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/
Due to circumstances beyond my control, some items people sent me this week are temporarily inaccessible. I will include them as soon as possible.
Metra saw another large jump in ridership for the second quarter. For the first six months of 1998, ridership is up 2.6% to 38,024,356. Of particular note is the new North Central Service which has ridership up 40% over the same period last year. The Milwaukee North line also saw a good sized 6% increase. Metra is on track to set another record for ridership this year. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 8/18/98 ]
Area transit agencies are in danger of losing federal capital money due to a lack of local matching funds. The state is short $25 million needed for the local 20% share of projects. Transit officials want the state legislature to appropriate more money. [ Source: Chicago Sun Times 8/19/98 ]
A man was hit but not killed by a Blue Line train on 8/13. No other details are available.
In a suspected suicide attempt, a 47 year old man jumped off the overpass at Van Buren street into the path of an oncoming South Shore train. He survived and is in fair condition.
Benji Spencer (nospame-spunge@spunge.org) wrote in response to last week's call for people to not use the emergency door release. He says that sometimes it is the only way off the train.
"About 2 weeks ago I was on a Red Line train. I got on at like Bryn Mawr with the intent of getting off at Lawrence. things worked fine when I got on. However, the doors didn't open on my car at the next stop. Someone pulls the door release to get off. The motorman came back to fix it. My car was not the only one, as he had to fix others also. The next stop, it didn't open again. No one wanted off there though. Then my stop. Again, the doors didn't open. Pulling the door release was the only way off. Annoying."
He also writes about a power failure incident. The was caused by a failed 600 volt line. The disruptions were bad enough that the CTA had an apology posted on Brown and Purple Line trains the next week.
"On Monday, 8-17 at around 5:45 or so I got on the Ravenswood at the Chicago stop. Things were normal until we came to the Addison stop. We were told there was a back up of trains. there were several shortish delays, but things weren't too bad (the motor man was very helpful/informative). We then approached Western (where I wanted to get off), and the motorman came back on and said "I am sorry for this inconvenience" I wondered what I had missed. A bit after that she said that there was no power to the southbound tracks, and that Western would be the last stop. That train was gonna head back down towards the loop (was about 6:20 at that time). There was a shuttle bus set up to take people on to where they needed. I never did see anything abotu this anywhere else though."
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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