In the Loop is your round-up of what's going on in the transportation world, posted in conjunction with Talking Transit.
@mpc
Streetsblog.org launches in Chicago as local transportation advocates like MPC and Active Transportation Alliance gave a hearty “woot!” Congress makes the commuter transit tax benefit equal to the parking benefit, and great public places prove to make good economic sense. Need a carpool partner? It’s easy to find one with Pace RideShare. Win prizes with the Drive Less, Live More campaign because Dude, I don’t want a car! And congratulations to the staff and board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for earning the American Planning Association’s first-ever National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Agency.
elsewhere
Chicago Transit Authority customers will soon be able to grab a sandwich at some stations, generating $1 million in revenue from lease agreements for the agency. Regional Transportation Authority suing airlines over sales tax avoidance. Think BIG! Help shape Chicago’s new Bus Rapid Transit stations and the future of the entire region’s transit system. Mayor Emanuel appoints the Midway Advisory Panel, chaired by MPC’s Peter Skosey, to ensure transparency and best practices as City explores privatization of Midway.
What’s wrong with this statistic: India and China invest more as a percent of GDP on infrastructure than the U.S. Meanwhile, more than three-fourths of Americans support increased funding for public transit, and Detroit moves forward on its Woodward Avenue transit line thanks to federal TIGER grant.
Governors in Virginia, Vermont and Michigan propose billions in tax changes to fund crumbling transportation infrastructure. Maryland has a new proposal to entice infrastructure P3s. We know active transportation makes us healthier, and now we have the data to prove it.