I-GO, Chicago’s own car sharing organization, celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year! Initially just a small pilot program funded by the City of Chicago and the US Department of Transportation, I-GO now serves more than 15,000 members. Vehicles are available in over 40 diverse neighborhoods throughout the city, as well as five suburbs, making it easy for residents throughout the region to enjoy the benefits of car-sharing.

In conjunction with this momentous anniversary, I-GO will host a panel discussion, “I-GO at 10: Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Multimodal Transportation,” on Wednesday, July 11 at the Union League Club of Chicago.  The panel will feature Gabe Klein, Commissioner at the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT); Timothy Papandreou, Deputy Director of Transportation Planning in the Sustainable Streets Division of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA); and Sharon Feigon, CEO of I-GO CarSharing. I-GO Board Chair and sustainability expert Julia Parzen will moderate the event. Each panelist will give a short presentation outlining their vision for the evolution of urban transportation both within the Chicago region and throughout the country.

The regionally diverse backgrounds of the panelists will bring a broad focus to the transportation discussion.  Klein has a long background in promoting alternative transit options, such as bicycling and car-sharing, and has served as Director of the Washington D.C. Department of Transportation.  Papandreou, originally from Melbourne, Australia, worked for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation before bringing his knowledge to the SFMTA.  Feigon’s career, while focused around the Chicago region, has also included research and pilot projects in places such as Seattle, Washington and South Florida.

I-GO has always embraced creative solutions for improving transportation in the Chicago area, and is excited to be getting this dynamic discussion between industry experts going.  “We’re thrilled to be starting our tenth year by bringing Gabe and Timothy together and exploring how we can create more vibrant and livable communities through innovative transportation programs. We’re looking forward to continuing to pioneer better transportation and sustainability options over the next ten years and this event is a great way to start the conversations that will make that happen,” said Feigon.

More celebratory events are planned throughout the year, including the ongoing WEGO 10 contest, an event focused on the sharing economy network in the fall, and a supercharged version of I-GO’s annual December bash.  Go to igo10.eventbrite.com for more information and to register for I-GO at 10: Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Multimodal Transportation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Featured Portfolio News, I-GO, Transportation and Community Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.