CTA reinstalling bike racks

By Dan Thomas, Chicago Transit Authority
 

Since 2001, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and CTA have partnered to encourage bicycle and transit use by installing bicycle racks at CTA transit stations through the Bike to Transit program. The most recent Bike to Transit project is to fund, plan and construct high-capacity bike parking in CTA stations. Four stations were selected to receive high-capacity bicycle parking facilities – Damen/O'Hare Blue Line Station, Jefferson Park Blue Line Station, Midway Orange Line Station and Sox/35th Red Line Station.

Two-tiered, high-capacity racks were selected to accommodate as many bicycles as possible in the smallest amount of space. The design CTA and CDOT chose had no moving parts to minimize potential maintenance issues. In July 2008, CDOT received funding to construct the racks. Since then, new parking structures replaced the old racks. The installation was completed in 2008.

After the installation of racks at Jefferson Park, CDOT and CTA received feedback from the bicycling community that the fixed locking loop did not easily permit secure locking using common U-locks. Therefore, these racks will be modified to make them more functional.

CDOT is developing a solution to improve the new racks to meet our customers’ needs for safe and secure parking. In the next newsletter, we will update our efforts to achieve the needed improvements.

Questions can be directed to CDOT’s Bicycle Parking Program Manager, Christopher Gagnon, at cgagnon@cityofchicago.org or to me at dthomas@transitchicago.com.

Dan Thomas is CTA’s Bike and Ride Program Manager.