The Weekly Breakdown - Vol. 2, #21

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/

A couple of Chicago transit related web sites have moved.

Graham Garfield's Chicago L is now appropriately at: http://www.chicago-L.org/

Phil O'Keefe's Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad site is now at: http://www.ameritech.net/users/chicagotunnel/tunnel1.html

I highly recommend both, but watch out: they are graphics intensive sites.

News and Rumors

According to a Usenet post, the Metra BNSF line will be adding some additional express trains to serve Naperville and Route 59 stations. Three inbound and three outbound trips are being added, which will increase capacity by 3,600 seats.

Twenty people were arrested at the Metra Rock Island 87th St. Station after a group of drunken, rowdy Blues Fest goers assaulted some Metra Police officers. One of the officers was actually taken to a hospital with head injuries. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 7 June 1999 ]

Anecdotes

Rudy Lozano "I am writing to say that I am very happy that bikers are now being allowed to bring their bikes on the L during the weekends, however I think it stinks that riders on the southwest side have no access to this temporary privilege. All Blue Line [Douglas ] riders are automatically non-participatory. So for instance if I wanted to bike ride along the lakefront I would have to be in tip-top shape to go from Pulaski Ave to the lake, and still have enough energy to bike along the lake and make it back home. My question now becomes how are we so participate as bikers in this temporary privilege, I quess we are snuffed again."

Despite the fact that I took so long to get in his conference announcement, John C. Thomas still wrote in to tell me about the following incidents:

"On Tuesday night, I was on the Ravenswood as it pulled into State/Lake, and saw a guy snatch a necklace off a woman right outside my window. He ran out the turnstile while the woman tried to alert the 'customer service representatives.' The train crawled along and it took me 48 minutes to get from Quincy to Loyola.

"On Wednesday morning, I got a late start, and the CTA compounded it by taking 47 minutes on the train to get from Loyola to Quincy.

"On Wednesday evening, it took 26 minutes from Quincy to Fullerton on the Evanston Express -- travel time. I changed at Fullerton to the Red Line, and waited 5 minutes while 3 trains came and went on the Ravenswood/Evanston platform. Of course, I was standing the whole time. I finally got a seat at Wilson, 46 minutes into my trip. The train broke down at Granville--a power failure at Howard, the VERY LOUD announcement said-- and I had to walk the last half mile, reaching my destination a full hour after boarding the train, one hour and six minutes after entering the station at Quincy. Good God, folks, it's 8.3 miles! Can't I make it in less than 50 minutes?"

About the Weekly Breakdown

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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