The Weekly Breakdown #5, by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)

CTA News and Rumors
-------------------

Serivce Time Improvments?:  According to the 2/18 Chicago Tribune, the 
CTA claims it has reduced travel times on the Red Line by 6 minutes.  
Unfortunately, this is after an increase in travel times of up to 14
minutes after the elimination of conductors.

The Great Renumbering Saga:  In a Letter to the Editor in the 2/19 
Sun-Times, CTA chief Frank Kruesi defended his plan to renumber all 
CTA bus routes.  Interestingly, this was positioned on the editorial 
page directly above an unrelated letter headlined "Nightmare Comes True".

Ridership Drops Again:  CTA ridership fell 2% in 1997 to 418.8 million
trips.  Rail volumes actually increased 4.8%, but that was more than 
offset by an equal 4.8% decline in ridership on the larger bus system.
(Source: Chicago Sun-Times 2/21/98).

Metra Looks to Increase Service:  While the CTA continues to cut 
service, Metra is looking for ways to increase it. They recently gave
the green light to a Major Investment Study (MIS) of extending the UP-North
line from Kenosha to Milwaukee, adding six new stops in Wisconsin.
This 33 mile extension is projected cost $141 million.  The MIS will
take about two years to complete and will cost between $500,000 and
$1 million.  It is being mostly funded by the Wisconsin Department
of Transportation.  (Source: Chicago Sun-Times 2/12/98).

Factoid
-------

Number of CTA rail passengers in 1996: About 124 million
Number of New York subway riders in 1996: Over 1 billion

CTA Breakdowns
--------------

2/17 - Southbound Howard train at rush hour.  Faint smell of ozone in
the air grows stronger while a light haze starts to fill the car.  The
"customer service representative" notices this at Chicago, where we are
delayed a few minutes until the CTA disables the motor in smoking car
number 6.

chi.general regular Eric Holeman (ehol@enteract.com) reports:

2/13 - Two out of order turnstiles at Belmont lead to massive lines
leading into the station.

Date Unknown - A mere four stops from the beginning of its route, a
CTA Evanston train is already 6 minutes late, arriving at 6:31 
instead of 6:25.

A flight into Midway airport arrives at 11:20 pm - the same time that
the last Orange Line train is leaving the station.  The CTA's Midway
L does not seem to have a schedule that takes into account airline
schedules.

There is still a slow zone at Wilson after a fire caused damage to
the tracks last year.  [I don't remember the fire, but I sure do know
the slow zone! - Ed.]

About the Weekly Breakdown
--------------------------

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 an include yours.  Just send mail to 
breakdown@urbanophile.com.

Aaron.