Just five days left to win our current Deal of the Month member contest: a pair of tickets to the House Theatre’s multimedia-infused new show, Wilson Wants it All, now playing at the Chopin Theatre PLUS a $50 gift certificate to Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro.
Make it a double, bartender. It’s on the House.
Big congrats to Chicago’s own Jeanne Gang and her Studio Gang architecture firm for winning the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper Award global competition! Wow. What a shooting star. And she deserves it — the Aqua tower, located at 225 N. Columbus Dr. in the Lakeshore East development, is a kinetic, organic revelation.
Did we mention that I-GO has a 2010 Suburu Legacy (vehicle #4606) at the Aqua? Besides its swirling, undulating physique, the Aqua is a green building from its green roof (pending come spring, we hear) to the dedicated charging stations in its parking garage. We plan to add a a plug-in hybrid electric car (or two) there this year, in addition to the Legacy, a luxe ride that boasts excellent fuel efficiency in its class.
An I-GO plug-in Prius served as the spotlit demo vehicle for a press conference with Mayor Daley when Magellan, the Aqua’s developer, debuted the charging station technology.
Check out Harmony Haus, our latest addition to I-GO’s Chi-Town Rewards business discount program!
Yes, it’s that time once again, when the annual gearhead juggernaut known as the Chicago Auto Show parks its latest toys at McCormick Place. We checked it out last night. General impression? Despite all the current buzz about green tech, it was pretty much business as usual. Lots of moderate to low fuel-efficient models. Utilitarian ho-hum design. Slick brochures, slicker salesman, and eye-candy models trying to give the status quo a sugar buzz. If this is any indication of middle America’s attitude toward green mobility, seems we’ve got our work cut out for us in playing matchmaker between the mainstream and EVs.
Unlike Detroit’s sprawling “Electric Avenue,” there’s no concentrated effort here to spotlight electric vehicles as the bright, hopeful future of a reenergized auto industry, the cornerstone of a domestic economy built on clean, green tech, and a remedy to curbing our carbon footprint.
But there were a few intriguing concept cars that got our attention: Hyundai’s Blue-Will plug-in hybrid and Toyota’s FT-CH compact hybrid:
Hyundai’s Blue-Will, the automaker’s first plug-in, looks pretty James Bond 2.0 and can run solely on its lithium polymer battery for a range up to 40 miles. The FT-CH takes the Prius notion a step further for youthful urbanites who grew up on a steady diet of video gaming and anime and are more willing to spend less on a smaller, even more fuel-efficient set of wheels. We’re assuming they won’t all be so in-your-face Kermit-the-frog green, but hey, if you want to be a mobile advertisement for environmental progress, we’ll honk when we see you rolling down Michigan Ave.
Good impartial article in the New York Times over the weekend assessing the first cautious steps toward mainstream adoption of electric vehicle technology in the U.S. We’ve all been talking about the design and pricing challenges of the vehicle tech (mainly the batteries), but the bigger picture encompasses so much more if this is going to work. And San Francisco is certainly in the vanguard on this one. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Bay Area, that’s for sure.
Did we mention I-GO has two plug-in hybrid electric cars? We’re planning to add a whole lot more in the months to come, too.
Here are the latest:
You may be wondering how Toyota’s highly publicized recalls affect us. Only six I-GO cars were included in two recalls: four Toyota Matrix hatchbacks, which were immediately serviced for accelerator pedal repairs and returned to our fleet, and two 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid hatchbacks, which we removed from service as soon as Toyota issued a safety recall to address possible brake problems. They are being repaired and will be returned to to our fleet today. The safety of our members is I-GO’s number-one responsibility. Our fleet management staff monitors every car in our fleet 365 days a year — not just those involved in recalls — and I-GO takes maintenance and safety concerns very seriously. We will continue to notify members with any future updates on how Toyota’s recalls impact our service.
Are you a fan of the House Theatre, purveyors of pop-culture-infused, kinetic, comic-book stage craft? Does upscale Irish cuisine at Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro sound like the perfect cold-weather comfort food? Rack up the most member referrals in February and win our appetizing dinner-and-a-show package pairing two tickets to the House’s new production, Wilson Wants It All, and a $50 gift certificate for Emerald Isle comfort food in Mrs. Murphy’s cozy, elegant confines.
It’s been tucked away on our website for a long time — and many of our members may not be aware of it — but Chi-Town Rewards just got a whole lot better.
Chi-Town Rewards is a cross-promotional program that entitles I-GO members to discounts at a wide variety of businesses operating in the Chicagoland area. To redeem an offer, members simply show their I-GO smart cards (or, in the instance of online-only businesses, their member ID number). The participating businesses range from restaurants to fitness providers to gift shops to environmental services — and a whole lot more. Lots of them will have a Chi-Town Rewards decal we provide (pictured above) which is displayed in their businesses to indicate they participate in the program.
We’ve just redesigned this section of our website to make it much easier to sift through the offers and find out more about the businesses.
Now you can search by location or business type, and the resulting posts include short descriptions and photos of the business, website links and other contact info, and, of course, the discount offer. The posts can also be printed out separately in a new window by clicking on the business title. That way, the print-out also functions as a coupon the member can take to the business, along with their smart card, to redeem the offer.
It gets better:
So check it out, I-GO members. It’s just one more way we’re helping you save bucks. (No small consideration in this brutal economy.) Dig in!
Sign up now for our monthly newsletter and other mailings on special offers, new developments, and exciting initiatives at I-GO.
Conan is coming to Chicago this May. Whose side are you on – Leno or Conan? http://bit.ly/cpFUOC
Today Google rolled out a ‘by bicycle’ option in Google Maps. Sweet! http://bit.ly/bqYDMO
Get yer two-for-one admission tix to FamilyFarmed EXPO http://bit.ly/dnkr2W
Spring’s (almost) in the air. And you know what that means: time to sign up for a CSA. This week’s FamilyFarmed… http://bit.ly/dwYxyd
I posted 5 photos on Facebook in the album “St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 6, 2010″ http://bit.ly/berFIp
We recently asked I-GO members: “Why did you join I-GO?” and “What do you like most about the service?”
