by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Note: This article is cross-posted between chi.general and misc.transport.urban-transit. Please redirect non-transit related followups to chi.general.
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"Next stop Woodfield, doors are closing": A study to determine the feasibility of extending the Ohare L to Schaumburg is a step closer to reality after the Schaumburg city council approved their share of the funding. [Source: 3/4/98 Chicago Tribune ]
Naw, That's too Easy: Another Letter to the Editor writer suggested that the downtown parking crunch could be eased with transit improvements. [ Source: 3/6/98 Chicago Tribune ]
Mayor Daley Goes to Washington: Hizzoner and entourage met with various members of Congress trying to drum up support for over $1 billion in transportation funds for Chicago. Two of the projects on the Mayor's list are transit related:
-- $420 million to rehab the Douglas L. CTA president Frank Kruesi claims the Douglas may have to be shut down if it is not rehabbed soon.
-- $336 million to increaase capacity on the Ravenswood L by extending station platforms to accomodate 8 car trains. (No mention of any other specifics about what this money would be spent on).
The remaing projects ($350 million for Wacker Dr. and $57 million for South Lake Shore Dr.) round out the $1.2 billion. The Mayor wants Washington to pick up the tab for 80% of the total project costs. Note: costs shown above are total project costs, not federal share costs. [Source: 3/6/98 Chicago Sun-Times]
The CTA's headquarters are located on the 7th floor of the Merchandise Mart. Their customer service line is (888) YOUR-CTA. Their web site is at http://www.transitchicago.com
An omission from last week. The NW escalator leading out of the Howard line station at State/Lake was out of order for at least two days.
2/27 - Eric Holeman (ehol@enteract.com) reports that yet again only two of the four Belmont farecard readers were working at AM rush hour.
3/4 - Rode Metra from Northwest Station to Evanstion-Main St. The scheduled departure time was 5:15. The actual departure time was 5:15. I had a seat - a comfortable seat. As scheduled, we arrived in Evanston 18 minutes later with no mishaps.
3/6 - Without warning, the north entrance to the CTA Clark/Lake station was closed for repairs. One can only hope that this is a project to increase the number of turnstiles and fare card dispensers. That station only has two regular turnstiles and one fare card dispenser. And this is the platform that serves the Ravenswood (and Lake St. L). The south entrance through the State of Illinois Building has 3 times as many turnstiles and 4 times as many fare card dispensers for what looks like approximately the same number of people. At PM rush, the northbound turnstiles back up so bad that the line sometimes extends into the street - and that's when all the machines are working. There is plenty of room to install new turnstiles. This setup is the most idiotic of any CTA station I've ever seen and I hope that's what they are fixing.
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 and include yours. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
Aaron.
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