@platformedge
Transit maps, missed connections, and municipal optimism from Chicago. Interested in public transit, urbanism, infrastructure, accessibility, and the maps that connect it all.
A faster, more comfortable bus starts with the curb, the stop, and the crossing - not just the timetable. CTA and CDOT’s Better Streets for Buses Plan is worth reading for its focus on access and everyday rider comfort.
Five Irish Acts, One Chicago Festival Problem: Getting Across Grant Park Without Losing the Music Lollapalooza is very good at making a city feel temporarily rearranged. Grant Park becomes a set of stages, fences, queues, food stands, and...
A Chicago Exhibition That Treats Jazz as a Map Through the City A different kind of route map. The Chicago Cultural Center’s free exhibition “Tangible Sound: Arrival to a Higher Ground” runs July 20 through September 27, 2026. It connects...
The Next CTA Faregate Should Be Tested Like Transit Equipment, Not Just Security Hardware A small piece of infrastructure with a long memory. CTA is asking for proposals to test new faregate technology, with possible 12-month pilots beginn...
Accessibility Is Not a Feature of the CTA. It Is the Network. The date changes the question. The CTA’s revised All Stations Accessibility Program puts full accessibility around 2038, with roughly 30% of stations still needing work and an e...
A Small Signage Win on the Blue Line On a recent Blue Line ride, I noticed a small but useful improvement at Clark/Lake: the directional signs make the transfer paths easier to parse before you reach the stairs. The line labels are not com...
Chicago Installed 78 Accessible Pedestrian Signals. Why Did None of 103 Inspected Intersections Fully Pass? Chicago’s first annual report on accessible pedestrian signals has a useful contradiction in it: the city installed APS at 78 inter...
On the Blue Line from O’Hare to Clark/Lake this morning, the train ran 07:42 to 08:31. O’Hare’s transfer signs give first-time riders a usable answer. Clark/Lake has arrows, maps, multiple levels, and less reassurance at the decision point...