulevard Bikes (http://www.boulevardbikeshop.com/) in Logan Square; and Wicker Park’s Rapid Transit (http://www.rapidtransitcycles/), which specializes in city bikes, folders, recumbents and trailers.

Track enthusiasts will want to visit Yojimbo’s Garage (yojimbosgarage.com), located in a former church near the Cabrini Green housing project. Proprietor Marcus Moore is the go-to mechanic for messengers and the fashionable fixed-gear set. Yojimbo’s is also home to XXX Racing (http://www.racing.org/), a team founded by couriers that now has over 100 members from all walks of life.

Hyde Park’s Tati Cycles (http://www.taticycles.com/) is another unique shop that will appeal to fixie fans. Crammed into a tiny basement, the store has an old-fashioned aesthetic favoring lugged steel frames, lacquered bar tape, leather saddles and wool clothing. Owner Jay Han serves tea daily at 3 pm and loves to chat about cycling history.

Currently, Bike Chicago (http://www.bikechicago.com/) is the most convenient outlet for rentals, available year-round at Millennium Park’s unfortunately-named McDonald’s Cycle Center and at several lakefront locations during summer months.

Visitors who want to meet some of Chicago’s 300-plus bike couriers can go to the cylindrical Jim Thompson Center, nicknamed the “Tom Tom,” 100 W. Randolph St., where messengers standby. After work they can be found at Cal’s Liquors (http://www.drinkatcalsbar.com/), a South Loop dive that stages punk shows.

Wicker Park’s Handlebar (http://www.handlebarchicago.com/) hosts Messengers Mondays with drink specials and free fries for couriers. Riders from the Critical Mass bike parade opened this mostly-vegetarian bar and grill with bike racks in the beer garden and barstools made of old rims and inner tubes.

Until recently messenger-style “alleycat” races were common, but following the death of a rider during the Tour da Chicago series in March there seems to be a moratorium. Members of the Chicago Couriers Union are bringing this year’s North American Cycle Courier Championships (www.chicagonaccc.com) to town as a sanctioned, closed-course event in Garfield Park on Labor Day Weekend.


Out-of-towners will definitely want to take a spin on the Lakefront Trail for breathtaking views of the lake and skyline. In summer the path gets congested and hectic on the North Side, so it’s best to pedal south from the Loop for a serene or speedy ride.

Almost as scenic is the North Branch Trail which traces the Chicago River for 18 miles from the Northwest Side through suburban forest preserves, ending at the Chicago Botanic Garden. After completing the round trip it’s de rigueur to dine across the street from the trailhead at Superdawg, a 1948 drive-in topped by winking fiberglass wieners.

As for large group rides, Chicago’s huge, friendly Critical Mass (http://www.criticalmass.org/) is a must. The parade assembles on the last Friday of every month under the giant Picasso sculpture in (of course) Daley Plaza, drawing up to 4,000 participants in the summer.

There was a minor debacle last fall in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Daley Plaza rides. A few long-time massers decided that Critical Mass had gotten too big for its britches and issued a press release deadpanning that the September ride would be the “Grand Finale.” The Chicago Sun Times reported this as fact.

Needless to say, the ride is still going strong but a byproduct of the Grand Finale fiasco was the rise of small, community bike parades. Most of these “mini masses” take place on the first Friday of the month, in Wicker Park, Pilsen, Hyde Park and the suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park.

Apparently the bike federation was inspired by Critical Mass’ frequent forays onto Lake Shore Drive, the 8-lane expressway which separates the city from its beaches, as well as the visionary “Depave LSD” campaign (http://www.foreverfreeandclear.org/). A few years ago the federation launched Bike the Drive (http://www.bikethedrive.org/) an annual event where 15 miles of the superhighway are closed to motor traffic, drawing 20,000-plus cyclists. The result - fresh air, tranquility and a lakefront filled with people rather than steel boxes - offers a preview of what Chicago could be like in the future with less cars and more bikes.


ALEX WILSON

Alex Wilson, an early booster of Chicago Critical Mass, edited the CM zine The Derailleur and made thousands of t-shirts, flags, stickers and other schwag items to distribute free at the ride. He now runs West Town Bikes.


Why is Chicago a great city for biking?

Chicago is poised to become the most bike-friendly, major North America city in terms of utilitarian transportation. It’s easy to ride here because the city’s flat and it’s on a grid. There’s a pretty supportive city government and a very supportive bike community. My own opportunities to improve biking make Chicago a great city for me.

What are the challenges of riding a bike in Chicago?

The biggest problem is there’s too many cars – they’re a huge threat. When people drive inconsiderately they endanger the health and well-being of cyclists and pedestrians. I think most motorists don’t really understand this.

How would you improve cycling here?

If I could wave a magic wand and change things I would get people out of their cars and onto bikes. When you take cars out of the equation things are so much more civilized. Bicycling or walking is friendly and non-threatening and you’re able to take in your environment.

What rides would you recommend to visitors?

They should definitely go on Critical Mass - that’s a fantastic, fun time and you’ll usually get a great tour of the city. For recreational rides after work or on weekends you could meet up with the Chicago Cycling Club (http://www.chicagocyclingclub.org/). If you want a more adventurous experience, the Midnight Marauders (www.sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/midnight_marauders) do kind of an urban mountain biking ride. Whatever your niche of riding is, you can find it in Chicago.


“CHOPPER” CARL HARRIS

“Chopper” Carl Harris is a bicycle courier and church organist. As his nickname suggests, he “chops” his own freak bikes and rolls with the Rat Patrol bike gang (www.geocities.com/ratpatrolhq). He’s also a Critical Mass regular, towing a sound system blasting R & B and funk.


How did you get involved in bicycling?

I always rode bikes but when met other people who love bikes the way I do, that made me more energetic. I found out when I was younger that you can use a bike to leave your neighborhood and see new things, so bikes were like my automobile.

What’s the hardest thing about riding a bike in Chicago?

The motorists, for one thing, and certain neighborhoods. The motorists, they’re in a bigger vehicle, they go faster and they think that you’re in their way. The neighborhoods you go in, depending on your ethnicity, people are gonna pick on you, bother you, whatever. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any problems.

What would you do improve biking here?

I would build more greenways that connect to each other. All the abandoned railroad lines go downtown, so it would be nice if we could build some more bike paths on them.

What bike rides or hangouts would you recommend to out-of-towners?

It depends on your style of biking. I like to ride on the lakefront – it’s peaceful and quiet. If you’re a messenger I would go to the Tom Tom. If you’re a commuter or bike activist, go to West Town. If you’re into freak bikes, the Rat Patrol is hard to track down ‘cause they don’t do nothin’ on time.


CHICAGO CYCLING LINKS:

http://www.biketraffic.org/
Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s site featuring news on local bike issues and events plus links to cycling resources.

http://www.chicagobikes.org/
Info about the City of Chicago’s bike initiatives and the interactive Chicago Bike Map.

http://www.bikewinter.org/
Tips on riding in challenging weather and an events calendar loaded with fun all-season bike events.

http://www.cyclingsisters.org/
Practical ideas for female riders and an on-line forum that discusses ways to get more women on bikes.

http://www.askmrbike.com/
An advice column by Chicago’s Dave “Mr. Bike” Glowacz, author of the commuter’s bible: Urban Bikers’ Tips and Tricks.

http://www.chicagocuttincrew.com/
A shadowy cabal of messenger-racers holds court on the local and national alleycat, cyclocross, road and track scenes.

http://www.chicagofreakbike.org/
Documents strange human-powered vehicles on the streets of Chicago: choppers, tallbikes, cargo bikes and weirder creations.

Bicycling in Tokyo

By John Greenfield

[A version of this article also runs in the current Momentum magazine, www.momentumplanet.com.]

Biking in Tokyo is not as bad as you’d think. Yes, it’s an extremely hectic, densely packed place - the metro area being roughly the population of California squeezed into the area of Hawaii. But when I visited this winter I found the world’s most populous mega-city to be a surprisingly comfortable and friendly place to pedal.

The Tokyo transportation mix includes lots of everything. Sure, the streets are clogged with cars, but there’s also a terrific metro system that’s ubiquitous, fast, clean and gaijin (“foreigner”) – friendly with signage and announcements in English as well as Japanese. And when the simultaneous four-way “pedestrian scramble” walk signals activate next to busy Shibuya Station, the resulting swarm would warm the heart of any ped planner.

There’s also tons of Jitensha (“bicycles”), evidenced by vast bike lots at suburban train stations, Kasai Station’s Cycle Tree, an automated underground parking system with space for 6,480 vehicles, and the dozen or so bicycles parked curbside on every other block. Thanks to the city’s low theft rate, most people simply put down the kickstand and free-lock.

Bike parking lot at Shin Zushi station

Mama-chari (“Mama bikes”) rule the streets, or rather sidewalks, of Tokyo. These sensible commuter cycles are usually one- or three-speeds, fully accessorized and often equipped with a shopping basket in front and a child seat in back. In the temperate winter weather, young adults on mama-chari [this is the plural form] sporting smart Anglophile fashions – men in Burberry jackets, slacks and scarves, women in peacoats, skirts and knee-high boots – are a common sight.

Wanting to get in on the action, I hired a 6-speed cruiser for $9 US a day from Tokyo Rent A Bike, near Nakameguro Station. It’s generally legal to ride on the wide sidewalks, and this is where you see most cyclists rolling at slow speeds. But I found slaloming around pedestrians to be stressful, so I soon took to the streets.

Cars drive on the left side of the road in Japan and, recalling a UK vacation where my dad destroyed several mailboxes while learning to drive on the left, I worried I’d make a deadly mistake. But bicycling in the street felt surprisingly safe, the main difference being left turns were now easier to execute than right turns. And motorists drove at moderate speeds and with courtesy – I heard almost no horns.

Navigation was the biggest challenge since there’s no grid, many streets are unnamed, and buildings are identified by seemingly random block numbers rather than street addresses. Using a street atlas, I located a few of the many bike stores recommended by friends from Chicago. They came to Tokyo in September for the Cycle Messenger World Championships, which drew hundreds of couriers from around the globe.


F.I.G. Bike near Harajuku Station is a spacious store selling multicolored fixies and BMX bicycles, plus stylish city bikes like the Vivo Bellisimo and UTB Picnic. Downstairs there’s cool clothing by the local brand PEdAL.E.D., wallets made from recycled inner tubes and leather messenger bags with magnetic closures.

A few blocks north of Shibuya Station, W-BASE and Carnival occupy the first and second floors of the same building. These tiny shops can build the custom track bike of your dreams. W-BASE is especially densely packed with flashy frames and parts, including BMX gear. When I visited, a cluster of polo mallets leaned against a wall and a sphere of old inner tubers sat on the floor like a huge ball of yarn.

Staff of W-Base - Yohei Hanazawa on left

Manager Yohei Hanazawa helped organize the messenger championships here. Besides the usual checkpoint races simulating courier work, the champs featured track competitions on the Keiokaku Velodrome, home to the famous Keirin sprints and located near Keio-Tamagawa Station. “The messenger championships were awesome,” Hanazawa said. “I’ve gone to other cities for the championships and this time the world came to Tokyo. It was a great party – I didn’t sleep for a week.”

Other shops fixed-gear fans will want to check out include Blue Lug, Sexon Super Peace, Juice, Dreamworks and Beans. For relaxing times, sip a Suntory at Kinfolk Lounge, run by California expats who also build custom track bikes. The tiny, cozy bar features cocktails like the Ginger Mint Mojito, and classic Keirin frames hanging from the rafters.

My most memorable Tokyo bike experience was joining the Half-Fast Cycling club on a cruise from the Roppongi district to Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Harbor with a replica of the Statue of Liberty, an onsen (“hot spring”) in a phony Edo-era village, and a giant robot sculpture.

Half-Fast Cycling club (photo by Mike Sims-Williams)

Ride leader Mike Sims-Williams, a Brit, insisted the raison d’etre of the club is getting together to drink beer. “We’re not about efficiency, we’re about camaraderie,” he says. “People ask why we cycle from one beer vending machine to another. It’s because it’s faster than walking.”

We spun for about ten miles down broad boulevards, through narrow, old-timey lanes and over bridges to the island, where we stopped for drinks at an outdoor café with palm trees and reggae music. Sipping a Kirin, Kanako Maeda, said she’s enjoyed the moderate speeds and friendly vibes on Half-Fast rides – with one exception. “Once, a woman stopped suddenly in front of me and when I hit my brakes a big man flipped over me,” she said. “He ran over my back but I wasn’t hurt too badly.”

(Photo by Mike Sims-Williams)

On the way home we stopped at a park and did spontaneous laps around a circular fountain – bikes on the outside riding clockwise, bikes on the inside riding counter-clockwise. It was a good metaphor for cycling in Tokyo: chaos, orchestrated.

www.tokyorentabike.com
www.figbike.com
www.dept.jp
www.carnivaltokyo.com
www.w-base.com
www.wegotways.com/kinfolk
www.halfastcycling.com

Can you get a DUI for bicycling while intoxicated?

by John Greenfield

[This article also runs in Time Out Chicago magazine, www.timeoutchicago.com.]

Q: When I ride my bicycle home from a bar drunk, am I breaking the law? Does it fall under the same blood-alcohol-content DUI regulations as operating a motor vehicle? —Easy Rider, Logan Square

A: Crocked Chicago cyclists can’t be charged with a DUI, says Brendan Kevenides, a lawyer who specializes in bike cases and calls himself the Chicago Bicycle Advocate.

In 1995, the Illinois Appellate Court decided this issue in People v. Schaefer, upholding the dismissal of criminal charges against a drunk bicyclist. Since state law doesn’t define a bike as a “vehicle,” the court found that Illinois’s DUI statute did not give cyclists fair warning they could face harsh penalties for pickled pedaling.

Kevenides notes that cyclists can be charged with public drunkenness or disorderly conduct, but the penalties for such offenses are substantially less than those for a DUI.

Even so, Active Transportation Alliance’s Margo O’Hara says it’s “dangerous and irresponsible” to spin while sauced.

But Mark Cuneo, a manager at the bike-centric Handlebar Bar & Grill, recommends one reason to choose two wheels over four for a night of carousing. “Instead of driving home drunk or leaving your car overnight, you can always throw your bike in the trunk of a cab.”

Jason Rothstein's book "Carless in Chicago"

By John Greenfield

Jason Rothstein’s new book, Carless in Chicago: Live and Thrive in Chicago Without Owning a Car, will be coming out this summer on Chicago’s Lake Claremont Press.

Rothstein works at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health and is closing in on his master’s degree in the field. His book is a how-to guide for improving your health, saving money and reducing stress by ditching your car if you own one, and getting the most out of Chicago if you’re already car-free.

The book will be in stores in a few weeks. In the meantime, Rothstein’s website, www.carlessinchicago.com, which went live this week, is a great resource in itself. It includes Rothstein’s blog about car-free living, links to other green transportation blogs, agencies and organizations. There are also links to “Carless Tools” like the Chicago Bike Map, CTA Bus Tracker, RTA Goroo routefinder, and Walkscore, a site that rates the ped-friendliness of any address.

Vote With Your Feet recently met with Rothstein at Intelligentsia Coffee near Metra’s Millennium Station and asked him about how the book came to be, what it offers to both car-free newbies and black belts, and what Chicago need to do to become America’s top city for green transportation.


I think I read in some promotional materials that you used to be an “autoholic” and have since made a transition to being car-free. Can you tell me the story of how you changed from someone who drove a lot to someone who’s putting out a book on car-free transportation?

I’ve had a car since I was in college many years ago. It made sense for me to have a car then because my family was in Chicago and I was going to school in Ohio and was driving back and forth. After a while I lived and worked for a while in the Twin Cities up in Minnesota. I didn’t find the Twin Cities to be a particularly transit-friendly place to live and it certainly made a lot of sense for me to have a car there.

And I was just so used to it by the time I moved back to Chicago, about a decade ago, that it never really occurred to me to give up my car. Except that, the way Chicago is, I was already preferring mass transit, and walking when I could, and biking when I could and so-forth. And so I started thinking about what am I actually spending on my car, and what is my car costing me in other ways in terms of health and other aspects of my life.

And it actually was cost finally that drove me over the edge. It was when I was about to replace my third driver’s side mirror in less than a year because it had been smashed that I started to really think about this. But even from that point it probably took me another year to actually cut the cord. I was anxious about giving up my car. I was very worried that it would be really limiting, that I would be giving up a lot of freedom.

That was certainly one of the motivations behind writing the book. When I talked about this with other people about the possibility of giving up their car they expressed a lot of the same fears that I had had. So this book was intended in part to help them.

What were your fears?

Well, you know we have this idea in our culture that cars equal freedom and when you have a car it means you can hop in your car whenever you want, and go wherever you want and do whatever you want. It’s considered liberation on wheels, so the biggest fear is of losing that flexibility.

But when I thought about it I realized that the car was actually more of a shackle then a mechanism of freedom because it ate up money that I would rather have used for other things. It ate up anxiety in terms of leaving this big expensive hunk of metal out on the street where it could lose a driver’s-side mirror, for example. Stress from commuting, and other aspects of car ownership that are actually just not that pleasant.

What are some of the benefits you’ve experienced since you went car-free?

It’s on a couple levels. Certainly there’s a huge financial benefit, and the book does talk about that quite a bit, only because a lot of people don’t realize just how much their car costs them. A lot of the costs of cars leave our lives in these big, orderly chunks: a car payment every month; an insurance payment every six months. And so we don’t necessarily feel the sting of what that costs. It’s often a surprise to people when they really think about it and add up what they’re spending on their car.

There are other benefits as well. I wasn’t in poor health before but certainly there are health benefits to walking more, to cycling more. There are mental health benefits to stress through using mass transit. A personal benefit to me, which won’t apply to everyone but may apply to some people, is that I’ve been working part-time on a master’s degree for the last few years. Switching my commute to mass transit meant I had time to do all my reading. I don’t think I’d be finishing my masters degree today if I didn’t have that enforced two hours a day to do school work.

Can you walk us through the different sections of the book – what can people expect?

The book is really divided into two major sections. The first section is about the benefits of going carless, in terms of the financial benefits, figuring out what your car really costs you, does it make sense to go carless from that perspective. It’s about the health benefits of going carless. It also talks a little bit about our societal heath benefits of having fewer cars. That’s not a big theme in the book but I do go into that a little bit.

It talks about assembling a tool kit if you’re going to give up your car in terms of your transit passes and maps and technology. If you have a smart phone there are tools you can use to track your bus routes and things like that. There’s a little bit of a guide to navigating Chicago. Some people, particularly if they’re new to the city, don’t understand the grid system, even though it’s dead simple. So I include some helpful tips.

There’s some information about getting ready to walk more in your life, about getting ready to cycle more, how to become a first-time bike owner. And then the other section of the book covers Chicago by mass transit with the primary focus on the subway and El. And there’s a little entry for every stop on every line, talking about the surrounding neighborhood and some things of interest nearby.

One of the things I really hope is that, in addition to native Chicagoans who are already living here, I’ve talked to people who are visiting Chicago for a week and have found out they’ve never left downtown and Michigan Avenue. And it would be really gratifying to me if some of those people picked up this book and used it as a way to explore the city more thoroughly, because so much of what I love about Chicago takes place outside of downtown and the Near North. I’d like to share that with the tourists as well.

So did you actually visit every El stop in the system?

To the extent that I could. I’m from here originally and I grew up in Hyde Park. As a born and bred Chicagoan I’m quite familiar with most of the city. The scope of the project meant that I had to rely on some second-hand sources, but I did as much direct research as I could.

There’s also a section on CTA buses, how they work and the routes, and then a little bit about Metra and Pace. And there’s a section about when you do need a car. It talks about the city’s two competing car-sharing organizations, it talks about car rental and taxis and a fair amount of information about how to decide between them when only four wheels will do.

What do you hope people will get out of your book?

It depends on the audience. The people I thought about writing this book for were people who were in a position like the one I was in. You have a car, you can think abstractly about the benefits of giving up your car, but you’re not exactly sure how to go about it. Because even if you’re familiar with the transit system and familiar with other modes of transportation you may be having a hard time envisioning your life without a car and how to make that transition.

Also, I think that there are people who are carless by circumstance and maybe feel that they aren’t getting enough out of the city. These are people who don’t have a car either for financial reasons or mobility reasons or something else. Even though the book is called Carless in Chicago, there are a fair number of people who go through a life transition, they get married or have a child or something else and the question is do you need a second car? I hope that this book will help some people decide that they don’t.

And, of course as I mentioned, visitors to the city.

Can you a story about a commute or an excursion you’ve taken that involved interesting uses of different modes?

I love the water taxi. Adding it to my commute adds about 20 minutes in one direction or another but I love doing it – it’s just something I derive a tremendous amount of pleasure from so actually I take the water taxi all the time in the summer ‘cause I just love it. What I usually do is take the 147 [Outer Drive Express] bus from to the Wrigley Building and then take the water taxi to the West Loop and then grab a 38 [Ogden / Taylor] bus from there to my office at UIC.

Another example. As I describe in the book, I’m not a capital “C” cyclist but I enjoy cycling and I like to do it. I don’t have great facilities for cleaning up in the summer heat if I bike to work, so a great thing I like to do is take my bike to work on the bus and then ride home, which is kind of a perfect compromise because I get the benefits of the cycling but also can show up for that 9 am meeting without having to spend a lot of time cleaning up or worrying about what my meeting-mates think of the sweat running down my face.

What are some surprising tips that people who are already car-free might get out of your book?

There are a few things. For one thing, over the last few years the technology component has changed so much that it’s been hard for some people to keep up, in terms of the number of tools available to get schedules and check routes. That’s really changed not only how people use transit but how people make decisions about transit.

I’m often surprised by how little people know about car sharing. They think it might be too expensive or they think it would be too burdensome. They know about it but they assume it isn’t for them without necessarily understanding how it works.

The one that really surprises me is how few people know about commuter benefits, transit benefits. A lot of organizations, particularly larger companies and public employers offer employees to buy transit passes and tickets with pre-tax dollars through a paycheck deduction and it makes a huge difference in terms of what these things cost.

Jason, if you agree that Chicago has the potential to be America’s foremost city for green transportation, that is the big city that’s easiest to get around without a car by various modes, what are the challenges we need to overcome to achieve that status?

It’s a big question and I don’t have a comprehensive list. There are a few things that I would like to see happen in Chicago. We really have a lot of policies that encourage excess car ownership. Whenever we put up a new building, whenever people build new housing, the zoning laws that are such that you have to provide a whole bunch of parking. And that’s not the best policy if you’re really trying to discourage people from bringing more cars into the city.

I’m not sure if we have the political will to get into something like congestion pricing like they do in London or as they’ve considered doing in New York. But it would be nice to Chicago at least seriously look at some of those policies and how some kind of congestion pricing mechanism might reduce the number of cars on the road.

I would like to see the CTA get a little bit more creative about how it expands service. I’m not a transit planner, but I’d like to see things like bus rapid transit [a system of dedicated lanes for buses and kiosks where patrons pay before boarding,] which is relatively inexpensive to build. I’d like to see an expansion of inter-city rail also.

It would be nice if we just had a greater willingness to undertake large projects. We often talk big about transit projects and rail projects, but when it comes down to it there’s a certain lack of will about the funding and the disruptions that would happen to neighborhoods on a temporary basis to make such projects really succeed.

I’m hopeful that if Chicago gets the Olympics that might steer us in some of these directions. I’m sure if that’s going to happen or not but it would be nice if that was at least one more impetus.

And then there’s the other problem of how do we pay for all of it. And that’s a big question and I don’t have any easy answers. Certainly I’d like to see the state fix how it funds mass transit in Illinois but the state has larger funding issues to deal with right now before we can tackle this specifically.

Bicycling, transit and parks highlights of 2010

Chicago Cross Cup (photo by Luke Seemann, www.chicagobikeracing.com)

by John Greenfield

[These listings are from New City magazine's Top 5 and Best of Chicago issues, www.newcity.com.]

Top 5 Local Bike Stories

Emanuele Bianchi proposes Chicago Velo Campus velodrome complex at former U.S. Steel site

Drunk drivers who intentionally strike cyclists in Brookfield get a slap on the wrist

Rising popularity of the zany Chicago Cross Cup cyclocross racing series

Active Transportation Alliance launches Crash Support Hotline

Daley’s impending retirement has cyclists hoping for a bike-friendly new mayor


Top 5 Chicago Park District Stories

Lush, twenty-seven-acre Palmisano (aka Stearns Quarry) Park dedicated in Bridgeport

View from the hill in Palmisano Park

Legendary commissioner Margaret Burroughs, founder of DuSable Museum, dies at 95

Park District and “starchitect” Jeanne Gang unveil the Northerly Island Framework Plan

Pristine new 41st Street Beach opens with breathtaking views of the Loop

City Council approves $41 million in TIF money for 2011 Park District capital projects


Top 5 Chicago Transit Authority Stories

CTA uses Homeland Security funds to install 3,000 new security cameras system-wide

A civilian dons a driver’s uniform and steals a bus from the 103rd Street garage

New 5000-series prototype rail cars with NYC-style aisle-facing seats debut

CTA pilots the long-awaited Train Tracker system


Study shows that five percent of Free Rides for Seniors passes now in use belong to dead people


Best news for Chicago bicycling in 2010

In this economy it can be tough to find money for green transportation projects. But in October Governor Quinn announced roughly $49 million in federal funds will go to state bicycling initiatives, largely in Chicagoland, via the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. $2.8 million will go towards the Calumet-Sag Trail, a 26-mile path paralleling the city’s southern border. The grant will also bankroll an expansion of the Burham Greenway, the short-but-sweet multiuse path on the Southeast Side. And the CDOT will use ITEP funding to pilot a mile-long Dutch-style “cycle track,” separating bike traffic from cars, on South Stony Island Avenue.

Burnham Greenway (photo by Jennifer from General Carlessness, www.jmd1125.blogspot.com.)

Best thing to name after Richard M. Daley

A bike racing track on Northerly Island

As “Cyclist-in-chief,” Mayor Daley’s legacy is a mixed bag. He gets credit for all the federally-funded lanes, paths and racks that materialized during his tenure, the good work of his eponymous Bicycling Ambassadors, and more. But under Daley, City Hall was reluctant to put cycling in the city budget, resulting in the fizzled Open Streets ciclovia; the anemic B-cycle bike share network; the bike parking famine that resulted after 30,000 meters were uprooted; and other disappointments. Still, a bike shop owner acquaintance tells me the mayor actually rides a bike here, early in the morning on the Lakefront Trail, and it seems like the his heart was in the right place when it came to supporting cycling. So why not remember him with a velodrome on Chicago’s peninsula park. At least it will justify his bulldozing Meigs Field.

Northerly Island (Photo by David Kee, www.ecovelo.info.)

Best public beach

Montrose Beach

All Chicago beaches have their pros and cons but Montrose Beach has a nearly perfect storm of cool attributes. It’s far enough away from Lake Shore Drive that you can’t hear traffic. The vibe is blue-collar and family-friendly, free of the douchebaggery that plagues North Avenue and Oak Street beaches. You can buy tasty Mexican food from the snack bar, elote carts and strolling peddlers on the sand. The water is pristine and kayaks are available for rent. A stroll down the pier provides an awesome skyline view, while the adjacent Magic Hedge nature sanctuary offers bird-watching and gay cruising opportunities. There’s something for everyone.

The lakefront between Montrose and Lawrence


Best new public park

Adams-Sangamon Park

Many Chicago parks are merely utilitarian: flat rectangles of grass broken up by a few baseball diamonds and basketball courts. So it’s exciting when the Park District thinks outside the box and creates a unique green space. Opened last summer in the shadow of the Sear Tower, Adams-Sangamon Park features a huge, groovy playground with drawbridges and climbing nets, a dog run and man-made hills covered with native grasses. Boulders and seating cubes are strewn about in pleasingly random patterns. The coolest element? Huge, silver gateways shaped like crooked picture frames, spraying refreshing mist in hot weather.

Adams and Sangamon

Exploring Lake Calumet on two wheels

Lake Calumet viewed from above

By John Greenfield

[This article also appears in Time Out Chicago, www.timeoutchicago.com.]

Airplane passengers looking down at Chicago might notice Lake Calumet, a sculptural body of water that vaguely resembles Hüsker Dü’s classic circle-and-bars logo. Situated at the junction of the Calumet and Little Calumet rivers, it’s home to the city’s main commercial harbor and dozens of birds, including endangered species. But since the lake is ringed by landfills, many locals don’t know it exists. I spent a day exploring what this mysterious South Side lake has to offer from outside its razor-wire border.

After toting my bicycle onto the Red Line, I disembarked at 95th Street and pedaled a few miles southeast to the entrance of Port of Chicago’s Lake Calumet terminal, 130th and Stony Island Ave. The industrial network stretches several miles and is the Great Lakes’ largest general cargo port, handling “lakers,” Mississippi River barges and 1,000-foot oceangoing “salties.” Although it used to be a popular school field-trip destination, the harbor has been off-limits to the public since September 11.

I cycled north on Doty Avenue to Harborside International Golf Course, 11001 S Doty Ave. This treeless, links-style course, built atop mounds of construction debris on Lake Calumet’s northwest shore, boasts a huge Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired clubhouse with tranquil lake views.


I continued south on Stony Island Avenue along the eastern shore of the lake and noticed purple flowers, prairie grass and sunflowers by a small pond. The Southeast Side was once a receptacle for much of the city’s trash, and this ridge of the Paxton Landfill (122nd St and Stony Island Ave), formerly an industrial-waste dump, rises 170 feet high. By 1999, decomposition had made the mound unstable, and it was feared that 300,000 cubic yards of toxic sludge would slide onto Stony Island Avenue. When workers dug a trench east of the landfill to drain and stabilize it, poisonous fumes forced them to wear oxygen masks, and they nicknamed the trench the Valley of Death.

Sunflowers near Lake Calumet

I pedaled east on 122nd past the now-green ridge and south on Torrence Avenue, past the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant and into the Hegewisch neighborhood to eat at Tom’s Truck Stop, 2701 E 130th St, a favorite of port- and autoworkers. The shack contains only a handful of vinyl booths and counter stools. Sinatra crooned from a boom box. Three generations of Hegewisch women kibitzed while I munched a chopped-steak hoagie.

Tom's Truck Stop

Continuing south on Torrence, I rolled past Hegewisch Marsh, future site of the $13.5 million Ford Calumet Environmental Center, 13000 S Torrence Ave. This LEED-platinum structure will house exhibits on the natural, industrial and cultural history of the region. It will also serve as a headquarters for environmental cleanup efforts, tirelessly promoted by education non-profit the Southeast Environmental Task Force. The Studio Gang Architects’ design, called Best Nest, includes a porch wrapped by a basket-like mesh of locally salvaged steel, a place to observe animals and birds.

Hegewisch Marsh

Ready to check out a different kind of wildlife, I rolled west on 136th Street to Papi Chulo’s Bar & Grill, 13601 S Calhoun Ave. Loosely translated as sexy daddy’s, the bar is a Parrothead pub with a Spanish accent. Outside, umbrella-topped tables overlook boats, a sand volleyball court and a stage for live music and DJs. Inside, the decor includes a mermaid figurehead, bathrooms labeled “buoys” and “gulls,” and a life-size statue of a buxom lady buccaneer. As I biked back north, I looked forward to a greener future for the Lake Calumet area, but I hope it keeps its rough edges.


Papi Chulo's

MS and messengering

Interview with Guenevere Nyderek by John Greenfield

[This will also run in Cog Magazine, www.cogmag.com]

Guenevere Nyderek has worked as a courier in Chicago for a total of nine years. In 2003 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She’s been messengering on-and-off since then and says riding helps her deal with MS. Nowadays she’s helping to organize the North American Cycle Courier Championships which comes to Chicago on Labor Day weekend.

How did you first get started as a messenger?

In 1996 I was going to going to Loyola University in Chicago and hating it when I said to myself ‘I don’t gotta be going to school anymore.’ I got a job at Apex and started making $550 a week after taxes. I had $5,000 in student debt to pay off so I worked for them for two and a half years living as cheaply as possible. I couldn’t spend money on cigarettes or alcohol and I lived off oatmeal and rice and beans. But I did a lot of painting during that period so it wasn’t a complete wash.

What do you ride?

I’m on an Olmo with gears. I used to have a cute little single-speed Benotto but it got stolen so now there’s a Benotto-shaped hole in my heart. I like my knees just fine so I never bothered to ride track. It’s kind of retarded but people do other stupid things for fashion so, whatever.

I don’t think I became an excellent rider until this year. I figured out the key to being successful as a messenger is don’t ride as fast as you can. I value control over my bicycle and I use gears to save my knees. People trying to ride really fast all the time don’t get it. It’s like the tortoise and the hare: slow equals longevity. But I didn’t figure that out until year 13.

What exactly is MS?

MS is a neurological disorder. Lesions, basically scars, form on the brain. It can affect your muscles, sight, hearing, speech, memory, sexual function and continence, depending on where it is on the brain.

How did you figure out you have it?

In 2003 my grandma had just died and stress exacerbates MS. Right afterwards I started having a hard time seeing in my right eye. My optic nerve got paralyzed and the two eyes didn’t match up. I was working at On Time that day. I have no idea how I survived. I was riding with one eye shut so I had no depth perception.

After I was hospitalized the guys at On Time dedicated one day to raise money for my medical bills. The messengers donated half of what they made that day and the company matched it. I really appreciated that.

How does messengering help with your MS?

After I got out of the hospital I got a job at a health clinic and when I’m working at a desk I become kind of a lazy ass. My condition got worse - I was having trouble seeing and was using a cane a lot.

But when I went back to messengering the benefits were immediately apparent – exercise helps keep my body working right. Cycling helps with my balance issues. When I’m getting off a bike though it’s sometimes difficult - I always grab a pole to dismount.

I have had some issues with pissing while working. I usually pee in alleys – I don’t care. When you’re working you don’t got time to find yourself a bathroom. If some cop tries to arrest me I’ll just pull the MS card.

What do you see in the future for yourself?

I don’t worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow. All you can do is live in the present and do the best you can with the time you’ve been given between birth and dying. I’m not worried about dying from MS. It’s more likely I’m going to get killed by that maniac in that gas-guzzling, larger-than-life SUV.

A memorial for Blanca Ocasio

by John Greenfield

On Thursday, September 11, over 150 relatives, friends and neighbors gathered in Logan Square to honor Blanca Ocasio, placing a “ghost bike” at Armitage and Kedzie where she was struck one year ago. Ocasio, a 19-year-old pharmacy student nicknamed “Chi-chi,” was pedaling eastbound on Armitage when a garbage truck overtook her and swung south onto Kedzie, trapping her underneath.

Six months later schoolteacher Amanda Annis, 24, was killed on her bike at the same location after a car ran a red. The advocacy group Logan Square Walks is lobbying for safety improvements at the intersection such as adding a red light camera, tightening curb radii and striping bike lanes; workers recently repainted the crosswalks and stop bars.

Ocasio’s family requested the memorial from Chicago Ghost Bikes, which has installed several other tributes to fallen cyclists. The crowd assembled at Palmer Square, two blocks north of the intersection, many wearing t-shirts with Ocasio’s image and messages like “Lost a friend but gained and angel,” and “R.I.P. Chi-chi girl.” Blanca’s father Ramon told them, “As she looks down from heaven at us I know that she’s smiling,” urging them to be careful when driving.

Her loved ones then walked with lit prayer candles to the crash site, followed by dozens of cyclists walking their vehicles. After the white bike was chained to a light pole, mourners added candles and flowers. Chicago Ghost Bikes’ Howard Kaplan hoped the event provides closure for Ocasio’s family, adding “They probably feel they’re a little less alone with their loss.”

A mellow, multi-modal Michigan meander

By John Greenfield

One reason I’m glad I cycled 5,000 miles coast-to-coast last year is now I feel like I’ve got nothing to prove when it comes to bike touring. As long as I’ve got my bicycle with me and get a few miles of pedaling in it doesn’t matter what other non-car transportation modes I use – it’s a bike trip. Or at least a trip worth taking.

Case in point is a circuit of lower Lake Michigan I took last month. Although I covered a lot of ground with my bicycle in tow I didn’t actually ride much more than a hundred miles, but this actually enhanced the experience.

Instead of my usual death-march mileage, the relaxed pace left me time to take walks in the woods and hang out on the beach before hitting the road to the next destination. Of course, a truly pro cycle tourist would leave early and get the day’s pedaling done before sightseeing. Maybe next time I'll do it this way.

This excursion was inspired by a Time Out Chicago issue about Lake Michigan getaways and a yen to escape the big city and catch some sunsets over water. I was also curious to try the high-speed ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, MI. I’d already ridden the entire perimeter of the lake in stages before so this jaunt was about R & R rather than breaking new ground.

I loaded my bike with full camping gear and caught Metra commuter rail up to Kenosha, WI, early Monday morning. As usual I’d stayed up late packing and hadn’t slept much so I snoozed during most of the hour-and-a-half train ride.

Taking a combo of Rte. 32 and off-street trails I covered the 35 miles to the ferry dock on the south side of Milwaukee with just enough time left to catch the boat without panicking. Next time I’d book in advance, though, since tickets were almost sold out. The slower Manitowac, WI, – Luddington, MI, ferry further north was cancelled due to mechanical problems so the high-speed ferry was picking up the slack.

One of the main functions of the ferries are to serve as a shortcut for drivers who want to avoid Chicagoland congestion, and the lower deck of the boat was packed with cars, RVs and motorcycles – mine was the only bicycle.

If you take the ferry, take Dramamine if you’re prone to seasickness, since it’s a surprisingly rocky ride, and bring a jacket it you want to hang out on deck. The ship moves so fast, what seems like 80 mph, that it kicks up a powerful, chilly breeze and it’s hard to stay outdoors to enjoy the beautiful views. However, the large cabin was full of miserable-looking people with their heads in their hands since stuffy air exacerbates seasickness.


I spent a lot of the ride lying on the deck behind a low front wall near the axis of the ship to minimize the wave motion. But I had fun anyway, chatting with a middle-aged waitress from Ann Arbor and a grizzled Harley rider from Muskegon who was drinking High Life out of a plastic bottle, both of them on their backs as well.

Muskegon’s the largest city on the east coast of Lake Michigan, a down-on-it’s-luck paper mill town of about 40,000. The under-populated downtown is a little depressing but there’s a great bike path that rings much of five-mile-long Lake Muskegon, populated by a colony of swans.


On my way to a state park north of the city I stopped for a pint at the Bear Lake Tavern, recommended by the motorcyclist. Striking up a conversation about the Chinese Olympics with an old-timer at the bar who turned out be a Korean War vet, I received a fascinating lecture on the different styles of communism practiced in these countries, Vietnam and Cuba. He also told me about his experiences in the army during the early days of racial integration. This card-carrying NRA member had a pretty different worldview than me but I could have sat there and listened to his stories for hours.

The state park was full and the ranger was unaware of the rule in Michigan that touring cyclists can not be refused a patch of ground to pitch a tent, which has served me well on other occasions. But she sent me up the road to Pioneer County Park, which was just fine.

The place was swarming with kids and adults cruising around on bikes, the most I’d ever seen at a campground, including an older couple on a homemade, side-by-side recumbent tandem that seemed to be fashioned out of La-Z-Boy recliners. I made a b-line to the Lake Michigan beach just in time to have a pleasantly existential moment while watching the sundown and sipping Captain Morgan’s.


I spent the next day strolling on the sparsely populated shoreline and reading on the sand, although water temperature in the fifties made it pretty impossible to swim. That evening I headed back into the city to meet up with my coworker Doug and his girlfriend Jenny who were, coincidentally, doing a more ambitious two-week trip, pedaling north from Muskegon to the Upper Peninsula then south to Green Bay, WI.

Doug and I stocked up on bread, dry sausage and Tasmanian smoked cheddar at The Cheese Lady at 808 Terrace St., one of a handful of interesting new independent businesses that are helping to spark a downtown revival. Jenny met us at the Tipsy Toad Tavern, 609 W. Western Ave., where we watched another fine sunset from the excellent rooftop and sampled “jumpers” – chewy French-fried frogs’ legs.

Doug offers sausage to a two-dimensional Muskegonite

After a stroll through the town’s gorgeous little garden, which was supposedly inspired by the colors of a Monet painting, they retired to their B & B. I headed a few miles south in the dark towards P. J. Hoffmaster State Park through a surprisingly long stretch of auto-centric development which abruptly turned into silent countryside.

In the morning I checked out the park’s large interpretive center detailing the history of the Michigan Dunes, then climbed said dunes and took another long hike along the shore. Then I got back in the saddle and rode a few miles to Grand Haven, a tourist town of about 11,000.

At the local history museum there was a great little exhibit called “Circles in Motion: the American Bicycle 1860 – 2008.” The models on display included wooden “boneshakers,” high-wheelers, classic ‘50s cruisers and beefy WWI-era military cycles. Just the displays of cycling medals and head-plates were amazing. My favorite was for the “Lincoln” made by the Chicago Cycle Supply Company, featuring the image of Honest Abe standing solemnly in front of his chair.


I pedaled another 30 miles to Holland State Park, just west of the city of Holland, Michigan’s tulip growing capital, of course. Heading to the beach I had another Zen moment watching the sun sink over the water as a young park employee swept sand off a long walkway like a Buddhist monk cleaning the temple. A tourist came up and told her that it would be a lot faster to use an electric blower on the sand. “That would be too noisy,” she replied. “It would spoil the sunset,” I said.

As I was pitching my tent in the dark (yes, even the low mileage didn’t keep me from setting up camp late most nights), two parents from the Kalamazoo area came up and asked me to give some tips to their daughter. She was about to start community college and was interested in biking to school and doing some overnight trips.

I happily went into bike salesman mode explaining the features of my touring bike. I tried to be polite when the girl showed me her department store road bike which sadly looked unfit for any kind of utilitarian use – it’d be hard even to install a rack on it. Afterwards I made myself a delicious makeshift fondue, cooking the Tasmanian cheddar with white wine and sausage grease over my camp stove and dipping bread and veggies in it.


The next day while picnicking by the water in the small town of Saugatuck, I watched the Saugatuck Chain Ferry, an old-fashioned hand-cranked craft, carry passengers across the Kalamazoo River. I continued down the coast to South Haven, probably the most touristy town I passed through but fun nonetheless. The large beach near downtown was packed with skimpily-clad teens and college students. I strolled down the pier and took a dip in the water which, oddly, was comfortably in the 70s even though it had been freezing a couple dozen miles up the coast.


As Time Out suggested, I sampled the blueberry-flavored coffee at the Blueberry Store, 535 Phoenix St. and then hit the Thirsty Perch Grille, 272 Broadway St. As at the Tipsy Toad, I felt compelled to eat the eponymous animal (OK, they were frog, not toad legs) and ordered the perch tacos with portobello fries.

It was time to head over to the Indian Trail Bus Line station in a strip mall a mile west of downtown. Last summer when my girlfriend rode from Chicago to Michigan with me during my cross-country trip, she had no problem putting her unboxed bike on the Indian Trails bus home from Benton Harbor, just down the road from South Haven. I’d assumed I’d be able to do the same this time.

But the elderly, wise-cracking ticket agent, a former Chicago cop whose silver Rolls Royce was parked next to the station, insisted that I box my bike. Fortunately there was a small bike box in the office, left by another cyclist. I had to break down my bike pretty well to make it fit and since I didn’t have suitable tools with me for removing the pedals I had to cram it in there with the pedals on. It wasn’t pretty.

The bus ride itself was a trip. As the agent had warned me, the bus was overbooked and several of us had to sit or stand in the aisle. This had to be completely illegal and it made me feel like I was in Central America, minus the live chickens and goats on board. Fortunately, my iPod kept me entertained and I didn’t mind standing, so long as we didn’t crash.

After I assembled my bike at the Chicago bus terminal, found that even the fenders were miraculously intact after the rough treatment and pedaled a few miles back to my house, I deemed this multi-modal mission a smashing success. I wasn’t going to win any randonneuring prizes for it, but combining bicycling with train, boat and bus allowed me to cover a lot of ground in a few days with plenty of time leftover for some creative loafing.

New York's Summer Streets: lessons for Chicago

by John Greenfield

For years now New York City has looked to Chicago as the model for big-city bicycling improvements. For example, New York, with almost three times the population, has installed only a fraction of the number of bike parking racks our city has, and when NYC adopted our theft-resistant, square-tube racks they called them “Chicago Racks.” We’ve also had them beat in terms of miles of bike lanes proportionate to city size, education and outreach programs, and other metrics.

So it’s ironic that New York beat us to the punch this month by staging three ambitious, highly successful ciclovia events, called “Summer Streets,” with only a few months of planning. Meanwhile, after years of fundraising and negotiations between the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, the City and community members, Chicago is finally getting around to staging Sunday Parkways on only two days in mid-fall, October 5th and 26th, on compromised routes.


As VWYF readers know, the ciclovia movement began in Bogota, Columbia, where for decades residents have been biking, walking, skating and hanging out on a network of largely car-free streets on Sundays. Nowadays the events regularly draw over 1.5 million people to recreate on a 70-mile route each weekend. This year ciclovias have begun to take off in the U.S. In addition to Chicago and New York, Portland, OR, staged a wildly popular event, also called Sunday Parkways, on June 22 and San Francisco will be holding “Sunday Streets” on August 31st and September 14.

Despite the efforts of the hard-working staff of the bike federation and other boosters since 2003, Chicago’s Sunday Parkways promises to be the least inspiring of the bunch. Our two ciclovias, bankrolled by the CBF via grants, will be taking place after peak bicycling season, on two separate 3.5-mile routes through neigborhoods a few miles away from the city center. The South Side route includes many blocks of gritty, treeless terrain and a half-mile that hugs the Eisenhower Expressway. The events will be far from car-free: autos will be driving on service roads parallel to most of route and in some cases four out of six travel lanes on the boulevards will have cars on them.


Contrast this with the three Summer Streets events that took place during prime cycling season on a 6.9-mile route through the heart of Manhattan. The route went from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, along Park Ave. and Lexington Ave., through some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the country. As in other cities with successful ciclovias, expenses were largely covered by the city government, in this case the NYC Department of Transportation. Best of all, motor vehicles were almost completely banned from the route.

I traveled to New York last weekend to check out the third and final run of Summer Streets firsthand on Saturday, August 23. When I joined the route on foot at 14th St. at 10 am the weather was lovely and the streets were packed with smiling people, mostly cyclists with a few walkers, joggers and skaters.


Police officers and traffic aides were directing motorized traffic on the cross streets while yellow-shirted volunteers held up signs reminding non-motorized traffic to be prepared to stop at the intersections. The volunteers I spoke with said they’d had no problems with participants disobeying traffic signals.

Heading south on Lexington, I soon met up with my friends Michael and Shenglan and their two-year-old daughter Altai, who was pushing a toy stroller. “We’re walking in the middle of the street,” cried Michael. “There’s throngs here, Altai, throngs!”


As we continued down Lexington we encountered an aerobics demo in front of a gym, a kids area with games and chalk drawing, and a live music stage featuring an opera singer, then a funky cello player. Other scheduled events along the route included African and salsa dancing, double-dutch jump-roping, yoga, bike handling classes, break-dancing, akido and a “hackey sack zone.” It was a vibrant scene.

At an info tent for Transportation Alternatives, NYC’s advocates for biking, walking and transit, who spearheaded the event, I asked deputy director Noah Budnick to explain the New York / Chicago role reversal. How was his city able to pull off such a daring, successful event in a few months while the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation labored for so long and faced so many roadblocks?

TA's Noah Budnick

New York’s achievement is particularly striking since bike planning was fairly dysfunctional there only a few years ago. When NYC DOT’s bike director Andrew Vesselinovitch resigned in 2006 he sent a letter to colleagues, reprinted in
the New York Times, savaging then-commissioner Iris Weinshall for shooting down half of his proposals for new bike lanes. Budnick gives a lot of credit for Summer Streets to the DOT’s progressive new commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan who took over in 2007. “This absolutely wouldn’t have happened without her,” he said.

Budnick called New York’s political situation last year a “perfect storm” – ideal conditions for proposing an ambitious green transportation initiative. Along with the arrival of the new commissioner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced PlaNYC, his environmental sustainability plan which included targets for bicycling improvements and a proposal for congestion pricing. So when Transportation Alternatives brought up the idea of Summer Streets last winter, the City was all ears.

“The commissioner was completely committed to Summer Streets and Mayor Bloomberg said ‘Alright, let’s give this a try,’” Budnick reported. “I’ve heard the CBF has had a lot of resistance from the police but we had a police commissioner who wanted to proactively make this happen.”



Asked if he had any advice for Chicago and other cities planning ciclovias, Budnick said, “Whenever you try to do anything new in a city there are going to be people who will complain and give reasons not to do things, which is why it takes political leadership to make things happen.” Staging the events on Saturdays rather than Sundays in NYC avoided the resistance from churches which has led to delays and compromises in planning Chicago’s Sunday Parkways. The early hours for Summer Streets, 7 am to 1 pm, also minimized conflicts, said Budnick. “New York City’s not up before noon on Saturday,” he said.

As we spoke, a fire truck left a station along the route with its siren blaring but had no problem making its way to the cross street. “They could have said, ‘You can’t do this here because there’s a firehouse on this street,’” said Budnick. “But as you can see it’s actually easier for the truck to get through traffic when there are no cars.”

He urges cities like Chicago to make no small plans when staging ciclovias - “You can’t do this by half measures.” He added that the events should cover significant mileage, be completely car-free, and take place on consecutive weekends so that the attendance and community support can build. “Anything that waters it down sucks the energy out of it.”