I officially have a year’s worth of monthly video topics planned out. It’s a good feeling but some of them sound so fun to make that I wish I could do them all right now

Would love to seem them run the S. Chicago Branch about as often as the 6 bus runs. Could even run them as two-car sets instead of 4 if equipment’s an issue. Then run the 6 bus as a local from 47th to 79th and position those 60-foot buses elsewhere. The train is truly so much better in this case!

High Speed Rail Alliance@hsrail.bsky.social · last wk.

The Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) begins its work this year with a mission to integrate fares, schedules, and service between Metra and CTA. It needs an early, high-impact win. And the Metra Electric South Chicago Branch needs a champion. It’s a great place for NITA to start its work.

Median Rent by Community Area in 1930

every time I go to the beach in Chicago I still do a little joyous chuckle to myself because how is a place this beautiful actually real?

Working on a video about Palmer Square this month & I’ve never had such a relaxing video subject. Just what I needed

Great article!

Municipal Corporation@nikhunder.com · 2w ago

New from me: Mayor Brandon Johnson's top criteria for NITA is not relevant skills. It's better to be a friend than be an expert. He makes a mockery of the positions advocates spent years fighting for. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/19/o...

I love that my Amtrak train has been stopped for over an hour somewhere down the line due to “signal problems”

Also maybe it’s just me but has the Amtrak app just straight up not worked for booking trips lately for anyone else?

Car Free Keith@carfreekeith.bsky.social · 3w ago

I wish Amtrak could sell tickets onboard if seats are open like they do on Metra. Just had someone get turned away because they couldnt buy a ticket last minute on the app. And the train is only half full

I wish Amtrak could sell tickets onboard if seats are open like they do on Metra. Just had someone get turned away because they couldnt buy a ticket last minute on the app. And the train is only half full

Orange You Glad Its Friday. Wildfires from Canada is the big topic in Chicago. View from Thursday of the "smoke show".

I am not a climate scientist but when I was a kid the number of times we couldn’t go outside because of Canadian wildfire smoke was zero times

What’s the cta doing to replace its bus fleet that’s largely about to go bad in the next few years? Seems like we could be careening toward a bad time, especially with the artics

Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists@stevevance.net · 3w ago

this Chicagoan posted about how the CTA bus there were on broke down on DLSD and then the second bus also broke down

Wouldn’t say we’re always moving in the right direction these days *cough* The 78 parking garage *cough* but in at least some places things are better now than they used to be

chigeek.bsky.social@chigeek.bsky.social · 3w ago

Chicago’s Streeterville, once an ugly jumble of parking lots, has certainly come a long way in the last 60 yrs. Lake Point Tower looks so lonely. Looking east from the roof of the Equitable Building, ca. 1967. (Hedrich-Blessing Collection)

Good news about the Blue Line slow zones, but seems so weird that NITA apparently wasn’t even acknowledged & the legislation literally says a station has to open in the place where the said slow zones exist chi.streetsblog.org/2026/07/09/c...

CTA board approved deal with IDOT to fix Blue Line slow zones, and an increase in bus lane enforcement cameras. - Streetsblog Chicago

chi.streetsblog.org

I’ve been in Phoenix all week. And yeah, it’s hot as heck. But I’ve been enjoying it and I don’t think it’s as simple as “Phoenix is a car dominated hellscape.” I mean, it’s pretty true, but looking forward to exploring the nuance in an upcoming video.

"Illinois Horseshoe" fantasy train route. Based on conservations we were having in a Chicago urbanist discord. 202 route miles, combined population of 1.14 million including all the metro area populations on the route (not double counting for MSAs with more than one stop).

I wish divvy had an option to end a classic bike ride at a station without docking it if the dock is full. Just missed my Metra train because I had to go find another dock

I don’t think he cares much for Columbus drive

Car Free Keith@carfreekeith.bsky.social · last mo.

I don’t much care for Columbus Drive, and you may quote me on that

I don’t much care for Columbus Drive, and you may quote me on that

New video out now! Covering the sweeping reforms to Illinois transit that started taking effect this month. Big thanks to @metroplanning.bsky.social and @awennink.bsky.social for a) helping craft this legislation and b) helping make this video. Hope you enjoy! youtu.be/eH-ZsEoGu_g?...

Chicago's Transit Agencies Finally Started Working Together

YouTube video by Car Free Keith

youtu.be

We're dangerously close to the NITA video drop. Gonna sleep on it and bust out another thumbnail concept and get it posted hopefully by lunch tomorrow

🎉 Premiering 6/24 @ 6pm Central The first video of visiting every Amtrak station in Illinois! Starting off with the Illini/Saluki, which follows the old Illinois Central down to Carbondale youtu.be/XobTAcRyDUk?...

I Visited Every Amtrak Station in Illinois - Illini/Saluki (Ep. 1)

YouTube video by Stormy Kara

youtu.be

Top 20 largest downstate transit operators. Watch my new video this week to see how this map factors in!

oh come on

Making stops at...museum campus — 11th STREET…83rd — STREET 87th — street…

The cta saw that City That Works bus control article and said “hold my beer”

CTA Bus Insights@ctabusinsights.chicagotransitalerts.app · 2mo ago

🕳️ Route 9 (Ashland) — Southbound No buses between Ashland & Roosevelt and Beverly & 99th Street — a ~62 min gap, scheduled around every 6 min this hour Last seen: #8716 (3 min early) · Next up: #8124 (18 min late) 📊 biggest gap vs schedule on this route in 30 days

As someone who spends way too much time in the abstract/planning realm, I love hearing about actual perspectives of the people who operate transit. Great article! open.substack.com/pub/citythat...

View from the wheel: CTA needs a better approach to Bus Control

Control is tasked with too much. Service suffers as a result.

open.substack.com

🎉 It's official, we saved Chicago's intercity bus terminal! Today, Chicago City Council voted to purchase our former Greyhound terminal to establish a publicly-owned intercity bus terminal. This is a massive victory, and a testament to the years of organizing that brought us here today!

I’m thinking the NITA video should be done in a week, hopefully less 🤞🏼 don’t wanna rush a topic this important!

Car Free Keith@carfreekeith.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I could probably crank out videos way faster if I didn't feel the need to do stuff like make an animation of an old Metra car to present some sheets of data on the vibey red seat

hi! i noticed you used chatGPT to create an image of a simple table with text in it. can i ask why you had to do this?