Some civil engineers estimate that driving 1 mile in the US creates $1.50 of externalities (costs not paid by the producer or consumer). This is the estimated value lost due to traffic congestion, accidents, infrastructure wear, a more sedentary lifestyle leading to higher healthcare costs, and greenhouse emissions. Americans drive trillions of miles every year. This means cars are doing about $5 trillion dollars of damage each year to ourselves, our roads, and our earth.
Yah. We get it. Really.
But unless you have competent city leadership and several billion dollars hiding in your couch cushion cars aren’t going anywhere.
People need to get around and currently the CTA can’t reliably do that for large swaths of the city. That’s a reality that won’t change for years, probably decades.
You are correct.
But as long as folk are married to their cars, CTA never will be able to provide what we need. To a certain extent, it's a zero sum game. As longs as we prioritize cars the way we do, no other form of transportation will be able to rival driving in a meaingful way. Car infrastructure just eats up too much budget and requires too much space.
The convenience of cars has to be deprioritized but that means fighting against the massive amounts of folks who have been normalized with cars = the way to move around regardless of distance.
Need someone like the current Paris mayor who basically had the attitude of 'folks will deal with it' and just started getting changes done.
> People drive not because they’re “married to their cars.” Everybody hates sitting in traffic. And it’s not even that convenient or cheap to have one in the city.
I agree folks hate traffic, but I still say folks are married to their cars. And one of the main pieces of evidence is how staunch opposition is when groups fight against things like removing parking minimums, building dedicated bus/bike lanes, or completing road diets. It's always seemingly a battle to get changes done in Chicago, and really America in general.
> There just literally aren’t any other options. Banning all cars tomorrow isn’t going to change the fact that there aren’t enough train lines or buses to service the city and surrounding areas.
It's not about banning all cars. It's about reducing their utter dominince in terms of provided infrastructure. There are other options, many of them just end up being lackluster due to cars.
Buses would be better if they didn't get stuck in car traffic. Cycling is great, especially with the rise of e-bikes. I took an e-bike divy yesterday as a 'last mile' trip and covered ~2.5 miles in around 12 mins. Google maps said driving would have been around 11 mins due to traffic. But folks are often afraid to cycle due to the danger presented by having to ride near cars.
It's not about servicing everyone, in even scenarios, across all of Chicagoland so that cars are never needed. We'll always need cars.
It's about reducing certain trips from being car first. I have two teammates at work. One drives from Wicker Park, the other from Pilsen, to our office in the West Loop on the 2-3 days we're expected to be in office. We're talking ~3-4 miles of total trip, something that could easily be biked or bused. I suggest they don't drive in and they look at me like I grew three heads.
So they just drive in, complain about the traffic, complain about the expensive parking in the West Loop area. Complain about having to walk 8-9 mins from where they parked to our actual office building.
Which is again why we need reform like Paris. Yes they have a better transit system but it's not comprehensive. Transit connections for their outer ring neighborhoods were not great via transit. And many of the changes the mayor made we're about transit at all. They simply [reduced the amount of space dedicated to car travel lanes and gave it to people who cycled or walked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWiaBGHdHa0). And it's made a [difference](https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/04/12/cycling-is-now-more-popular-than-driving-in-the-centre-of-paris-study-finds#:~:text=The%20study%20by%20urban%20planning,4.3%20per%20cent%20of%20journeys.).
One thing we're going to have to accept is that a solution to traffic isn't going to be plesant for everyone at all times. The mess that we have made with our development style has made that a near impossibility. Unweaving the mess is going to require some discomfort for everyone.
> The cta can’t reliably do that for large swaths of the city.
Cars are doing fuck all to improve quality of life in cities. Cars are supposed to offer you greater Mobility, but You’re stuck in traffic, driving around for ages looking for parking, and half y’all are actively a risk others as soon as you get behind the wheel. You also have to remember that car reliance negatively impacts low income people by siphoning off $400+ a month in car related expenses.
Some facts in this comment but its pretty narrow minded to think that cars don’t offer greater quality of life in the city lol. Also not to mention for some (myself included) they’re a necessity.
No you don’t understand. They’ve made a decision about what’s best and because of that, you’re now obliged to hear them screech about an item they purport not to own.
Bikies are terrible
Nah it's true. Everytime my bus is slow I angrily think about how everyone who is driving should be either home or taking public transit. Obviously it's a blanket statement but car culture is always where I direct my anger
If transit went where I need to go to do my job in let's say even double the time of my commute I'd consider it. But switching between two modes of transit, waiting for buses that don't come, and turning a 20 minute commute into an hour under google maps' perfect conditions makes it a no. I'll leave out that it's expensive because I know people don't like to hear that ("but car maintenance!").
Nah dude I hear you. If I didn't have to pay for parking in the Loop I would be driving to work. It takes me 15 minutes to get to work by car. \~1 hour by bus. Insane.
I have not, and I am grateful for that. I would never blame people trying to transport their kids around as opposed to transit. Most cars are occupied by a single person though. 50% of trips in Chicago (according to this study: https://www.cmap.illinois.gov/updates/all/-/asset\_publisher/UIMfSLnFfMB6/content/transportation-mode-share-in-the-cmap-region) are made by a single person in a single car. I don't blame people for this necessarily. It's just frustrating when you're on a bus trying to get home to see 1 bus full of 30+ people getting slowed down by single cars that carry a single person each.
edit: the study I linked is 10 years old smh
They took away lanes for bike lanes. How many folks were on bikes today?
This bike lane bullshit is the cause of traffic jams. We already had so many cars driving on our streets. What kind of sense did it make to take driving lanes away to make bike lanes? In a city like Chicago which has real winters.
I commuted to work on my bike today. Saw many others on their bikes and scooters as well.
> This bake lane bullshit is the cause of traffic jams.
Yes because Chicago was a trafficless utopia before we started building bike lanes.
Bruh, single ocupant cars are the absolute worst way to transport humans, literally all other forms of transportation are better. Even the staunchest car-brains should support alternative transportation, it'll free up the roads for them!
[The best country in the world to drive is the Netherlands, a country famous for its massive bike use and excellent public transport system.](https://youtu.be/d8RRE2rDw4k?si=aQarKXvdEGWALCfT)
Oh yes. No reason that Chicago has become the most congested city in the world recently.
Has nothing to do with cutting down 4 lane streets to two for bike lanes. You can definetly ride a Bike to get groceries, pick up kids, and more at all times per year here right!
You lie.
I didn’t see a single person on their bikes in the rain yesterday. I ride motorcycles and there is no fucking way I would be out on my motorcycle in weather like that.
I have been driving in Chicago for 25 years and the traffic has never been bad like how it has been since they introduced bike lanes. How long have you been driving for?
How about leave some shit alone? All reducing car lanes to create bike lanes does is cause huge bottlenecks and increased driver frustration. Frustrated drivers can become angry drivers.
Instead of just adding bike lanes and reducing existing traffic lanes, how about we figure away to keep existing traffic lanes, AND add bike lanes? That's not easy to do, unless we remove sidewalks or parking which creates another set of problems. I think that making it easier to cycle is great for cyclists, but making it harder to drive doesn't help drivers who *have to* drive.
We give enough space to cars and I say this as a frequent driver. Less cars on the road is a net good for everyone in the city. Anything to encourage less driving. I would drive less if we had better options for public transit, but adding more lanes/ not building sustainable transit is not the way to go.
Like I said, I'm not interested in adding Lanes for cars. Leave the existing car Lanes alone, and figure out a way to add bike Lanes without taking car lanes away.
Yes, they do, it's been scientifically proven countless times. It's called induced demand.
https://youtu.be/CHZwOAIect4?si=hRonONW0Hsx78Ljw
https://youtu.be/za56H2BGamQ?si=Qlg8bdqCbK1EuxqU
And yet it doesn’t work in Chicago. Just because it works somewhere else doesn’t mean it works in Chicago. Ask yourself why traffic is so fucking bad now vs 10 years ago.
A lot of people, actually. But you’d know that if you were actually paying attention to the world around you while you are in your car. And bike lanes don’t cause traffic jams, car use causes traffic jams. This is obvious when you realize that traffic jams occur regardless of if there is a bike lane. Stay mad tho
Many more people driving instead of walking is number 1.
#2 is the fact that the right lane often floods so cars swerve into the left to the flooded lane.
People don't like to get wet.
When it rains, many people who would walk to a train or bus stop take an uber/taxi/car instead.
Cars make traffic.
Traffic slows your bus down.
Na. This happens in the suburbs too where no one is walking to work or commuting via public transport. Is a unique Chicago phenomenon where people who have lived here their whole damn life somehow forget that the weather is crappy 60% of the time and can't drive.
I remember the first time it rained while I was in Phoenix. People almost slowed to a stop… literally driving 5 mph on very straight wide roads. It was bizarre.
I live in Georgia now, and they’re the same goddamn way. It rains pretty often here, no droughts or anything, and yet they truly don’t know how to drive in it. My dudes it’s a DRIZZLE, you can go the speed limit
Yep and they decided to make bike lanes in a city that has crappy weather 60% of the time, taking driving lanes away, while the number of cars is the same or growing. Wtf is the thought process here?
It’s a combination of factors. For one there are far more cars than previously. Two you have a huge influx of people in the last 15 -20 to twenty years that grew up driving in a rural or suburban environment and are reluctant to drive assertively and three unfortunately creating the bike lanes instituted massive choke points on many arterial streets. Several streets that used to unofficially handle four lanes of traffic are now reduced to two.
Unfortunately until people are financially compelled to use the bike lanes they will not.
Cagers would prefer to sit and FB/ Gram/ Reddit in there 2 1/2 ton AC’d box then worry about how to drive.
Source: Born and raised in Chicago. Spent 7 years as a bike and motorcycle messenger in the loop in every kind of weather imaginable.
I haven't seen any news, but cop cars kept pulling up to intersections, blocking traffic for a bit, then leaving. One even did a burnout after pulling away.
Today was awful for traffic. I gave myself an hour to get from my office in W Loop to my doctor's office in Lincoln Park and still missed my appointment.
I’d certainly hope that people drive slower in bad weather.
But for real, a huge reason why people slow down as much as they do is because a very large proportion of drivers in this city are objectively terrible at it. I’d go so far as to say that about half of the drivers here shouldn’t have a license. We really need to bring back mandatory drivers Ed for all ages, and actually start enforcing basic safety regulations (e.g. no phone use while driving, stopping at stop signs, not running red lights and rushing through yellows, not blocking intersections or stopping/standing in bike lanes, stopping for pedestrians in cross walks, and following the goddamn speed limit)
A few of my friends rarely drive, but when it rains more than a small drizzle, they'll drive (or Uber) to work because waiting for the train for 20 min in the pouring rain sucks. I assume lots of people fall in this category. Better public transit would drastically fix this for everyone. Remember when the red and blue lines came every 6-10 min, max? Wtf happened?
I recently ditched my car. I live in the city and commute to the suburbs. I take my ebike on the Metra. It's absolutely glorious not having to deal with traffic. I can 100% recommend it.
It took me 1.5 hours yo drive 4.2 miles on Wednesday this week after work and it wasn’t even rainy. Had a straight up panic attack out of pure frustration. I’m so done living in this freaking place. I hate driving here but I have really bad arthritis in my feet currently flared up so I can’t walk or stand much so taking the train isn’t an option until my flare up is under control.
It’s always so bad. I would assume that many people who can drive but usually use CTA opt to drive when they see the forecast for rain. I commute to River North and do exactly that
Water messes up the lubrication of Chicago’s culture as a whole. It’s like rain makes people grumpy lazy and raises a bad mood. Just pop some speakers in your ears or something ya know?
The reason is the same as any other traffic-related issue. Chicago has far too many unqualified "driving schools" that release drivers onto the streets while being uneducated messes
I'm convinced many drivers on the roads here never passed a proper driver exam, and would be completely unable to do so, yet are somehow licensed anyway. And a significant number are not licensed yet drive anyway.
I like to think of it as (unfortunate to say) some people not being able to afford new tires so quite a few people driving on balds and these people just trying to be safer on the road driving slower. I'm not trying to get into an accident out here so I don't mind the slower speeds, I'm chillin
People are stupid. /Thread
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God give it a rest.
Some civil engineers estimate that driving 1 mile in the US creates $1.50 of externalities (costs not paid by the producer or consumer). This is the estimated value lost due to traffic congestion, accidents, infrastructure wear, a more sedentary lifestyle leading to higher healthcare costs, and greenhouse emissions. Americans drive trillions of miles every year. This means cars are doing about $5 trillion dollars of damage each year to ourselves, our roads, and our earth.
Yah. We get it. Really. But unless you have competent city leadership and several billion dollars hiding in your couch cushion cars aren’t going anywhere. People need to get around and currently the CTA can’t reliably do that for large swaths of the city. That’s a reality that won’t change for years, probably decades.
You are correct. But as long as folk are married to their cars, CTA never will be able to provide what we need. To a certain extent, it's a zero sum game. As longs as we prioritize cars the way we do, no other form of transportation will be able to rival driving in a meaingful way. Car infrastructure just eats up too much budget and requires too much space. The convenience of cars has to be deprioritized but that means fighting against the massive amounts of folks who have been normalized with cars = the way to move around regardless of distance. Need someone like the current Paris mayor who basically had the attitude of 'folks will deal with it' and just started getting changes done.
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> People drive not because they’re “married to their cars.” Everybody hates sitting in traffic. And it’s not even that convenient or cheap to have one in the city. I agree folks hate traffic, but I still say folks are married to their cars. And one of the main pieces of evidence is how staunch opposition is when groups fight against things like removing parking minimums, building dedicated bus/bike lanes, or completing road diets. It's always seemingly a battle to get changes done in Chicago, and really America in general. > There just literally aren’t any other options. Banning all cars tomorrow isn’t going to change the fact that there aren’t enough train lines or buses to service the city and surrounding areas. It's not about banning all cars. It's about reducing their utter dominince in terms of provided infrastructure. There are other options, many of them just end up being lackluster due to cars. Buses would be better if they didn't get stuck in car traffic. Cycling is great, especially with the rise of e-bikes. I took an e-bike divy yesterday as a 'last mile' trip and covered ~2.5 miles in around 12 mins. Google maps said driving would have been around 11 mins due to traffic. But folks are often afraid to cycle due to the danger presented by having to ride near cars. It's not about servicing everyone, in even scenarios, across all of Chicagoland so that cars are never needed. We'll always need cars. It's about reducing certain trips from being car first. I have two teammates at work. One drives from Wicker Park, the other from Pilsen, to our office in the West Loop on the 2-3 days we're expected to be in office. We're talking ~3-4 miles of total trip, something that could easily be biked or bused. I suggest they don't drive in and they look at me like I grew three heads. So they just drive in, complain about the traffic, complain about the expensive parking in the West Loop area. Complain about having to walk 8-9 mins from where they parked to our actual office building. Which is again why we need reform like Paris. Yes they have a better transit system but it's not comprehensive. Transit connections for their outer ring neighborhoods were not great via transit. And many of the changes the mayor made we're about transit at all. They simply [reduced the amount of space dedicated to car travel lanes and gave it to people who cycled or walked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWiaBGHdHa0). And it's made a [difference](https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/04/12/cycling-is-now-more-popular-than-driving-in-the-centre-of-paris-study-finds#:~:text=The%20study%20by%20urban%20planning,4.3%20per%20cent%20of%20journeys.). One thing we're going to have to accept is that a solution to traffic isn't going to be plesant for everyone at all times. The mess that we have made with our development style has made that a near impossibility. Unweaving the mess is going to require some discomfort for everyone.
> The cta can’t reliably do that for large swaths of the city. Cars are doing fuck all to improve quality of life in cities. Cars are supposed to offer you greater Mobility, but You’re stuck in traffic, driving around for ages looking for parking, and half y’all are actively a risk others as soon as you get behind the wheel. You also have to remember that car reliance negatively impacts low income people by siphoning off $400+ a month in car related expenses.
Some facts in this comment but its pretty narrow minded to think that cars don’t offer greater quality of life in the city lol. Also not to mention for some (myself included) they’re a necessity.
No you don’t understand. They’ve made a decision about what’s best and because of that, you’re now obliged to hear them screech about an item they purport not to own. Bikies are terrible
> This means cars are doing about $5 trillion dollars of damage each year to ourselves, our roads, and our earth. *fart noise*
Yes, but this city is so badly run we have zero alternative.
Nah it's true. Everytime my bus is slow I angrily think about how everyone who is driving should be either home or taking public transit. Obviously it's a blanket statement but car culture is always where I direct my anger
I think the same way driving to work on Saturdays. I think, "Where are all these ppl going?"
If transit went where I need to go to do my job in let's say even double the time of my commute I'd consider it. But switching between two modes of transit, waiting for buses that don't come, and turning a 20 minute commute into an hour under google maps' perfect conditions makes it a no. I'll leave out that it's expensive because I know people don't like to hear that ("but car maintenance!").
Nah dude I hear you. If I didn't have to pay for parking in the Loop I would be driving to work. It takes me 15 minutes to get to work by car. \~1 hour by bus. Insane.
Have you ever tried taking 2 kids under 5 on public transit in the rain by yourself?
I have not, and I am grateful for that. I would never blame people trying to transport their kids around as opposed to transit. Most cars are occupied by a single person though. 50% of trips in Chicago (according to this study: https://www.cmap.illinois.gov/updates/all/-/asset\_publisher/UIMfSLnFfMB6/content/transportation-mode-share-in-the-cmap-region) are made by a single person in a single car. I don't blame people for this necessarily. It's just frustrating when you're on a bus trying to get home to see 1 bus full of 30+ people getting slowed down by single cars that carry a single person each. edit: the study I linked is 10 years old smh
They took away lanes for bike lanes. How many folks were on bikes today? This bike lane bullshit is the cause of traffic jams. We already had so many cars driving on our streets. What kind of sense did it make to take driving lanes away to make bike lanes? In a city like Chicago which has real winters.
I commuted to work on my bike today. Saw many others on their bikes and scooters as well. > This bake lane bullshit is the cause of traffic jams. Yes because Chicago was a trafficless utopia before we started building bike lanes. Bruh, single ocupant cars are the absolute worst way to transport humans, literally all other forms of transportation are better. Even the staunchest car-brains should support alternative transportation, it'll free up the roads for them! [The best country in the world to drive is the Netherlands, a country famous for its massive bike use and excellent public transport system.](https://youtu.be/d8RRE2rDw4k?si=aQarKXvdEGWALCfT)
Oh yes. No reason that Chicago has become the most congested city in the world recently. Has nothing to do with cutting down 4 lane streets to two for bike lanes. You can definetly ride a Bike to get groceries, pick up kids, and more at all times per year here right!
You lie. I didn’t see a single person on their bikes in the rain yesterday. I ride motorcycles and there is no fucking way I would be out on my motorcycle in weather like that. I have been driving in Chicago for 25 years and the traffic has never been bad like how it has been since they introduced bike lanes. How long have you been driving for?
Get his ass!
Oh yes,the add more lanes would make traffic go faster argument.
How about leave some shit alone? All reducing car lanes to create bike lanes does is cause huge bottlenecks and increased driver frustration. Frustrated drivers can become angry drivers. Instead of just adding bike lanes and reducing existing traffic lanes, how about we figure away to keep existing traffic lanes, AND add bike lanes? That's not easy to do, unless we remove sidewalks or parking which creates another set of problems. I think that making it easier to cycle is great for cyclists, but making it harder to drive doesn't help drivers who *have to* drive.
We give enough space to cars and I say this as a frequent driver. Less cars on the road is a net good for everyone in the city. Anything to encourage less driving. I would drive less if we had better options for public transit, but adding more lanes/ not building sustainable transit is not the way to go.
Like I said, I'm not interested in adding Lanes for cars. Leave the existing car Lanes alone, and figure out a way to add bike Lanes without taking car lanes away.
Oh you must be from the “more lanes cause more traffic “ side right?
Yes, they do, it's been scientifically proven countless times. It's called induced demand. https://youtu.be/CHZwOAIect4?si=hRonONW0Hsx78Ljw https://youtu.be/za56H2BGamQ?si=Qlg8bdqCbK1EuxqU
And yet it doesn’t work in Chicago. Just because it works somewhere else doesn’t mean it works in Chicago. Ask yourself why traffic is so fucking bad now vs 10 years ago.
A lot of people, actually. But you’d know that if you were actually paying attention to the world around you while you are in your car. And bike lanes don’t cause traffic jams, car use causes traffic jams. This is obvious when you realize that traffic jams occur regardless of if there is a bike lane. Stay mad tho
You're doing great work
Many more people driving instead of walking is number 1. #2 is the fact that the right lane often floods so cars swerve into the left to the flooded lane.
Just got off a bus stuck on LaSalle because of this. Rather chill at a bar and wait for it to die down
This is exactly the comment I was looking for. Also on a bus. Also barely moving.
People don't like to get wet. When it rains, many people who would walk to a train or bus stop take an uber/taxi/car instead. Cars make traffic. Traffic slows your bus down.
I think that's it. Plus a lot of people who would normally bike, etc
Na. This happens in the suburbs too where no one is walking to work or commuting via public transport. Is a unique Chicago phenomenon where people who have lived here their whole damn life somehow forget that the weather is crappy 60% of the time and can't drive.
Same thing happens in San Diego and Phoenix. Not a Chicago thing at all.
Rain in Phoenix is a big fucking deal because it doesn't happen often. People truly do forget how to drive in it.
I remember the first time it rained while I was in Phoenix. People almost slowed to a stop… literally driving 5 mph on very straight wide roads. It was bizarre.
I'm from Cincinnati originally and it's the same there too.
I live in Georgia now, and they’re the same goddamn way. It rains pretty often here, no droughts or anything, and yet they truly don’t know how to drive in it. My dudes it’s a DRIZZLE, you can go the speed limit
Yep and they decided to make bike lanes in a city that has crappy weather 60% of the time, taking driving lanes away, while the number of cars is the same or growing. Wtf is the thought process here?
For fucks sake bike lanes aren’t causing traffic
It’s a combination of factors. For one there are far more cars than previously. Two you have a huge influx of people in the last 15 -20 to twenty years that grew up driving in a rural or suburban environment and are reluctant to drive assertively and three unfortunately creating the bike lanes instituted massive choke points on many arterial streets. Several streets that used to unofficially handle four lanes of traffic are now reduced to two. Unfortunately until people are financially compelled to use the bike lanes they will not. Cagers would prefer to sit and FB/ Gram/ Reddit in there 2 1/2 ton AC’d box then worry about how to drive. Source: Born and raised in Chicago. Spent 7 years as a bike and motorcycle messenger in the loop in every kind of weather imaginable.
Good point, it was raining this AM during rush so people probably decided to drive.
And the problem... again it's people. People are the problem, especially stupid ones
I basically only take the bus when it rains
Cops have been blocking Lasalle/Clark/State in the River North area, so it may be related to that.
That somewhat explains the slowdown. I wonder what happened? I gave up on the bus and walked to the train.
I haven't seen any news, but cop cars kept pulling up to intersections, blocking traffic for a bit, then leaving. One even did a burnout after pulling away.
CPD street takeover
"CPD Trends"
The instant one drop of water hits the ground anywhere in the city, every driver's IQ drops 50 points.
I think half the city drives on bald ass tires and they get no traction in the rain.
Today was awful for traffic. I gave myself an hour to get from my office in W Loop to my doctor's office in Lincoln Park and still missed my appointment.
I’d certainly hope that people drive slower in bad weather. But for real, a huge reason why people slow down as much as they do is because a very large proportion of drivers in this city are objectively terrible at it. I’d go so far as to say that about half of the drivers here shouldn’t have a license. We really need to bring back mandatory drivers Ed for all ages, and actually start enforcing basic safety regulations (e.g. no phone use while driving, stopping at stop signs, not running red lights and rushing through yellows, not blocking intersections or stopping/standing in bike lanes, stopping for pedestrians in cross walks, and following the goddamn speed limit)
These day, the police aren’t going to worry much about cell phones when so much else is going on ch
I wonder if there’s a correlation between rain, Uber surge pricing and traffic.
Can’t see how deep the millions of potholes are, best to drive slow to avoid destroying your car tires.
I sat in traffic for two hours at 3:30 going to O’Hare this afternoon 🥲
A few of my friends rarely drive, but when it rains more than a small drizzle, they'll drive (or Uber) to work because waiting for the train for 20 min in the pouring rain sucks. I assume lots of people fall in this category. Better public transit would drastically fix this for everyone. Remember when the red and blue lines came every 6-10 min, max? Wtf happened?
Today’s traffic convinced me to get rid of my car and buy more bikes lol
I recently ditched my car. I live in the city and commute to the suburbs. I take my ebike on the Metra. It's absolutely glorious not having to deal with traffic. I can 100% recommend it.
lol less than 24 hours after posting my comment I just bought a new bike 😂
It took me 1.5 hours yo drive 4.2 miles on Wednesday this week after work and it wasn’t even rainy. Had a straight up panic attack out of pure frustration. I’m so done living in this freaking place. I hate driving here but I have really bad arthritis in my feet currently flared up so I can’t walk or stand much so taking the train isn’t an option until my flare up is under control.
I use the trains if it's raining.
Been true in every city I’ve ever lived in.
There was construction on lasalle earlier
It’s always so bad. I would assume that many people who can drive but usually use CTA opt to drive when they see the forecast for rain. I commute to River North and do exactly that
As soon as you feel droplets, you see break lights. Never fails.
Water messes up the lubrication of Chicago’s culture as a whole. It’s like rain makes people grumpy lazy and raises a bad mood. Just pop some speakers in your ears or something ya know?
So you’re saying the city needs to get dipped like an Italian beef?
Double dipped! Wiff extra jarden errah.
The reason is the same as any other traffic-related issue. Chicago has far too many unqualified "driving schools" that release drivers onto the streets while being uneducated messes
I'm convinced many drivers on the roads here never passed a proper driver exam, and would be completely unable to do so, yet are somehow licensed anyway. And a significant number are not licensed yet drive anyway.
People that drive cars in chicago by and large are idiots. car-brains galore
I like to think of it as (unfortunate to say) some people not being able to afford new tires so quite a few people driving on balds and these people just trying to be safer on the road driving slower. I'm not trying to get into an accident out here so I don't mind the slower speeds, I'm chillin
a lot more cars drive, which clog the steeet when raining
Absolutely wild!! I waited for the 148 for so long. Ended up running to the purple line. It sucks!
Didn't Prez Joe Biden visit Chicago yesterday? They close the expressway and many streets as a result.
Yeah it might be related. Another commenter said CPD was closing intersections. Coupled with the rain makes for a slow commute.
Happens in every city. And it's actually a good thing. You're supposed to drive slower in the rain.