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/
The cover story in the Reader this week was about the trial of a subway musician charged with trespassing for playing at Clark/Lake. CTA President Frank Kruesi himself showed up for the trial and the article went into some detail on Kruesi's crusade to ride the CTA of "undesirables". The street musician was found Not Guilty, BTW. Thanks to Mike Harris (nospam-mharris@enteract.com) for this tip.
The CTA is considering a summer pilot program to allow bicycles on the L on weekends. Some testing to determine potential problem areas (such as getting bikes up to the platforms) has already been done. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 10 May 1999 ]
The CTA is again claiming that if Gov. Ryan's proposal to inject an additional $1 billion in capital funds into the CTA is not passed, then service cuts are inevitable. CTA President Frank Kruesi claims his projects are not gold plated. This is in spite of the fact that he has not studied any alternatives to his $300 million platform widening project on the Ravenswood L. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 12 May 1999 ]
The Federal Railroad Administration has instituted new safety rules that will cost Metra an unknown amount of money to comply with. However, Metra says that the costs involved should not require it to raise fares. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 12 May 1999 ] [ Note that existing standards for railcar strength are already twice as high as Europe's - AMR ]
Does the CTA actively hate its riders? I was coming back from seeing a movie and as my northbound Red Line train pulled into Howard, a southbound train was leaving. However, a southbound Purple Line train was just pulling into the station. The CTA could have held that Red Line an extra 30 seconds to let people make the transfer. But that wasn't all. The Purple Line turned around and let us board, but we waited about five minutes for the next Red Line to come in. No problem. But then we kept waiting until the next Red Line train got all the way to Jarvis, then we pulled out. This gave the CTA the unexpected bonus of both making us wait about 5 extra mintues for no additional passengers, and pimping the people on the incoming train. What jerks.
In response to my mention of additional UP-North stops as an alternative to the Ravenswood L project, I received the following message from David Vartanoff (nospam-iskandr@worldnet.att.net):
"I believe, if you consulted a pre-Heineman CNW timetable the stops you suggest existed. The fifties was the era in which the CTA offered L station that were 'too close to each other', and the commuter RR's cut back on closer in stations. The tragedy of the Metra structure is that Chicago citizens cannot simply board ANY tax supported transit vehicle at the same fare within city limits. To be specific, the South Side local buses should be feeders to the IC & Rock Island lines as well as the Ryan 'L', and the same coordination should exist all over. While this assault on the traditional class distinction between mainline trains and 'mass transit' may seem radical, a small step in this direction was tried in Philly 30 plus years ago when SEPTA was still a dream. PSIC, the predecessor money funnel to the then Reading RR and Philly Transit Co., instituted a cheap transfer ticket for train to bus trips. Although some current high price SEPTA passes for rail service are good for Transit division use the opposite is not the case. You are of course correct in noting that the extra stops on the train line in rush could obviate the need for a massive upgrade of the Ravenswood line. The real question may be what is the benefit to the neighborhood of denser service?"
I also got this message from Sean M. Gash (nospam-sgash1@uic.edu):
"I just read this week's 'Weekly Breakdown'. Actually on the Union Pacific North line, the Chicago & North Western closed the inner-city stops to save money. They figured that the majority of the riders during the '50's commuted longer distances. It was for that reason in 1958 that many of the north side stops were closed. This also happened on the Northwest Line and West line."
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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