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/
Another teenager was killed on the L tracks. Jesus Ugalde, a 15 year old south sider, was killed by the third rail on the Orange Line last Sunday night. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 26 March 1999 ]
Mike Harris (nospam-mharris@enteract.com) and Neal Pollack wrote in with a horror story this week. When the ComEd transformer at California and Addison blew, it knocked out power to the L. They were stranded on the train near Belmont for an hour. At least seven trains were affected by this outage. The CTA appeared to have no contingency plans in place for dealing with a power failure on the L.
Here's a classic from Grace (nospam-ophelia@enteract.com)
"On Thursday July 22 my mom and I were going north on the Lincoln bus. A little past Irving Park the bus seems to break down. The driver tries and tries to get it started again. No luck. So we had to wait until the next bus came along. Mean while the driver went to call the garage by pay phone. When he came back he said we had to wait until the next bus came again and apologized. For some odd reason he looked at the gas gauge. Guess what? On empty!"
David Michael Burrow (nospam-davidmburrow@yahoo.com) had some comments on last week's story about the wildly underestimated times on the "X minutes to Loop" signs at CTA rail stations:
"In [last] week's 'Weekly Breakdown' you have a comment about a sign at the Kedzie brown line station saying '25 minutes to the Loop'.
"There are similar signs at many CTA stations. Whenever I go to Chicago, I get a laugh out of a sign at the Forest Park park-and-ride that underestimates the travel time downtown by about 10 minutes. The only such sign I know of that is accurate is in Skokie, where it says '8 minutes to the Howard "L"'.
"Not to excuse CTA (which really should remove or update the signs), but the signs were put there long before the current schedules. Three things have happened in the meantime to slow down service. First, trains today stop at every station; back when the signs went up CTA was still on the skip-stop system. Second, trains now use one-person operation; it takes time for the driver to make announcements and open doors on the "wrong" side of the train. Finally, the signs went up before the ADA. Today there are many more handicapped riders than there used to be, and it takes longer for the disabled to board than it does for most passengers. (This last fact shouldn't really affect the brown line, however--since almost none of its stations are accessible; it does slow things down on the blue and green lines, which are the ones I have the most experience with.)
"BTW, the 'official' schedule on the CTA website estimates Kedzie to Merchandise Mart as about a half-hour trip. The official schedules always assume everything goes perfectly, so 35 minutes is probably more accurate at rush hour."
Jack S. (nospam-Miles10J30@aol.com) has a question for Jonothan or anyone else who happens to know the answer:
"I've heard that the CTA is getting 130-some new rail cars through Illinois FIRST. Does he know anything about when they're being ordered, tested, delivered, etc.?"
Speaking of Jonothan, here's what he has to say this week:
"I don't have much to report on this week, but I have a few things that might be interesting. As we all know, we had a major heat wave the past week, with the worst of it on Friday. For all passengers who experienced delays on their bus routes, I will explain several events that help to contribute to the delays. First, the major event was the power failures that occured on the North side. As a result of the power failures, many streets had their traffic signals shut off - right in the middle of rush hour. For example, on Milwaukee Avenue, all traffic lights were out between Leavitt and Belmont. That is a long stretch of street to not have any working traffic signals. Many bus routes, especially on the north side, saw some pretty long delays. Secondly, a lot of buses were breaking down. Because of the breakdowns, there was a shortage of available buses at some of the garages. Lastly, because of the power failures, we had a number of buses that were pulled off the street and used as cooling stations, especially at senior citizen residences. That same scenario occured again today (Saturday) as buses were again used as cooling stations in areas where power was still out. So, for all those who waited a long time in the extreme heat for a bus, I apologize for myself and my co-workers. We did the best job we could given the circumstances. I also apologize to everybody who was forced to ride on one of our rolling saunas.
"Speaking of air-conditioning, I would like to educate everybody about the A/C units on our buses. First off, only about 50% of our 1,878 buses have A/C. Last week, I mentioned how you could tell if your bus has A/C by the number of the bus. All buses that begin with a 5,6, or a 7 in the bus number have A/C. Buses that begin with a 1,4, or a 9 don't have A/C. Also, please remember, dear customers of CTA, that the bus operator CAN NOT control the A/C on the bus. We can't turn it on or turn it off. I have people that come up to me, especially at night when it is cooler outside, and ask that I turn the A/C off. They get upset with me when I tell them that I can't do that. It's not that I won't do it - it's just that I can't. The only person who can shut off the A/C on a CTA bus is a CTA mechanic. They have to physically go into the engine of the bus and flip some switches to activate or disable the A/C. Bus operators are not allowed to make alterations to CTA equipment, even for passenger comfort. Messing around with any of the internal components of a CTA bus is a violation of CTA rules and warrants immediate suspension. And it's the same thing with the heat on a bus. We have no control over the A/C or the heat on the buses. So, please, don't ask us to turn off the A/C or the heat, because we couldn't do it even if we wanted to.
"Last note, CTA chairwoman Valerie Jarrett announced a few days ago that because of the heat emergency, CTA would suspend its policy on prohibiting beverages on board CTA vehicles, and is actually encouraging people to bring water or other non-alcoholic beverages on board. I read this off of CTA's website, and I actually had to laugh. Ms. Jarrett, how clueless are you? People have been for years and continue to bring beverages on board CTA. Even I drink on CTA, when I am both a passenger and when driving the bus. How can she honestly say that beverages are not allowed on CTA when half of our buses don't have air-conditioning? How can she say that when CTA installs soda vending machines at its rapid transit stations? Who is she kidding? It doesn't even say anywhere, on any CTA vehicle, that consuming beverages is not allowed. It just goes to show you how the big bosses, who are housed in that ivory tower they call the Mercandise Mart, are totally clueless about the company they are running."
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.
Just Say No to Frames, Ads, and Animated GIF's