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/
After a report in the local papers that the CTA and RTA were about to lose a portion of their funding because they failed to file a safety plan, the agencies finally managed to settle their differences and file a plan acceptible to both agencies.
There was an article in this week's Chicago Reader about one blind person's problems with the CTA. It succeeds in both making the CTA and the blind man look bad.
Mike Harris (nospam-mharris@enteract.com) noticed that in the April transit map, the Wellington L stop was spelled "Welligton". Reminds me of the rail system maps in the L cars that had the Cicero and Laramie stops on the Lake St. line transposed.
Mike also reports a few other things related to the Davis L stop. He says "On September 22, at the Purple Line 'Davis' stop, the elevator was out of order, in that it kept on its own closing, opening, and going up and down. Unfortunately, someone affixed the 'out of order' tags to the door. Therefore, when the elevator doors were open, you couldn't see them and had no way to know that the elevator was out of order. Very dangerous!" And also on September 22, "whoever was driving one of the Purple Line trains during the evening rush hour should be fired. Not only did the Evanston 'Express' take an hour to get to Davis from downtown -- an HOUR! -- but the idiot driving the train had a club foot for the brakes, throwing people forward at least ten separate times ... starting, then braking hard, then resuming, then braking hard ... and twice stopping for very long periods of time without getting on the speaker and notifying us of the delay."
Here is something that someone who wishes to remain anonymous wrote in. I expect this will prove controversial.
"After riding the 156 (and to a lesser extent the 151) buses for 15 years I finally learned the truth. Anyone who rides these babies knows the environment-filthy dirty seats and walls, and windows so scratched with graffiti and gang signs that you can't see out them. Since I live in Lincoln Park I always attributed this to riders further to the north in Rogers Park.
Last summer I was called to jury duty. I had to go to the Cook County Court house. I can't remember the bus number, but it's the one that goes through Pilsen. I had to report for 3 days. To my shocked surprise and amazement every one of those bus rides was in a brand spankin' shiny new bus! I'd never experienced such a thing. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Sadly, the passing scenery jerked me back to reality.
So apparently what the city does is buy new buses, put them into service in low income neighborhoods where they are totally trashed and then moves them to the 156 and 151 routes.
Why? I think that if the people in the lower income neighborhoods trash their buses, they should ride in them- ya know- 'you made your bed now sleep in it'. Instead, the city is saying 'you made your bed, now YOU OTHER people sleep in it'. What is that?
I think this is disrespectful to the riders that work hard, play by the rules and behave in their buses. I really can't imagine the rational behind this practice."
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.
Just Say No to Frames, Ads, and Animated GIF's