Recent reports out of San Francisco and New York Cityfind that ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber are contributing to increased traffic congestion and could be hurting transit ridership.

The San Francisco study found that ride-hailing vehicles travel approximately 570,000 miles within city limits on a typical weekday.

This accounts for 20 percent of all local daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and includes both in-service and out-of-service mileage.

Ride-hailing trips are concentrated in the densest and most congested parts of San Francisco, including along major public transit lines, and operated extensively on neighborhood streets.

The study authors worked with researchers from Northeastern University to develop software that collected data from the Lyft and Uber applications over time, a work-around due to the lack of publicly available data.

Limited public access to trip data makes analysis like this difficult in cities across the country that are experiencing tremendous ride-hailing growth, including Chicago.

The New York City report was based on trip and mileage data that are uniquely available in New York City, providing the most detailed and comprehensive assessment of these new services in any U.S. city.

The study found ride-hailing companies added 600 million miles of driving to city streets in 2016, more than the total yellow cab mileage in Manhattan.

Trip growth in Manhattan has been concentrated during the morning and evening peak periods. Ride-hailing growth in New York City has accelerated since 2013, while subway and bus ridership began to decline. 

Replicating this analysis in Chicago is difficult because ride-hailing companies aren’t required to make trip data publicly available.

Due to issues of geometry, cost and equity, it’s unlikely ride-hailing will ever replace public transit in dense urban environments. Still, the growing popularity of Lyft and Uber may be increasing congestion locally and could be contributing to the recent decline in bus ridership. More data and analysis is needed to more definitely answer these questions in Chicago.

Stay tuned for more on ride hailing in our upcoming Speeding Up Chicago’s Buses report this fall, supported by our partner TransitCenter, which analyzes the trends of declining bus ridership, what’s contributing to it and what can be done to get people back on the bus.

New bicycle lanes are coming to the heart of Wicker Park as part of a pilot program to make Milwaukee Avenue safer for those on two wheels — or two feet — to travel through the congested corridor.

The project will also reduce the speed limit through the heart of Wicker Park to 20 mph from 25 mph to make the Wicker Park and Bucktown thoroughfare safer for the thousands of cyclists, pedestrians and drivers who rely on the congested corridor, officials said.

Work is set to start next week on the dashed bicycle lanes along Milwaukee Avenue from Division Street to Western Avenue, and should take no more than two weeks to complete, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Plans for the dashed bicycle lanes were added to the pilot program based on the feedback gathered at a July community meeting, Claffey said.

[Chicago Department of Transportation]

The project will also remove two right-turn “slip lanes” used by car drivers at the southwest corner of the Milwaukee and Damen intersection and at Ashland and Milwaukee Avenue; eliminate 32 parking spaces; and remove two bus stops.

In addition, the length of crosswalks will be shortened with the construction of “bump outs” in an effort to help pedestrians cross safely by slowing down turning cars and preventing illegal parking in the crosswalk.

The bicycle lanes will be marked with dashed lines, which are designed to encourage “drivers to position themselves closer to the centerline of the street,” officials said. Drivers can use the dashed bike lane when needed, and operators of large vehicles such as trucks and buses are expected to use the dashed bike lane whenever traveling on Milwaukee Avenue, officials said.

Chicago transportation officials will monitor the effectiveness of the dashed bike lane, officials said.

The project will cost $235,000, and by paid for with revenue from the Divvy bicycle-sharing program.

The work was first reported by StreetsBlog Chicago.

Downtown commuters can mark their calendars: The new “L” stop under construction on Jewelers Row will open Aug. 31.

City Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld announced the opening date for the new Loop train station at Wabash Avenue and Washington Street during an address to the City Club of Chicago.

Once open, the new “L” stop will serve the Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink and Green lines and is expected to be the fifth-busiest in the city.

City officials told DNAinfo last month they hoped to open the new station by the end of August, with Labor Day weekend serving as a hard deadline.

City Hall said in 2015 that about 13,000 riders would use the stop daily. The station’s cost was pegged at $75 million then and is funded by the federal government.

Officials previously said that the station’s undulating canopies weave “through the historic Wabash Avenue corridor as a counterpoint to the city grid, and anticipates the soft forms of the park and the lake beyond.” The new stop’s design also nods to Jewelers Row with a steel-and-glass skeleton “designed to create a dynamic play of light reminiscent of diamond facets,” the city said.

The station has been under construction since 2015, closing Loop streets and making the stores along Chicago’s historic Jewelers Row less inviting. Some merchants said the station’s construction forced them to close up shop on Wabash and move elsewhere.

by DNAinfo David Matthews

The cranes are coming to roost at the Lincoln Commonconstruction site at the former Children’s Memorial Hospital.

In its latest update on the project, which will bring 540 residential units to the site at 2300 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Common said this week it would continue with excavation and earth retention, but it would also pour the foundation for the construction crane on the south tower.

The crane is scheduled to be installed next week, calling for Lincoln Avenue to be closed between Orchard Avenue and the entrance to the parking garage across the street Aug. 23-25. The sidewalk will also be closed on the east side of Lincoln Avenue, but will remain open on the west side.

The project includes two luxury-apartment towers as well as 60 low-rise condominiums. Developer Dan McCaffery said at the ceremonial groundbreaking in May that construction would take about two years to complete.

Construction crews will also erect a pedestrian canopy next week over the Fullerton Avenue sidewalk on the north side of the triangular Lincoln Common site.