by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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The lead story in the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday proclaimed "Metra: We're to Blame". Metra board chairman Jeffrey Ladd blasted agency employees, not for delays themselves, but for failing to keep passengers informed. He is promising additional training for employees who kept passengers in the dark - training conducted in locations as inconvenient as possible for the people who will be attending. The railroad unions said they did not object to this. Ladd also defended his agency, saying that passengers have unrealistically high expectations. He specifically noted that passengers wrote letters to complain about 15-30 minute delays, when a car would have been much worse. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 16 January 1999 ] [ Note to Mr. Ladd: You run TV ads with a Metra locomotive blasting throw snow which tell people how Metra is the "way to really fly" during winter weather. But this is twice in less than a year Metra had major problems with the snow. If you are concerned about unrealistic expectations, I suggest that you start looking at your own marketing program - AMR ]
CTA service was mostly back to normal this week. The Blue Line between Jefferson Park and O'Hare was reopend. Evanston Express service was resumed, but used four car trains on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday the CTA had its customer service assistants at rail stations making frequent announcements of an apology to riders. By Wednesday I felt confident enough to resume taking the CTA to work, and experienced no problems.
The CTA made a $12.2 million profit in the stock of Ballard Power Systems, the company that manufactured the three experimental fuel cell buses that the CTA purchased. As part of the deal between the CTA and Ballard, the CTA obtained warrants to purchase Ballard stock at an attractive price. In a bit of a controversy, shortly after the CTA made its bucks in the market, it pulled the Ballard buses off the streets. When Ballard disclosed this information, its stock plummeted. The CTA described the timing of the stock sale and the pulling of the buses as a "coincidence". All three buses are out of service pending engine changes. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 4 January 1999, and 5 January 1999 ]
Somebody should call Metra and let them know the snowstorm is over. On Monday afternoon, there were again large delays on the UP line leading to exceptionally crowded trips on the trains that did run. On the plus side, I did get to ride for free again. On Friday morning a mechanical problem caused a 20 minute delay on my inbound Metra trip.
There are a lot of switches at the entrance to Northwest Station. To keep them from freezing, the UP uses gas fired heaters. When these are turned on you can see open flames licking around the rails. It is a very interesting site to see with trains running all over rails that appear to be on fire. Look for this the next time it snows.
I did get another report about travelling during last week's major CTA troubles. The one comes to us from John C. Thomas (nospam-thoma1@uic.edu):
"I rode CTA Monday and Tuesday last week, and it was sheer hell. It took me an hour and 42 minutes on Monday and an hour and 23 minutes on Tuesday from Loyola to Jackson. The Monday delay was partly due to a passenger fainting at Addison-- 25 minutes to wait for the paramedics on a packed train. Each afternoon trip involved a walk from the Sears Tower to Jackson on the Red Line, and an hour and five minutes both days. That's travel time, not including waiting time. On Wednesday, I got up very early and walked to the Metra station (twice as far) and the trip was like a dream, although I arrived at work 40 minutes early."
John Kuczaj (nospam-jfkuczaj@hotmail.com) wrote in last week to tell us about his problems with the CTA. This week he wrote back to say that things were better, but not perfect:
"In fairness to the CTA, I'd like to report that the Blue Line has been running almost normally since Tuesday. In fact, Tuesday morning I got on the train at Addison and we promptly ran express to California. While an express train is the sign of a problem...it's also an underutilized solution to problems. The only hiccups since Tuesday has been what appears to be a lack of trains for the late rush. We can normally pack a train at the Clark/Lake stop going to O'Hare, but this week, the trains have been packed by Monroe, leaving some riders standing at Washington and Clark/Lake.
"Buses are still a problem, but the CTA is not to blame there. Overall traffic on arterial streets is slower thanks to residents ignoring the "Snow Route" signs and the "No Parking 7-9am (or 4-6pm)". Streets that should be 2 lanes during the rush are now 1 lane, so I can't blame the CTA for slow buses. I blame the Police for not ticketing every day."
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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