Metra Bike Blackout Friday

The Tribune is reporting that Metra will be banning bikes on Friday due to the Blackhawks parade.

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Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on June 28, 2013 at 3:37am

The number of people killed each month on the public transportation systems of Cities such as Mumbai is staggering.  One study says 3700 people per year (that's more than 10 per day).   Another says 17 people EACH weekday.   This is what happens when public transit and alternate transportation systems are allowed to decay.

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on June 28, 2013 at 3:40am

That's "bright".   Shut down the secure Bike Parking because, uh, lots of people might need to use it.  This, the CTA and Metra restrictions (and the dearth of restrictions on cars and garages) speaks volumes for the idea that Bicycles are still considered to be a "toy" and not serious transportation.



JohnK said:

The Blackhawks are the Lacrosse team right? We had to talk are way into the Bike Center this morning to get our shower -- the guard said we should have seen it on the News. "Hey, I don't own a t.v.". The SE stairtower @ LSD and the river was locked this morning. Is that related? Had to backtrack and take the long way to the riverwalk detour. Why don't they just shutdown the whole loop?
Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on June 28, 2013 at 3:54am

Oh.  I didn't know that.    That helps "justify" some of the anti-bike policies.   Shutting down the Ike is a major decision.  I didn't know that the City had the "guts" to do that.



carfreecommuter said:

"Due to the Blackhawks parade the Eisenhower Expressway will be shuttlebus only. No personal cars will be allowed" 


David crZven 10.6 said:

That's "bright".   Shut down the secure Bike Parking because, uh, lots of people might need to use it.  This, the CTA and Metra restrictions (and the dearth of restrictions on cars and garages) speaks volumes for the idea that Bicycles are still considered to be a "toy" and not serious transportation.



JohnK said:

The Blackhawks are the Lacrosse team right? We had to talk are way into the Bike Center this morning to get our shower -- the guard said we should have seen it on the News. "Hey, I don't own a t.v.". The SE stairtower @ LSD and the river was locked this morning. Is that related? Had to backtrack and take the long way to the riverwalk detour. Why don't they just shutdown the whole loop?
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 28, 2013 at 3:56am

Yeah, that figures. Can't blame you for being disgusted.
 
Why couldn't they have done this !&*#$@# thing on SATURDAY?

igz said:

but instead...

Permalink Reply by Liz on June 28, 2013 at 3:57am


It sucks that they couldn't just modify the times (no outbound after 11 am and no inbound before 4pm), but from what my metra taking co-workers told me all the trains into the city where packed to the brim this morning.  The whole loop area is currently bananas. 


igz said:

but instead...

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on June 28, 2013 at 4:00am

It will never happen in any of our lifetimes, but imagine the mess if the Cubs were to ever win the World Series....I mean look at this mess for what is generally regarded as the 4th Sport....

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on June 28, 2013 at 4:02am
Yeah, I'm going to assume that was a joke…

David crZven 10.6 said:

Oh.  I didn't know that.    That helps "justify" some of the anti-bike policies.   Shutting down the Ike is a major decision.  I didn't know that the City had the "guts" to do that.



carfreecommuter said:

"Due to the Blackhawks parade the Eisenhower Expressway will be shuttlebus only. No personal cars will be allowed" 


David crZven 10.6 said:

That's "bright".   Shut down the secure Bike Parking because, uh, lots of people might need to use it.  This, the CTA and Metra restrictions (and the dearth of restrictions on cars and garages) speaks volumes for the idea that Bicycles are still considered to be a "toy" and not serious transportation.



JohnK said:

The Blackhawks are the Lacrosse team right? We had to talk are way into the Bike Center this morning to get our shower -- the guard said we should have seen it on the News. "Hey, I don't own a t.v.". The SE stairtower @ LSD and the river was locked this morning. Is that related? Had to backtrack and take the long way to the riverwalk detour. Why don't they just shutdown the whole loop?
Permalink Reply by Rich S on June 28, 2013 at 4:53am

Maybe look at it another way.  It's insane as it is to drive downtown during rush hour.  The difficulties we're having will be nothing compared to drivers trying to get in and out of the loop today.  We can easily turn around, reroute, or walk the sidewalk for a block.  They're stuck.  

I'm more worried about agitated drivers once they get out of the loop on my way home tonight.  

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

That's "bright".   Shut down the secure Bike Parking because, uh, lots of people might need to use it.  This, the CTA and Metra restrictions (and the dearth of restrictions on cars and garages) speaks volumes for the idea that Bicycles are still considered to be a "toy" and not serious transportation.



JohnK said:

The Blackhawks are the Lacrosse team right? We had to talk are way into the Bike Center this morning to get our shower -- the guard said we should have seen it on the News. "Hey, I don't own a t.v.". The SE stairtower @ LSD and the river was locked this morning. Is that related? Had to backtrack and take the long way to the riverwalk detour. Why don't they just shutdown the whole loop?
Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on June 28, 2013 at 6:51am

Actually its more of a message from the City that we do not really take bicycles seriously.  A number of folk use the bicycle/Metra combination to GO TO WORK.   Being deprived of going to work because a large number of drunks want to celebrate the triumph of a bunch of mercenaries wearing a particular shirt seems kind of short sighted. 

Permalink Reply by Tom Purcell on June 28, 2013 at 6:57am

... Recently became a bike/train commuter  - couldn't afford to get the car fixed. Ordinarily, I don't take the bike on the train. The bike commute is only 7.5 miles each way; a co-worker picks me up in the morning and drops me off in the afternoon. Still, the first time I took the bike on the (inbound, one stop) train, there was one other biker on the platform. The train guys looked at us and lust pointed to the last car. Seems likely that train commuters would have a jaundiced view of people schlepping bikes onto the train. Although the bike ban is a bad idea for reverse commuters and suburban short trippers, do you really want to be on the train with several hundred drunk mooks in Hawks sweaters?

Permalink Reply by igz on June 28, 2013 at 9:26am

sorry, but i take a bit of offense to your comment Michael, even as an intrepid cyclist defying death.  when your bike is necessary for your commute to work along with metra (not mere recreation), take that away and you create a difficult situation.  ill present that in another viewpoint - take someone who drives to work every day. then, one day, take that car away. its a really big inconvenience.  its the same thing. and statistically, drivers are much more death defying.  it should be fairly obvious. that was rather insensitive, dude.

Permalink Reply by Bez on June 28, 2013 at 9:54am

Frankly, your comment was kind of jerky.  The people who had to deal with this did just that, dealt with it.  Yeah, it upset people.  Yeah, they came to a website dedicated to these issues to complain about it.

Mess up anyone's routine and way of doing things, and they will react this exact same way.  No one was calling for anyone's head on a platter, nor were they organizing protests and sit ins.  Igz, specifically, was expressing his displeasure at an issue that turned out to be a whole lot of flash and little substance that seriously affected him for little to no reason (reference pictures of empty train cars).

It's only one day, but it's one of a limited number of actually nice days (not raining, hot, cold, humid) so far this year.  I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to ride to the train myself, since it would have been a damn near perfect day to ride and not the strong headwind, humid, rainy days that seem to be more frequent than not lately

Michael B said:

People who own cars deal with the situation when there car is in the shop etc. It's only one day. You could be a commuter on the Red Line who has their station closed for 5 months. I'm sorry to offend you. Happy Friday

igz said:

sorry, but i take a bit of offense to your comment Michael, even as an intrepid cyclist defying death.  when your bike is necessary for your commute to work along with metra (not mere recreation), take that away and you create a difficult situation.  ill present that in another viewpoint - take someone who drives to work every day. then, one day, take that car away. its a really big inconvenience.  its the same thing. and statistically, drivers are much more death defying.  it should be fairly obvious. that was rather insensitive, dude.

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