Active Trans member Karin Evans has been biking to work in Chicago's Western Suburbs for nearly five years. She loves using Metra and riding the Illinois Prairie Path as part of her commute. As we approach Bike to Work Week (June 8-14), we wanted to share some of Evans' advice for would-be commuters. 

What’s your commute like?
I live in Oak Park and teach at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. I can get to my office in an hour. I take a train from Oak Park to Glen Ellyn, and then ride a few miles to campus. In the afternoon, usually I ride 12 miles to Berkeley and catch the train there.

What’s your favorite part?
I love the Prairie Path through Villa Park. It’s a greenway with tall trees, and runs between small streets of sweet little houses.

Is boarding Metra difficult with a bike? Any special tips you might have for others thinking bringing a bike on Metra?
It was hard at first. I started with a heavy hybrid bike, and I am short. I had to get the hang of lifting my bike into the train vestibule.

Now I have a lighter touring bike with smaller wheels, and it’s much easier. I have never fallen or dropped the bike. If you can load your bike on an automobile and get it up and down stairs, you’ll be fine.

After entering the train car to the left, the main bike area is right inside, where the seats fold up. If people are seated there, smile and explain that’s where you are required to stow your bike. If that area is already full of bikes, there is a smaller area ahead on the left where the seats fold up the same way.

Bring a bungee cord. Set your bike against the folded seats and look for the bar underneath. Hook one end of your bungee around the bar and the other around your frame. If bikes are there already, carefully lay your bike against them and secure with your bungee. Keep pedals away from spokes. 

I like to sit near my bike. Other riders may need to slide your bike out of their way, attach their bungee cord to your frame, etc. Be ready to lend a hand. Often riders compare notes on who’s getting off first and layer the bikes accordingly.

How do you get yourself motivated to commute on days you might feel less enthusiastic about it?
By getting ready the night before. If my pannier is packed and ready to go, and my bike clothes are laid out, my lame excuses are overwhelmed.

Does rain deter you? Any special tips for keeping dry and comfortable?
If it’s messy in the morning, that’s a deterrent because I don’t have anywhere to shower. It doesn’t matter if I get wet on the way home. I carry raingear with me all the time, and I don’t mind riding in the rain, but I do try to avoid riding in big storms, especially with high winds.

What do you look for in a good bike commuting route?
Keeping away from traffic. People looking down at their phones are the scariest drivers. I like the Prairie Path between Bellwood and Glen Ellyn. The drivers in those towns are accustomed to cyclists crossing their streets. I also like Madison Street between Harlem and 25th Avenue — it’s wide, recently paved and drivers are considerate.

What’s the most important piece of advice you would like to pass along to a would-be bike commuter?
Bike commuting is a whole mindset. Plan everything you can; be prepared ahead of time. Always pump up your tires the night before.

Sign up your workplace for the Bike Commuter Challenge during Bike to Work Week, June 8-14. 

 The Earth Policy Institute has just released a new report on bike share programs in the U.S. With the expansions of current bike share programs and new openings in large markets like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the nationwide fleet of shared bikes is poised to quadruple in the next couple of years, from nearly 9,000 to more than 36,000.

Who is excited about Chicago's new Divvy bike share system? 

The full report is available on the EPI website.

What will make you want to participate in Bike to Work Week, June 8-14?

Maybe it will be this new Active Trans video?

Or it could be this free t-shirt you get by becoming a Team Leader in the Bike Commuter Challenge?

Or maybe it's this fun spoke card you'll receive at one of our Team Leader meetups, beginning 5/21.

Whatever ends up motivating you to ride during Chicago's Bike to Work Week (June 8-14), don't stop when it's over!  Help grow the movement by riding happily and safely all year long!

The Chicago Tribune presents two very different versions of the city’s proposed bike safety ordinance. John Kass’s column today is titled “Beware, cyclists, the other shoe has just dropped,” where he dreams about the city sticking it to cyclists.

On the other hand, reporter Hal Dardick wrote “Mayor Emanuel would give bikes more leeway on city streets.” Hmmm, John “Little Bike People in Spandex” Kass or reporter Hal Dardick?

We all know Kass is a goof whose job is to stir the pot, facts be damned. If you read the ordinance, you’ll see it does a lot for cyclists, as explained in Dardick’s story, like doubling fines for motorists that cause dooring crashes, clarifying that people on bikes can pass cars on the right, and making it legal to take the lane and ride two abreast at times.

There’s a lot of hand wringing in cycling circles over the ordinance’s increased fines for cyclists, and bike-haters like Kass are happy to fuel that fear. And it’s worth mentioning that the new, increased fine range for cyclists’ traffic violations ($50 - $200) is still lower than the one motorists face ($90 - $500, unless otherwise defined in the municipal code).

Active Trans believes that if you’re traveling recklessly and putting people at risk, a ticket is warranted whether you’re biking, walking or driving (especially when you’re driving.)

At the same time, we don’t endorse ticketing cyclists for minor violations that put no one at risk. Let the police focus on more important matters.

That’s been the police department’s approach, too, because they only issue on average less than four tickets per day citywide to people biking. That number is likely to go up, not so much because the fines are higher but because there are more people cycling and, with those growing numbers, a greater need to rein in the small percentage of cyclists who ride rudely.

We expect – and demand – that the police remain even-handed and only ticket cyclists who are truly putting others at risk.

Active Trans will continue to keep an eye out for any unwarranted ticketing of cyclists. We also want and expect more traffic tickets for reckless, aggressive driving that is so commonplace it’s become “normal.”