by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Visit The Weekly Breakdown on the web at http://www.urbanophile.com/breakdown/
Thanks to Adam Kerman, I now have a complete list of CTA cutbacks coming 4/26. They will be posted to the net shortly.
After the CTA cutbacks on April 26, there will only be 19 bus routes with 24 hour service. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 4/6 ]
Rumor has it that the CTA is rethinking its plan to renumber all bus routes.
Over 2,200 CTA employees have outstanding debts (such as unpaid parking tickets) owed to the city, for a grand total of over $1 million.
4/6 5:20pm. Get to Clark/Lake, the platform is already full of people. Wait several minutes for a Ravenswood. It's already packed. So is the next one following along immediately behind, but I manage to squeeze on anyway. Are the Ravensoowd motormen taking driving lessons from the folks who work the Clark St. bus route? It seems like there are _always_ big gaps in Ravenswood service followed by two trains back to back.
4/8 5:05pm. Two more Ravenswoods back to back.
4/10 5:15pm (approx). Two more Ravenswoods back to back _again_.
4/11 Door out of order on a NB Howard train. At Howard, switched to Purple line. The train started pulling away and almost as soon as it had cleared the platform stoppoed for several minutes. Then the motorman (woman in this case) walked back through the cars and backed the train up to the Howard platform. We waited a couple minutes for the next Howard train, picked up their transfer passengers and left. I guess the driver left the station too soon or something.
Mike Stucka (no-spam-mike@xsite.net) reports:
4/3, 6pm - A seriously overcrowded 66 bus continues to take on east-bound passengers while being immediately followed by a half-full 66 and another 66 with three passengers. Driver of the second bus keeps swearing at the first driver for getting new passengers and slowing down the route. The three busses leapfrog without any serious progress.
4/4, 9pm - As thousands of happy soccer fans pour into the Roosevelt Red Line station, they encounter three broken turnstiles.
Chuck Metalitz (no-spam-taxpayer@pobox.com) reports:
4/8 - A customer service assistant was spotted making change for a customer at a downtown subway station. Since this is probably a rule violation, the name of the station will be kept secret in order to protect the innocent.
The Weekly Breakdown is small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. While it is primarily devoted to my experiences, I am happy to hear about and include yours. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
Aaron.
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