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/
Jonothan didn't send in any stories this week, but he did send in a picture of the new NovaBus model the CTA will be putting in service next summer. You can see it at:
http://www.urbanophile.com/breakdown/novabus.jpg
The Chicago Tribune reported that there was a fire on the Red Line last Tuesday afternoon that halted all L service for about 45 minutes starting at 4:10pm. A Red Line car caught on fire near the North/Clybourn station, and power had to be cut to the L to allow firefighters into the tunnel. Service was also out on the Ravenswood and Evanston Express trains because of this. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 4 Aug 1999 ] [ Reminds me of last year when there were several CTA fires on the Red Line. Must be something about those 2600 cars - AMR ]
Mike Harris (nospam-mharris@enteract.com) wrote in to tell us:
"The escalator at the Washington/Lake stop will be down until October 18. I have to be blunt ... I cannot see why in hell it takes them THREE MONTHS to fix a bloomin' escalator, especially when they just fixed it earlier this year and it seemed to be working before they shut it down. They actually built permanent walling ... a frame and everything, out of wood ... around it, and the area extends onto the floor of the subway platform. Personally, I think it constitutes a safety hazard."
I was waiting for the 8:01 Metra at Main St. on Monday. As I saw it approach the station, I walked over to where the doors to my usual car open. But the train ended up blowing past us express. I noticed it stop at the signal just south of the station, but the signal was showing green. I thought that was odd. But after a few minutes, the train actually started backing up into the station. Apparently it was my train and the engineer just blew the stop. Seeing that train backing up reminded me of the Illinois Central crash in 1972. 45 people were killed and 332 injured when a train backed up to the platform after overshooting the 27th St. station and got rammed by an express. Nothing like that happened to us, of course. I'm sure the train crew followed all the proper procedures.
As I said, Jonothan had nothing to report this week, but an ex-CTA employee called "The Wolfman" did. Here's what he had to say:
"I'm an ex-CTA employee. Did 20 years at the place. I've never seen it as fucked-up as it is right now (mind you, when I left, I moved to the Southwest...shit. I always wanted to be a cowboy), so I don't see the day-to-day as you do, but I hear the complaints, and they're valid.
"Really like Jonothan's take on the mess. Sometimes, it's interesting to see what the insiders are thinking. Winston is a buffoon. He has NEVER driven a bus. He was ushered into CTA in the late '80's straight from being a bus salesman. He has credentials as an engineer, but he went straight to management. He TOTALLY screwed up operations at South Shops, and got reassigned to Skokie Rail Shops. In 91 or 92, he became General Manager at North Park Garage, and not a very good one owing to the fact he has no diplomacy skills, and has no operating experience with a motor bus or L-train. When he made vice president, management was shuffled, and most of your garage managers are yes-men. Blind disciples.
"When I piloted a bus, we went thru the RTA crisis and the fare wars. In the early eighties, every time there was a fare increase (and there were many) we (the drivers) were the bad guys. I won't go into it, but like Jonothan, there were scads of us there that really LIKED what we were doing and did it...rule book be damned. We leapfrogged to keep the streets moving, we ran express, we took short fares, we let students and the elderly ride without carding them, we tried to keep our buses clean and debris free, graffitti was minimal, but when you're the minority it just doesn't matter.
"Part of the problem stems from the fact that CTA management feels that they NEED to order 150 motor buses at a crack. Basically, two things happen when you place a mega-order like that for ANY automotive product...
"1.) The manufacturer will need to hire more workers to put out a product to meet a certain deadline (history recalls this happening at Flyer in '84, TMC in '88, and Flxible in '89 and again in '94).
"2.) That many vehicles manufactured and pressed into misuse and abuse at the same time, will wear and breakdown AT THE SAME TIME! The limited resources at the CTA maintenance facilities can't keep up with that many units.
"SOLUTION? Baltimore, Los Angeles, and some other systems order smaller numbers, and SPREAD them out delivery wise. Three orders of fifty units will still equal 150 buses, and it could give diesel mechanics a fighting chance."
Finally, Ed Sitar (nospam-kemo60603@yahoo.com) wrote in with a horror story about area highways. It's useful once and a while to remind us that life is not golden for those who drive:
"Last Saturday while making a 10 mile trip to Old Orchard Shopping Center on I-94, I came to a complete stop near Montrose!! There was no announcement as to why all the traffic had stopped. I was furious with IDOT for not utilizing the announcement sign over the roadway to inform the drivers of the situation ahead. What kind of faulty equipment do they own! Eventually we started moving ahead slowly only to again come to a complete stop. Again, there was no announcement. This trip which would normally take 15 minutes, ended up taking over 45 minutes. When I finally arrived, I was hot and my clothes were sticking to my body because the roadways are so incredible hot! Another classic example of how screwed up IDOT is!!"
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. The views expressed by contributors are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the publisher.
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