1.
Chicago Transit Authority
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Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago L and CTA bus service. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority. The Chicago Transit Authority provides service to Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs, the CTA provided a total of 532 million rides in 2011, a 3 percent increase over 2010 with ridership rising to levels not seen for 20 years. CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday provides 1.7 million rides on buses and it has approximately 1,800 buses that operate over 140 routes traveling along 2,230 route miles. Buses provide about one million trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops in 10 suburbs. The Chicago Transit Authoritys 1,450 train cars operate eight routes and 222 miles of track. Its trains provide about 750,000 customer trips each weekday and serve 144 stations in Chicago and seven suburbs. Currently, the CTA operates within Chicago and the suburbs of Forest Park, Evanston, Skokie, Oak Park, Summit, Cicero, Berwyn, North Riverside, Rosemont. The CTA accepts payment with a Ventra card, a single-ride or 1-day Ventra disposable ticket, contactless credit or debit card, children under seven can ride free with a fare-paying rider, 3-child limit. Only buses allow riders to pay with cash, the bus fare is $2, the L fare is $2.25, and no cash transfers are available. The CTA no longer sells Transit Cards, all remaining Transit Cards must have been used by July 1,2014. In its place CTA has adopted the Ventra Card system, the Ventra Card can be purchased online, at any Ventra machine at CTA stations, and at authorized retailers. Ventra is a fare payment system for the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace that replaced the Chicago Card. Ventra launched in August 2013, with a full system transition slated for July 1,2014, Ventra is operated by Cubic Transportation Systems. Riders can pay a quarter for up to two transfers within two hours, the Chicago Transit Authority produced a monthly television show, Connections, from May 2003 through December 2011. The show was hosted by Dale Rivera, Jeanne Sparrow, Connections was broadcast on City of Chicago Public-access television cable TV channels 23 &49, as well as on Comcasts CN100 in the Chicago media market, including areas of Michigan and Indiana. Connections featured news and information about the CTA and services it provides, individual segments from Connections are available on CTAs YouTube channel. The majority of train stations CTA operates have elevators or ramps to access for customers with disabilities
2.
Chicago "L"
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The Chicago L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U. S. state of Illinois. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicagos L provides 24-hour service on some portions of its network, being one of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to do so. The oldest sections of the Chicago L started operations in 1892, making it the second oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, the L has been credited with fostering the growth of Chicagos dense city core that is one of the citys distinguishing features. The L consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop. Although the L gained its name because large parts of the system are elevated, portions of the network are also in subway tunnels, at grade level, or open cut. In 2014, the L had an average of 752,734 passenger boardings each weekday,486,267 each Saturday, over the next year service was extended to 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue, then the Transportation Building of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In 1893, trains running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, which had lines to Douglas Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park. Two years later the South Side L introduced multiple-unit control, in which the operator can control all the cars in a train. Electrification and MU control remain standard features of most of the rapid transit systems. A drawback of early L service was none of the lines entered the central business district. The Union Loop opened in 1897 and greatly increased the rapid transit systems convenience, insull instituted many improvements, including free transfers and through routing, although he did not formally combine the original firms into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company until 1924. The construction of the Subway created the necessity to tunnel under the Chicago River, the State Street Subway opened on October 17,1943, the Dearborn Subway, on which work had been suspended during World War II, opened on February 25,1951. The subways were constructed with a purpose of serving as bomb shelters. The subways bypassed a number of curves and circuitous routings on the original elevated lines. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority acquired the assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines, operator of the citys streetcars. Over the next few years CTA modernized the L, replacing wooden cars with new ones and closing lightly used branch lines and stations. Later, after assuming control of the L, the CTA introduced a service known as the A/B skip-stop service. Under this service, trains were designated as either A or B trains, a trains would only stop at A or AB stations, and B trains would only stop at B or AB stations
3.
Washington/Wabash station
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Washington/Wabash is a Chicago L rapid transit station scheduled to open in early 2017. It will serve as a consolidation and replacement of the Randolph/Wabash and Madison/Wabash stations, the project is being undertaken by the Chicago Department of Transportation. Construction of the $75 million station will begin in 2016 following the closure of Madison/Wabash in March 2015, the station will be located between Washington and Madison Streets on Wabash Avenue in the Chicago Loop. It will be one of three new stations in the Loop with Washington/Wells being the first and Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren being the second
4.
Ashland/63rd station
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Ashland/63rd is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, located in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois and serving the Green Lines Ashland branch. It is situated at 6315 S Ashland Avenue and it opened on May 6,1969. This station is the terminal of the Ashland branch of the Green Line. The station contains a Park n ride lot with 235 spaces as well as a Kiss n Ride lane, though the station itself was not rebuilt in the Green Line renovation of 1994-96, an elevator was added to the station during that time to make it ADA accessible. This is one of two stations on the Green Line to be named Ashland, the other station is on the Lake Street branch and is shared between the Green and Pink Lines. The Red Line served this station from May to October 2013, CTA9 Ashland 63 63rd Ashland Ashland Ashland/63rd Station Page at Chicago-L. org Ashland Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
5.
Madison/Wabash station
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Madison/Wabash was an L station which served the CTAs Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. From 1919 to 1963, it also served trains of the North Shore Line. This station and Randolph/Wabash are scheduled to be replaced by Washington/Wabash in 2017, the station closed on March 16,2015. As of summer 2016, the Washington/Wabash station construction has begun, nothing remains of the Madison/Wabash station except for the structure it was built on. During the weekend of May 23–24,2015, the entire Inner Loop platform was completely removed, on June 6,2015, the transfer bridge was completely removed. During the weekend of June 20–21,2015, the entire Outer Loop platform was completely removed, from July to August 2015, the station house, the fare controls, and the mezzanine were removed. The Washington/Wabash station will be completed in spring of 2017, iL-1-I, Union Elevated Railroad, Madison-Wabash Avenue Station Madison/Wabash Station Page at Chicago-L. org Madison Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
6.
Interurban
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The interurban is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like light electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. They were prevalent in North America between 1900 and 1925 and were used primarily for travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Limited examples existed in Europe and Asia, Interurban as a term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, and the cars that ran on the rails. The interurban, especially in the United States, was a cultural institution. Most roads and town streets were unpaved, and transportation was by horse-drawn carriages, the interurban provided vital transportation links between the city and countryside. In 1915,15,500 miles of railways were operating in the United States. For a time, interurban railways were the fifth-largest industry in the United States, by 1930, most interurbans were gone, with few surviving into the 1950s. The term interurban was coined by Charles L. Henry, a senator in Indiana. The Latin, inter urbes, means between cities, the interurban fit on a continuum between urban street railways and full-fledged railroads. George W. Hilton and John F, Due identified four characteristics of an interurban, Electric power for propulsion. Passenger service as the primary business, equipment heavier and faster than urban streetcars. Operation on tracks in city streets, and in areas on roadside tracks or private right-of-way. The definition of interurban is necessarily blurry, there was a large amount of consolidation of lines following initial construction. In 1905 the United States Census Bureau defined an interurban as a railway having more than half its trackage outside municipal limits. It drew a distinction between interurban and suburban railroads, a suburban system was oriented toward a city center in a single urban area and served commuter traffic. A regular railroad moved riders from one city center to city center. The typical interurban similarly served more than one city, but it served a smaller region and made frequent stops. The 1880s and saw the first successful deployments of electric traction in streetcar systems, most of these built on the pioneering work of Frank J. Sprague, who developed an improved method for mounting an electric traction motor and using a trolley pole for pickup
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Media related to Adams/Wabash (CTA) at Wikimedia Commons
