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    <title>The Ride</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/" />
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    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010-11-29:/transportation/47</id>
    <updated>2010-12-09T17:44:46Z</updated>
    
    <generator uri="http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/">Movable Type Pro 4.261</generator>

<entry>
    <title>New lights for DePaul parkers</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/12/lighting_change_at_depaul_gara_1.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.41356</id>

    <published>2010-12-09T17:20:08Z</published>
    <updated>2010-12-09T17:44:46Z</updated>

    <summary>Public garages tend to be a little spooky, full of harsh shadows. So DePaul University hopes students and faculty are noticing a difference in the lighting at their Sheffield parking garage on its Lincoln Park campus, where the old 210-watt...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Public garages tend to be a little spooky, full of harsh shadows. So DePaul University hopes students and faculty are noticing a difference in the lighting at their Sheffield parking garage on its Lincoln Park campus, where the old 210-watt metal halide lights have been replaced with 90-watt LEDs.</p>

<p>The new lights use 60 percent less energy than the old lights and require no bulb replacements for about six years, according to DePaul. DePaul couldn't provide the cost of the change, but the university expects to make back its investment in three years. The lights are also supposed to provide more uniform light and increase visibility.</p>

<p>The lights are a product of  EvoLucia, the lighting division of Sunovia Energy in Sarasota, Florida.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/11/ride_trivia_quiz_answer_5.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.40943</id>

    <published>2010-11-23T21:52:29Z</published>
    <updated>2010-11-26T19:17:00Z</updated>

    <summary>Last week&apos;s ride asked to identify the El crash that killed 10 people and led to a recommendation to phase out wooden cars. The answer is the rear-end collision involving a Chicago Rapid Transit elevated train and a Chicago, North...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Last week's ride asked to identify the El crash that killed 10 people and led to a recommendation to phase out wooden cars.</p>

<p>The answer is the rear-end collision involving a Chicago Rapid Transit elevated train and a Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee interurban train at Granville station on Nov. 24, 1936. A northbound el train of eight wooden and steel cars was stopped, waiting for clearance onto a local track, when the North Shore express, made up of three steel cars, slammed into it from behind at just 10 mph. Federal investigators attributed the number of casualties to the fact that the steel coaches telescoped through the wooden rear coach of the El train, destroying it.</p>

<p>Carl Rollberg at Calumet Park got in his answer at 6 a.m. -- and was the winner!</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Del Valle and Bikes</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/11/del_valle_and_bikes.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.40655</id>

    <published>2010-11-11T21:20:39Z</published>
    <updated>2010-11-11T21:43:08Z</updated>

    <summary>Earlier this month, the Ride had a story about how the Active Transportation Alliance is hoping the next mayor will further Mayor Daley&apos;s work to make Chicago welcoming to bicycles and pedestrians. At least one mayoral candidate has come forward...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Earlier this month, the Ride had a <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/2852404,CST-NWS-ride01.article">story </a>about how the Active Transportation Alliance is hoping the next mayor will further Mayor Daley's work to make Chicago welcoming to bicycles and pedestrians.</p>

<p>At least one mayoral candidate has come forward on this issue -- City Clerk Miguel del Valle. On his campaign-focused Facebook page, Del Valle said he wanted to make Chicago "one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world."</p>

<p>"Let's make Chicago one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world," del Valle wrote. "Let's add bike lanes. Let's ensure quality pavement..."  del Valle wrote. "I will work with the City Council, the Chicago Department of Transportation, and the Active Transportation Alliance to launch bicycle friendly initiatives. Let's keep this going."</p>

<p>Del Valle says his son is an active cyclist.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Trivia Quiz Answer: Honore</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/11/trivia_quiz_answer_honore.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.40645</id>

    <published>2010-11-11T19:53:15Z</published>
    <updated>2010-11-11T19:58:29Z</updated>

    <summary>For our last ride trivia quiz, the question was: what Chicago street is the maiden name of a lady who became one of Chicago&apos;s leading socialites? The answer is Honore, named for Chicago real estate developer Henry Hamilton Honore. His...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>For our last ride trivia quiz, the question was: what Chicago street is the maiden name of a lady who became one of Chicago's leading socialites?</p>

<p>The answer is Honore, named for Chicago real estate developer Henry Hamilton Honore. His daugher, Bertha, married Potter Palmer of Palmer House fame.</p>

<p>Janet Heifetz of Chicago was the first with the right answer, and she gets the umbrella.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>All Transportation Forum</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/11/all_transportation_forum.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.40439</id>

    <published>2010-11-04T16:37:53Z</published>
    <updated>2010-11-04T16:44:10Z</updated>

    <summary>This Monday is a favorite event for transportation geeks like myself -- The William O. Lipinski Transportation Forum at Northwestern University. The topic this year is public transit for Chicago -- and will include a panel discussion with CTA President...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>This Monday is a favorite event for transportation geeks like myself -- The William O. Lipinski Transportation Forum at Northwestern University. The topic this year is public transit for Chicago -- and will include a panel discussion with CTA President Richard Rodriguez, Metra acting executive director William Tupper, Pace executive driector T.J. Ross and Illinois Tollway executive director Kristi Lafleur. The "four tops" from Springfield are also on the schedule -- Michael Madigan, Tom Cross, John Cullerton and Christine Radogno.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/10/ride_trivia_quiz_answer_4.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.40233</id>

    <published>2010-10-28T19:37:33Z</published>
    <updated>2010-10-28T19:54:07Z</updated>

    <summary> The last Ride Trivia Quiz asked &quot;What Chicago street was named after a 7-year-old girl? Her father became mayor.&quot; The answer is Cornelia, whose grandfather was subdivider Walter S. Gurnee. Gurnee was mayor from 1851 to 1853. No one...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p><br />
The last Ride Trivia Quiz asked "What Chicago street was named after a 7-year-old girl? Her father became mayor."</p>

<p>The answer is Cornelia, whose grandfather was subdivider Walter S. Gurnee. Gurnee was mayor from 1851 to 1853.</p>

<p>No one got this answer -- but we had some good guesses. Ada, like Cornelia, was named for the granddaughter of a subdivider. Berenice was named for a subdivider's daughter. But neither of those men became mayor.</p>

<p>A subdivider, if you're wondering, is someone who divides land into building sites.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Schweebing Around</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/10/schweebing_around.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.39723</id>

    <published>2010-10-13T16:02:01Z</published>
    <updated>2010-10-13T16:10:41Z</updated>

    <summary>Check out this Reuters video, which shows a New Zealand transportation innovation, the Schweeb, an see-through capsule carried on a monorail. The occupant pedals, bicycle-style, to move it forward. The inventor thinks it&apos;s a pollution-free solution for crowded cities. &quot;Schweeb&quot;...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Check out this Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=51434201&videoChannel=74">video</a>, which shows a New Zealand transportation innovation, the Schweeb, an see-through capsule carried on a monorail. The occupant pedals, bicycle-style, to move it forward. The inventor thinks it's a pollution-free solution for crowded cities. "Schweeb" sounds like a device from a Dr. Seuss story -- as in "... And next came the Mimbys, all riding their Schweebs..." I'd like to try it, but couldn't imagine it here. The state's too broke to fix most of what it has now...</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/09/ride_trivia_quiz_answer_3.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.39192</id>

    <published>2010-09-28T19:33:57Z</published>
    <updated>2010-10-01T16:42:40Z</updated>

    <summary>This week&apos;s question asked what event brought 250,000 people to Soldier Field in September 1954. The answer was the Catholic Marian Year Tribute. Sheila Wade was the first with the correct answer. I got a lot of responses on this...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>This week's question asked what event brought 250,000 people to Soldier Field in September 1954. The answer was the Catholic Marian Year Tribute. Sheila Wade was the first with the correct answer. I got a lot of responses on this one -- some readers were there.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>The Ride On &quot;Week in Review&quot;</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/09/the_ride_on_week_in_review_1.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.38796</id>

    <published>2010-09-17T20:43:01Z</published>
    <updated>2010-09-17T20:44:55Z</updated>

    <summary>I&apos;m on Channel 11 at 7 p.m. tonight with my news colleagues Charles Thomas of ABC, Jim Litke of the AP and Abdon Pallasch of the Sun-Times, talking about CTA crime and other hot topics....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>I'm on Channel 11 at 7 p.m. tonight with my news colleagues Charles Thomas of ABC, Jim Litke of the AP and Abdon Pallasch of the Sun-Times, talking about CTA crime and other hot topics.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/08/the_ride_trivia_quiz_25.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.38191</id>

    <published>2010-08-30T06:01:01Z</published>
    <updated>2010-08-31T19:16:19Z</updated>

    <summary>When U-2&apos;s Bono sings about streets that have no name, what streets is he talking about? The answer is the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Walter Brzeski of Chicago was the first with the right answer....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>When U-2's Bono sings about streets that have no name, what streets is he talking about? </p>

<p>The answer is the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Walter Brzeski of Chicago was the first with the right answer.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Raising Chicago out of the Muck</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/08/raising_chicago_out_of_the_muc.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.37928</id>

    <published>2010-08-17T17:59:15Z</published>
    <updated>2010-08-17T18:04:07Z</updated>

    <summary>The reversal of the Chicago River wasn&apos;t the city&apos;s only jaw-dropping engineering project. In this month&apos;s Chicago Magazine, Lilli Carre drew a fun visual history of the raising of Chicago&apos;s streets and buildings out of the swamp in the mid-19th...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>The reversal of the Chicago River wasn't the city's only jaw-dropping engineering project. In this month's Chicago Magazine, Lilli Carre drew a fun visual history of the raising of Chicago's streets and buildings out of the swamp in the mid-19th century. See <a href="http://chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2010/Raising-Chicago-an-Illustrated-History/">illustration</a> here.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Waiting on the Bloomingdale Trail</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/08/waiting_on_the_bloomingdale_tr.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.37884</id>

    <published>2010-08-16T17:20:30Z</published>
    <updated>2010-08-16T17:21:07Z</updated>

    <summary>Fans of the Bloomingdale Trail -- this is taking longer than you hoped. More than a year after the city of Chicago selected ARUP North America to begin preliminary design and engineering work on the proposed 2.7 mile linear park...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Fans of the Bloomingdale Trail -- this is taking longer than you hoped.<br />
More than a year after the city of Chicago selected ARUP North America to begin preliminary design and engineering work on the proposed 2.7 mile linear park on the Northwest Side, the contract still hasn't been awarded.<br />
Chicago transportation department spokesman Brian Steele said that given the project's scope and complexity, the amount of time it has taken to agree on what the contract entails "is not out of the ordinary." The city had originally predicted the $3.1 million contract would go to ARUP at the end of last year.<br />
Ben Helphand, president of the board of Friends of Bloomingdale Trail, an advocacy group for the project, isn't discouraged and believes there has been "good, steady progress."<br />
"I wish that particular contract was moving forward, but it's a very big project, with a lot of moving parts," Helphand said.<br />
The trail for bicyclists and pedestrians would run on an unused railroad bed along Bloomingdale Avenue from Ashland to Ridgeway. The design phase has to look at issues like the condition of 37 viaducts that hold up the trail.<br />
Helphand said the group is "extremely happy" that plans are moving forward on one of the parks that will be an access point to the trail. The Albany-Whipple Park had already been set up as a temporary park by the Trust for Public Land. The Trust, the Friends of Bloomingdale Trail and the Chicago Park District are working on plans to develop a children's playground on the site. It's expected to open this fall, Helphand said.<br />
Other parks that will provide access to the elevated trail are also in the works, Helphand said. The city has been discussing the trail for 11 years.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/08/the_ride_trivia_quiz_24.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.37622</id>

    <published>2010-08-09T06:01:01Z</published>
    <updated>2010-08-09T16:54:21Z</updated>

    <summary> The 1930s were a bad time for the economy, but a good time for pop culture inventions, like chocolate chip cookies. What transportation-related entertainment was first introduced in June 1933? The answer is the drive-in movie theater. Susan Flynn...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p><br />
The 1930s were a bad time for the economy, but a good time for pop culture inventions, like chocolate chip cookies. What transportation-related entertainment was first introduced in June 1933?</p>

<p>The answer is the drive-in movie theater. Susan Flynn of Hickory Hills was the first with the right answer.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Hollywood Harsh on the Carless</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/08/hollywood_harsh_on_the_carless.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.37460</id>

    <published>2010-08-02T16:00:20Z</published>
    <updated>2010-08-02T16:33:35Z</updated>

    <summary>The other day I was biking home from work when I was brought up short by a guy driving his car in the bike lane, while talking on his cellphone - in other words, breaking two city laws at once...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>The other day I was biking home from work when I was brought up short by a guy driving his car in the bike lane, while talking on his cellphone - in other words, breaking two city laws at once and being a jerk. I had to maneuver around him, and reminded him, through his open window, that he should get out of the bike lane and off his phone (No, I didn't swear, and yes, I promise to stop lecturing people on what the law is while I'm in a smaller vehicle). He swore at me and yelled that I was on a bike because I "couldn't afford a car."</p>

<p>I do own a car -- a fully paid-off car. I ride a bike a couple of times a week because I need the exercise. But in reading the frequently heated comments after bike articles, I always run into this notion -- that people are on bikes because they can't afford cars, not because they like bikes. This seems to be a delusion sustained by Hollywood, according to this <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2262214">article</a> by transportation writer Tom Vanderbilt. He cites all the movie losers who don't drive, like the Ben Stiller character in "Greenberg" or Steve Carell's bicycling 40-year-old virgin. He wonders if this is because screenwriters live in Los Angeles, the car-culture capital.</p>

<p>He also wonders if this approach to non-car transportation is changing -- the comedy "500 Days of Summer" has a California couple actually taking a train to a San Diego wedding. But I think Vanderbilt is forgetting some of the cool film depictions of bicycles from the past -- like "Breaking Away" or "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," or train movies like "North by Northwest." No one called Cary Grant a loser for riding the rails.</p>

<p><br />
</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Ride Trivia Quiz Answer</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/2010/07/the_ride_trivia_quiz_23.html" />
    <id>tag:blogs.suntimes.com,2010:/transportation//47.36962</id>

    <published>2010-07-19T06:01:01Z</published>
    <updated>2010-07-19T16:04:49Z</updated>

    <summary>Chicago&apos;s first electrically powered L -- which had a third rail and ran for three miles -- was torn down within a year of opening to the public. Why? The line was built for the 1893 World&apos;s Fair, and torn...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>Mary Wisniewski</name>
        <uri>http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blogs.suntimes.com/transportation/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Chicago's first electrically powered L -- which had a third rail and ran for three miles -- was torn down within a year of opening to the public. Why?</p>

<p>The line was built for the 1893 World's Fair, and torn down when the fair was over. Len Marcus was the first with the right answer. If Len can send me his mailing address, I can send him his prize.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

</feed>
