by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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The Chicago Tribune's Getting Around column hopped on the Save the Purple Line bandwagon. They mentioned that the CTA would end up having to use two busses to replace one train. Busses that duplicate Red Line service for about half their route and which don't fully cover the area served by the now eliminated overnight Purple Line service. A CTA bus supervisor called it a "bad policy decision" - joining other CTA officials who have called the cuts politically motivated. The CTA refused to document their claim of $90,000 in annual savings from the cuts to the Tribune. But they did admit that owl service on the Purple Line carried 150 people on weeknights and 250-300 on weekends. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 5/4 ] [ Note that much of this info was already provided to you by Weekly Breakdown readers - AMR ]
Leo McCord of the Lake/Homan Organizing Committee wrote a column in the Tribune where he blasted the latest round of CTA cuts as racially motivated. He questioned the elimination of the #16-Lake bus [ which ran underneath the Lake St. L - AMR ] to eliminate duplicate services when none of the duplicate routes on Sheridan were eliminated. He also questioned why the Garfield Park Conservatory is not accessible to public transit while the Lincoln Park Conservatory is. He referred to the CTA cuts as a "vicious act being perpetrated against our community." [ Source: Chicago Tribune 5/5 ]
The CTA is planning on spending $29.5 million to upgrade signals on the Red Line and $1 million to upgrade the capacity of Kimball Yard. [ Soruce: Chicago Tribune 5/6 ] [ Hopefully this fixes the CTA's highly unreliable cab signal system - AMR ]
A visit by city alderman to Washington DC to lobby area lawmakers turned into a shouting match. Rep. Bobby Rush called CTA president Frank Kruesi, "probably the most abhorent public official I've known." Frank replied, "They started it", and said that CTA cuts were driven by a loss of federal operating assistance. Rush dismissed that as "buck passing" and accused Kruesi of being a liar. Meanwhile, Rep. Louis Gutierrez and Ald. Dorothy Tillman shouted recriminations at each other over which side was falsely trying to make the other get the blame for the latest round of CTA cuts. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 5/8 ]
Jeanette Corlett of the Metropolitan Planning Council wrote a column in the Tribune about ways to improve the CTA. She contrasted the improvements in both the performance and ridership of the New York transit system with the continued declines of the CTA. Some of her recommendations: more federal and state capital funds, privatization, and reduction of CTA services where PACE service is available. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 5/8 ] [ Unfortunately, her recommendations are mostly "stop the bleeding" type arguments that seem to assume ridership can mostly never be regained - AMR ]
The CTA has 240 miles of L track.
5/1 - Problems on the Blue Line at pm rush hour. The Clark/Lake platform is jammed. When a fully packed train arrives, an announcer says that it will be running express to Logan Square. A mad shuffle of people trying to get off and board the train commences.
5/4 at 7:15am - An Evanston Express train stands at Main St. for about a minute because the train is early.
5/4 - Minor delay on outbound Metra UP-North train south of Clybourn. Proof that the CTA is not the only transit agency where trains stop for no apparent reason.
5/8 at ~11:00pm - Northbound Red Line. A drunk man is harrassing one of the other passengers (a male) on the train. This continues for several minutes until the drunk gives up and goes to harrass a female rider, who starts to say something, but before she can even get out a sentence, another female rider on the train screams at the drunk, "Get your ass off the motherfucking train right now". We were at a stop and the drunken man dutifully complied, albeit with quite a bit of grumbling.
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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