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/
This newsletter is cross-posted between chi.general and misc.transport.urban-transit. Just a reminder that if you post a reply that is not of interest to misc.transport.urban-transit, please set followups to chi.general only. Thanks.
The CTA is planning to reopen the subway station at Milwaukee, Grand, and Halsted on the Blue Line. The station will reopen this summer.
A city council committee passed an ordinance that would impose fines of up to $500 for minor rule violations by CTA riders. This includes smoking on the platforms and eating and drinking on the train. Currently these are only CTA rules, not ordinances and thus people violating them are not subject to penalties. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 21 April 1999 ] [ Giving $500 tickets to people drinking pop on an L platform is not a way to boost ridership - AMR ]
Pace is asking the state to chip in $127 million to cover a shortfall in its proprosed $323 million five year capital plan. Chief among the items in the plan is replacing 400 buses that are nearing the end of their estimated useful life. It also wants to replace all 354 paratransit vehicles and buy 639 van pool vehicles. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 27 April 1999 ]
State Rep. Julie Hamos is sponsoring a resolution asking the RTA to create better connections between Metra and the CTA. One of the proposed new links would be a Metra station at Addison. This would be directly adjacent to the L stop, and would also serve Wrigley Field. [ Sourec: Chicago Tribune 26 April 1999 ] [ An Addison Metra station would be a good start to my plan to expand Metra service in lieu of the $300 million Ravenswood L project - AMR ]
The RTA conducted a survey of 1900 area residents to get information about transit usage and attitudes towards transit. 38% of area residents had not ridden transit in the last year. Of those, 58% had not ridden transit in five years. Of those who do ride transit, 16% had started riding within the last year. Given the relatively flat ridership, this could indicate customer churn. Only about 20% of those surveyed rode transit more than five times per month. The survey also showed that the rush hour period is spreading. The number of people commuting between 6a-9a and 3p-6p dropped by 17%. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 21 April 1999 and Chicago Sun-Times 21 April 1999 ]
Don't forget, the CTA will stop honoring tokens on June 1. After that they are just scrap metal. The CTA is getting rid of tokens as part of their never ending financial flim-flam. By cancelling tokens the can write off all the ones in circulation off their books and record a paper gain.
I've found myself riding Metra to work more and more lately. The CTA just isn't getting the job done anymore. In June, I might buy a Metra monthly pass and pitch the CTA completely for commuting.
I rode the L to Lincoln Park last night. First, the train at Main St. was 8 minutes late. There was at least 16 minutes with no train (normally there are 10 minute headways at that time). It took just longer than 20 minutes for me to go the first mile of my trip. Not quite a record, but not good either. I then got stuck on a Red Line train that never made it above 30 MPH the whole way to Fullerton. We literally crawled between every stop. It was run 915 and I hope you didn't have the misfortune of being on it.
The one thing that was fortunate about that trip was that I got my first ride in one of the newly rehabbed 2600 cars. There was not much change that I could see. The overhead light covers are a bit different. The seats are cloth now. Also, they put those plastic shields on the dividers at the doors just like on the Ravenswood cars. They make it impossible to lean against the divider in comfort. On that basis alone the rehabbed cars are a step down from the old.
goof (nospam-goofy@bpf.promisc.org) wrote in with the following comments:
"I saw your site this early morning and I decided to add a few of my ideas on public transportation in chicago.
"Chicago's public transportation system differs from alot of cities, during the night (I work the night shift in the loop), Chicago really lacks compared to other cities. I've spent alot of time in Montreal, and their night service is very large, Chicago's is just...non existent. Aparently Chicago assumes people who work at night have cars for the most part (thanks alot Metra, too).
"The southwest side of Chicago has really been neglected to mass transit, the orange line is pretty helpful, but there is sort of a catch. If you park your car overnight at the Midway station (it's 12 hour parking for $1.75) and you plan to return to your car in the morning, you've got a suprise. During the weekdays, that lot fills up within an hour (only 200 spaces I think). And it's valet parking too. So I was a little suprised when I came back to Midway only to see the *entire* lot filled in every aisle (no aisles left to even drive out). I saw the attended and he hasseled me saying it's only 12 hours (which I got back in less than 12 hours). He had to move several cars out of the way, just so I could exit. This is bs, obviously people (from the far southwest surburbs judging from the town stickers on the cars in the lot) decided to use this station rather than the *many* Metra stations in their area.
"While the CTA did a decent job decades ago, times have really changed. For those who commute into Chicago via automobiles (haha, suckers), it's complete congestion. Chicagoland areas need to drop the idea that adding more I-pass lanes wont help traffic, afterall, tollways are giant bottlenecks. What the area really would do good from would be a more mass-transit system, that would focus on similar routes of the expressway system, along with going downtown. Unfortunatly, we live in a culture where people look down at riding in buses/trains to get where you have to go. If you live outside the city you're basically forced into getting a car. But getting government to move is half the problem, the fact that alot of suburban communities do not want to give easy access to their communities easily to anyone in the city. I remember years ago when the (rich) town of Wilmette claimed that burglaries were up and assaults were more frequent due to the Purple Line (open 24/7 at the time) allowing anyone to easily slip into the city. And since then, the Purple Line, Green Line and Blue Line have service cuts."
Part two of Mr. goof's comments will be in next week's issue.
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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