iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 12/04/2026

all of the new signage for drivers at logan square circle reminds me of somewhere…

Wide intersection at Logan Square Circle and Wrightwood with multiple traffic signs and large red arrows pointing to the signs.

A photo showing the road through Breezewood PA with numerous signage along the roadside

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 20/07/2025

happy rpm phase one completion date to all who celebrate! 🎉

The Anakin and Princess Leia meme template that says:

“RPM PROJECT PHASE COMPLETED”

“THE RED LINE WILL BE SO MUCH FASTER NOW THAT RPM IS COMPLETE!”

“THE TRAINS ARE GONNA BE FASTER RIGHT?”

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 19/07/2025

there is simply just not enough parking

a photo of a full bike rack with two additional bikes locked up to the handrail on the ADA accessibility ramp.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 27/06/2025

It’s good to be back home 😌 got to spend this work week at the mothership for leadership development training!

A photograph of American Way, facing south towards Skyview 8 with towers D and E in view.

The view from the photo taker (me) while riding a bicycle on American Way.

A photo of Skyview 6, the Hospitality Complex on the American Airlines Dallas-Fort Worth campus.

A view from the window of a plane overlooking the wing. The north sides eastern lake edge can be seen beyond the wing.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 14/06/2025

indy pride month bike party was awesome

A photo of 5 people sitting on the grass in front of a tree with bikes leaning against the tree. From left to right are Brandon, Matt Weiss, Riley Choe, @rustbeltenjoyer and Will Hazen

A photo of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Indianapolis. Numerous cyclists and pedestrians are seen navigating the traffic circle around the monument.

A photo of approximately 75 cyclists cycling down a street with the #15/High School Rd bus driving in the opposing direction.

A photo of a Dachshund riding in a crate on the back of a bicycle. The bicycle rider is wearing a galaxy themed gown and a large rainbow pride flag hung from a flag pole off the back of the bike.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 21/05/2025

boat run: may 21, 2025 lasalle street lifted featuring: low level clouds seven boats out to the lake.

A photo of the Chicago river and skyscrapers. In the river are 7 sailboats, with the Lasalle St Bridge lifted for the sailboats passing.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 19/05/2025

the 606 trail finally has 360º StreetView imagery! there are some interesting finds there, including an entire wedding part mobbing the trail for photos 😆 view this and more at: bit.ly/3SOY0vb

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 09/05/2025

can confirm i did ask this question earlier to @mattweiss.me

A text conversation between myself and Matt Weiss

A Bluesky post from Matt Trueblood (@matrueblood.bsky.social)
DAAAAAA Pope

With my comment: hahahahaha

Matt: Yeah I just heard! It's lunch convo table talk. Not sure how they are on progressive etc

Me: he's from dolton

Matt: Oh interesting lol

Me: wonder what his opinion is on tiffany henyard hahahaha or Loris investigation

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 07/05/2025

boat run: may 7, 2025 wells street lifted five sailboats out to the lake

A photo of the Chicago river and skyscrapers. In the river are 5 sailboats, with the Wells St Bridge lifted for the sailboats passing.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/04/2025

boat run: april 30, 2025 dearborn street lifted six sailboats out to the lake

A photo of the Chicago river and skyscrapers. In the river are six sailboats, with the Dearborn St Bridge lifted for the sailboats passing.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/04/2025

blue line O’Hare terminal about to have a nice break, then a meltdown of arrivals

info updated 4:55p
O'Hare
Alerts
1

O'Hare Airport (Terminal Arrival)
Blue Line #117 to O'Hare
Due

Blue Line #133 to O'Hare
21 min

Blue Line #221 to O'Hare
23 min

Blue Line #215 to O’Hare
26 min

Blue Line #127 to O'Hare
29 min

Blue Line #118 to O'Hare
30 min

Blue Line #218 to O'Hare
33 min

Blue Line #131 to O'Hare
36 min

Blue Line #219 to O'Hare
40 min

Blue Line #126 to O'Hare
41 min

Blue Line #135 to O'Hare
44 min

Blue Line #222 to O'Hare
48 min

Blue Line #136 to O'Hare
57 min

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 16/04/2025

Chicago RTA welcomed @wmatagm.bsky.social Randy Clarke and Executive Director Andrew Fremier (SF Bay Area) yesterday for their Transforming Transit Summit - with many of the right Chicago Transit leaders in the room to listen to the success stories from peer agencies in the US.

A photo from the side of 3 men sitting on a platform stage at a table.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 16/04/2025

i didn’t realize the 146 bus was included in the cta’s frequent bus network!

A screenshot from the transit app showing FOUR 146 buses back to back headed northbound.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 13/04/2025

today in fun projects that scratch the creativity itch: how to attach a $5,000 360° camera to a bike rack!

A photo of OP using tape measure, standing over a piece of wood with an iPhone and Circular Saw sitting on the piece of wood.

A photo of OP smiling holding a bicycle with a 360° camera mounted on a pole attached to the bike.

A photo of OP smiling holding a bicycle with a 360° camera mounted on a pole attached to the bike. Seen on the ground in front of him are various tools and cuts of wood.

A photo of Matt Weiss performing the inaugural ride with the custom camera mount.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/03/2025

not the only mode of transportation. while not many, some commercial planes and PJs have showers.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 01/03/2025

if anyone was wondering what living in (and moving out of) an M Fishman building is like:

Today 16:20

Sender: Hey Brandon - sorry to bug you. Do you live at 2638 North Milwaukee Ave? I think your landlord may have you down as the contact for multiple units on accident!

Me: no, I don't.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 22/02/2025

it’s also quite cold and snowy in cleveland

A photo of OP on the train platform for the Red Line at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. A blue sign is seen that says “To Downtown Cleveland” with a train seen in the background on the right.

A photo of a Greater Cleveland RTA Red Line train covered in snow along the face. It has a sign stating “Airport” in the forward window and two illuminated red lights. The platform at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is seen in the background on the left.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/02/2025

the screenshot you took from my dashboard is showing arrivals on 2/16. if you line up your screenshot with data from 2/17, it matches exactly.

a screenshot showing numerous lines of cta arrival data compared to the screenshot from Piero farther up this thread

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/02/2025

yeah it’s in the raw data, why it’s not making it to the dashboard is yet to be determined

40360,30071, Southport, Loop, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T07:52:37,2025-02-17T07:53:37, 0360, 30071, Southport, Loop, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T07:53:34, 2025-02-17T07:54: 34, 40360,30070, Southport, Kimball, Brn, 414,2025-02-17T08:48:39, 2025-02-17T08:49:39, 40360, 30071, Southport, Loop, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T09:47:52, 2025-02-17T09: 48:52, 40360,30070, Southport, Kimball, Brn, 414,2025-02-17T10:40:21, 2025-02-17T10:41:21, 40360, 30071, Southport, Loop, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T12:48:21, 2025-02-17T12:49:21, 40360, 30070, Southport, Kimball, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T13:46:47, 2025-02-17T13: 47:47, 40360, 30071, Southport, Loop, Brn, 414, 2025-02-17T15:59:34, 2025-02-17T16:00: 34 ,

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 25/01/2025

wow, you can tell exactly when my bikes were stolen 😭

A graphical representation of my average active calories burned since August of 2024, showing a notable drop off in September of 2024 when my bikes were stolen.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 24/01/2025

diva down! another $500 down the drain 🚽

A photo of a now destroyed flexi post on North Milwaukee Avenue

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/01/2025

last i checked, minor delays ≠ half the scheduled service.

Is The CTA Having A Good Day?
@isctaokay.bsky.social
System Stats as of Jan 18th at 3pm (actual/scheduled):
System: 72% • 859/1,185
Blue: 50% • 109/218
Brown: 84% • 134/158
Green: 84% • 114/135
Orange: 91% • 132/145
Pink: 88% • 113/127
Purple: 33% • 41/123
Red: 75% • 158/208
Yellow: 81% • 5871
Runs Remaining: 796

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 18/01/2025

ohhhh. this shit again. burn your schedules, cta is single tracking.

Customer alert Boarding Change, Delays Between
Rosemont and Harlem (O'Hare branch)
Blue Line
Impact:
i Planned Work › Affects Train Tracker estimations (What's this?)
Saturday, January 18, 2025 - 6:00 AM
to 4:00 PM
Full Description:
How does this affect my trip?
Board/exit all trains on the O'Hare-bound side of the platform at the Cumberland station. Trains in both directions will operate on the same track between Rosemont and Harlem (O'Hare branch), resulting in minor
delays.
Allow extra travel time.
Why is service being changed?
We are making traction power upgrades to allow trains to operate more efficiently along the Blue Line.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 07/01/2025

at least we are equitable in our lack of service followed by an angry mob of trains.

A screenshot of CTA Train Tracker showing arrivals at Forest Park in 0, 4, 8, 13, 16, Delayed and 36 minutes.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 07/01/2025

looks like they are going to add 10 bike corrals in the space that has the white paint stripes. not sure why they couldn't extend the sidewalk area here to match the bump out at the intersection though 🤷🏻‍♂️

A copy of the proposed pavement markings for the Wabash Bike Lane improvements which shows the bike lane continuing mostly in a straight line, and a section on the south side of the bike lane at street level that shows white paint stripping and 10 bike corrals.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 07/01/2025

people build the coolest stuff! day 1 of active congestion pricing in NYC showing notable improvement in commute times!

A line graph showing two peaks near the morning and evening commutes for the Lincoln Tunnel. A blue line indicates data prior to the implementation of congestion pricing and the red line shows data after the implementation. The red line indicates an improvement of roughly 3 minutes for the average commute with a notably smaller peak during the morning commute hours.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 06/01/2025

i was lazy so didn't bother with the hash route since its fairly low volume. i'm stashing the text of the post text in an array. so when the bot runs, it works through each active alert and checks if it existed in the same capacity the previous run. github.com/brandonmcfad...

A screenshot of an Array showing the start of 4 different Metra alerts.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 05/01/2025

what the cta doesn’t tell you is they are going to run trains on a adjusted/reduced schedule too, which may also include surprise back to back trains.

Customer alert
Boarding Change, Delays Between Rosemont and Harlem (O'Hare branch)
Blue Line
Impact:
Planned Work & Affects Train Tracker estimations
Sunday, January 05, 2025 - 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Full Description:
How does this affect my trip?
Board/exit all trains on the O'Hare-bound side of the platform at the Cumberland station.
Trains in both directions will operate on the same track between Rosemont and Harlem (O'Hare branch), resulting in minor delays.
Allow extra travel time.

Why is service being changed?
We are making traction power upgrades to allow trains to operate more efficiently along the Blue Line.

A table showing CTA arrivals with headways ranging from 2 minutes to 22 minutes with nearly none of the trains being on-time.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

I also kept a closer record of my trips on DC Metro and Amtrak this year! Both agencies are seeing ridership growth at rates above their respective peers, with Amtrak posting record ridership in 2024! 🧵(5/7)

DC Metro
26 Rail Trips
1 Bus Trip
19 Unique Stations
59 Miles on Metro

Amtrak
10 Trips
5 Routes
5,070 Track Miles

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

My Ventra account had extensive use this year! 840 combined taps amounted to an estimated cost of $1,165. With the use of multi-ride passes, my actual CTA/Pace transit costs were just $765. The estimated value of my Metra trips was $422, and thanks to multi-ride passes my spend was only $226. 🧵(4/7)

Ventra Stats

840 Ventra Uses
398 trips started on train
161 trips started on buses
281 transfers occurred.

Actual Spend: $765
Estimated Travel Cost: $1,165

1-Day Pass: 4
7-Day Pass: 2
30 Day Pass: 11

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

For Chicago region transit, Pace and Metra were more prominent staples in my transit journeys this year! Both agencies have been working hard to deliver their promised schedules, increasing service and rebalancing schedules to match the ever-changing ridership dynamics of the region. 🧵(3/7)

Pace Bus
18 Bus Entries
9 Unique Routes

Most Frequent Route
240 Dee Road - 5 Entries

Metra

9 Unique Routes
55 Ticket Sales
87 Ticket Checks
129 Total Trips
1,647 Track Miles

38 One-Way Tickets
14 Day Passes
3 Weekend Passes
2 Free Rides (Free Rides were provided on Metra's 40th Birthday Weekend)

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

My most frequent agency this year was the CTA, with 822 segments on bus and rail - 151 segments more than last year! While the CTA had some improvement this year, they continue to over-promise and under-deliver on rail schedules - which will continue to hamper ridership increases in 2025. 🧵(2/7)

CTA Rail
551 station entries
70 unique stations
2,701 track miles

Most Frequent Station
Logan Square - 214 entries

CTA Bus
271 bus entries
63 unique routes

Most Frequent Route
82 Kimball/Homan
63 Entries

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

With the year coming to a close, it is time to look back on the various forms of public transportation I used this year! In 2024, I traveled on 14 different agencies, totaling nearly 1,000 segments! Follow along as I cover the stats from my transit journeys this year 🧵 (1/7)

A cartoon style photo showing railroad tracks leading into the distance with a cloud in the sky. The text "Transit Wrapped 2024" is shown in a green font on a blue background.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

Without downloading any new pics what's your energy going into 2025

A photo of a small park. In the foreground is a sign that reads “Pavement Ends” directly adjacent to a brick path that leads through the park.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 30/12/2024

this is metra. u p north. train number eight seventeen.

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 29/12/2024

the only O’Hare bound train on the entire blue line just arrived at O’Hare… that seems like a problem?

A screenshot of the CTA Train Tracker showing four Forest Park bound trains, and one O’Hare bound train that is arriving at O’Hare.

cta train tracker
Estimated arrivals
info updated 1:34a (refresh / pause)
LaSalle

Service toward O'Hare
Blue Line train toward O'Hare ——
Blue Line train toward O'Hare ——

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 28/12/2024

service restoration is hard, i get it

cta train tracker
Estimated arrivals
info updated 12:05a
Montrose

Service toward O'Hare
Blue Line #141 to O'Hare - Due
Blue Line #138 to O'Hare - 2 min
Blue Line #146 to O'Hare - 7 min
Blue Line #147 to O'Hare - 31 min

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 24/12/2024

like it can obviously be washed, but it doesn’t explicitly say machine wash? just 30° water?

55%ACRYLIC 45%COTTON
COLD WASH
DO NOT BLEACH LAY FLAT TO DRY
IRON ON LOW ON REVERSE
SIDE
DRY CLEAN

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 24/12/2024

this trip was more than just ice skating too! we checked off two more bus routes for me, stopped at two different trader joe’s, and a last minute gift stop before heading home! #TransitIsTheAnswer

Selfie of the OP and Matt Weiss on the Midway Plaisance Ice Rink with the University of Chicago in the background

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brandon mcfadden 🛤️ @brandonmcfadden.com · 24/12/2024

i don’t know what you guys are talking about with bus stop spacing. this bus has 6 miles between its second and third stop!

A screenshot of the schedule brocher for the CTA 192 Northbound PM Rush bus route.

The stops for this bus are:
University of Chicago Hospital - Goldblatt Pavilion
Cottage Grove/57th
Roosevelt at State - Roosevelt Red/Orange/Green lines
Jefferson/Jackson - Union Station (Amtrak/Metra)
Madison at Canal - Ogilvie Transportation Center (Metr

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