gE Blog Series: Olympic Cities Part 2 - Transportation in Chicago

Chicago was one of the four locations being considered for the 2016 summer Olympic Games, unfortunately it was not chosen and was actually the first to be eliminated.

While the city is disappointed that it missed out on this opportunity, there are also some benefits. The city would have had to spend billions of dollars renovating its facilities to host an event as large as the Olympic Games. However, Chicago is now missing out on a lot of federal money that is much needed to improve the city’s public transportation system. Nevertheless, there are still plans to make improvements to its transportation as a whole.

Chicago is not the only city that needs help with its transportation system. Major cities all over the world have problems with their public transit. London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, New York, Hong Kong, and Tokyo have all struggled with this for years. These public transportation systems are funded by the governments, and generally not profitable. This makes it difficult for each country to find the money for improvements, especially in this economic downturn.

While each city varies, they all have some combination of subways, bus services, light rails, trolley buses, and trams making up their public transportation systems. These are all good methods, but there are still congestion and functional problems that need to be solved. For example, London was the first city to build a public transport system, and consequently, much of its equipment is beginning to break down and needs to be replaced. Tokyo and New York have separate business and residential districts and are therefore heavily dependent on a reliable transportation system. This is difficult with rush hours encountering extremely heavy traffic. Paris attracts over 20 million tourists each year, so their system needs to be easily navigated. Each city has its own unique problems but the public transportation issue is universal.

In Chicago, There are plans to finish an unfinished section of O’Hare International Airport and add a west entrance. This will ease up the congestion at the eastern entrance. It may not seem like it will make a huge difference, but it is small steps like this that will lead to better global transportation.