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 front page story in the Chicago Sun-Times this week mentioned that CTA ridership had increased substantially in the first quarter of the year. CTA President Frank Kruesi gave credit to his ridership initiatives, especially the U-PASS program for college students. He did not mention the booming Loop job market or the city housing construction boom. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 17 June 1999 ]
The federal government is going to reimburse the CTA for only about $450,000 of its $6.3 million snow storm related expenses from January's blizzard. CTA President Frank Kruesi had previously said that he believed the federal government would pay for most of the cost. However, for this incident the Federal Emergency Management Agency applied its reimbursement criteria very rigidly, [ Source: Chicago Tribune 17 June 1999 ]
Metra, despite claiming it has a critical problem with old and obsolete bridges, continues to move ahead with plans for three additional commuter rail lines: an outer ring route from Waukegan to West Chicago, Aurora, and Joliet along the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern railroad; a new southeast commuter route to Will County; and a route linking O'Hare and Midway. [ Source: Metra On The Bi-Level newsletter June 1999 ]
John F.Kuczaj (nospam-jfkuczaj@hotmail.com) wrote in to let me know that he actually got a response to a complaint he sent to the CTA via their web site! This is one concrete improvement that has been made to the CTA's web/email setup at least.
goof (nospam-goofy@bpf.promisc.org) wrote in with further details on the Blues Fest problems on the Metra Rock Island line:
"I was on the northbound train that passed the train that was going
southbound where that big fight happened at 87th/Gresham. Aparently
there were about 26 people who were drunk and had lots of liquor on
them on the train, returning from Blues Fest. They had some dispute
about the fare, so a Metra cop was at Gresham. When I guess he
confronted them, they all beat on him, one of the people in the mob
took a beer bottle and smashed it on his head, the metra cop had bite
marks, cut marks..etc.. all over him, and went to Christ hospital for
about a week. Since Gresham is about 2 blocks from a police station,
the paddy waggons were there pretty fast. When my northbound train got
to LaSalle Street Station, Metra was searching all the people who were
boarding the next train southbound....
He also had this to say:
"Last night on the train going downtown, as I was in line waiting to
exit the train. One of the metra ticketstampers is a few feet in
front of me staring at me with this bad look. A second later he then
yells at me 'ARE YOU THE ONE THROWING CANDY BAR WRAPPERS AT ME!@#?!'
I was suprised and denied of doing that. He didnt seem to yell
anything more, mainly because the line was moving and I left. Kind of
weird, I'd expect Metra employees to behave a little nicer than
that. For anyone who does ride the Rock Island, this guy is usually on
weekends, blonde hair, blondish beard, after you pay him your fare he
tends to come back and say you never paid him in the first place."
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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Copyright © 1999 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com)
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