by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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The Tribune's Getting Around column this week covered a meeting of the CTA Committee on Strategic Planning and Service Delivery. Prominently featured was Richard Winston, who was heavily criticized by current and former CTA employees who have written in to this forum. Mr. Winston refused to commit to any specific levels of service for bus and rail maintenance, claiming there are too many outside dependencies to make his targets anything more than just goals. CTA Chairman Valerie Jarrett was not pleased. I would suggest to Ms. Jarrett that the evasions the CTA bureaucrats put forward are nothing more than reflections of the evasions she and Frank Kruesi put forward whenever the CTA screws up, such as during last winter's snow storm when they claimed none of the problems were their own fault. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 16 August 1999 ]
John F. Kuczaj (nospam-jfkuczaj@hotmail.com) wrote in to tell us:
"Last week I got on the Blue Line to O'Hare at the Washington stop. The train had the all-over advertising wrap for United Arlines. Looked kinda neat...until I got inside. All the advertising panels were filled by United vignettes with various historical pictures of United airplanes inside a black frame that took up 1/2 the entire panel! The net result is that the trains now had subdued (dimmed) lighting that made is a bit more difficult than normal to read while in the subway. I'm all for the extra revenue the CTA got for this train, but come on...they should have known the black frames would dim the lighting!"
He also had this to say:
"Yesterday was the first day that I saw new maps on the Blue Line that reflected the existence of the Grand station that re-opened June 25. It took almost 8 weeks to get those maps updated. It took 3 weeks for the Grand station to look as dirty as the rest of the subway stops."
Kevin Forsyth wrote in with a few comments as well:
"First of all, a couple of anecdotes reveal a serious lack of personal responsibility. The Great America traveller (v.2,#25) has only himself to blame for not checking the Metra schedule before giving up his only other ride home. Also, Anonymous (v.2, #18) got exactly what he/she deserved for boarding the back of the bus. For as long as I've been riding busses, not in this town but in several others, the back door has always been Exit Only. Most CTA busses I see have a (admittedly temporary-looking) sign beside their back doors stating exactly that. Ignorance of the law is never an excuse. And having a valid transfer is a moot point when you don't give the transfer to the driver or put it in the slot or whatever it is they do on CTA busses; holding on to the transfer, and not using it, is the same as not having one. I figure Anonymous learned a good lesson by the slap on the wrist, and hope all back door boarders get the same, whether they're "loyal CTA riders" or just scammers.
"Secondly, I'd like to share with you a little essay I wrote about "How not to be a lemming" on the CTA.
"We've all experienced it: we wait a long time for our CTA bus or train to arrive, only to find it filled to capacity. Even more annoying, often they are bunched up, with 2 or 3 busses arriving in quick succession. (This also happens with the trains, but because of the signalling system the followers take a few minutes to arrive so it isn't as noticeable.) Here's what's going on, and what you can do about it.
"An unavoidable delay -- such as traffic or a wheelchair on the busses, a stuck signal on the trains -- can easily make a vehicle late on its run. This increases the number of passengers at each stop, since more people have had a chance to arrive during the delay. More passengers take longer to board, thus delaying the already-late vehicle even more: a downward spiral. Meanwhile, a trailing vehicle, running on time, finds fewer passengers than usual (and often, fewer delays, such as no wheelchair or no stuck track signal, having been picked up or fixed by the leader), and continues to run on time. (CTA regulations prohibit vehicles from running "hot," or ahead of schedule, so you'll rarely find one arriving early. Likewise, full vehicles are required to stop at all scheduled stops despite an inability to take on more passengers, as they cannot "go express" without approval from a supervisor or central dispatch.) Ultimately this results in bunching: a very late leader with one (or more) followers close on its heels.
"Now, I don't ride the bus, but I take the Blue line train every day. On average, according to the offical schedule, a train should arrive at my stops (both inbound and outbound) every 8 minutes. Before I jump blindly aboard the first train that arrives, I take into account three criteria: 1) I waited more than 10 minutes; 2) the train is already excessively full; 3) the platform is overly crowded with waiting passengers. ("Excessively full" and "overly crowded" are judgment calls; claustrophobes and bromidrophiles will adjust accordingly.) If any of the three is true, I don't even bother to approach the train, I stand back and wait for the next one. More often than not (_much_ more often) the next arrival comes in less than 5 minutes -- and frequently, even during rush hour, this train will never completely fill. Try it yourself some time. I'm always amazed to watch people cram themselves together like sardines... when if they'd only wait a few extra minutes, they would probably find a train with empty seats and room to dance if they wanted to. Sure, the trip takes a little longer, but what price comfort? Besides, I always bring a book to read, or some other diversion, so I don't mind the extra wait.
"Travel in the transportation hub of the nation -- whether by car, bus, train, plane, canoe, whatever! -- is an exercise in chaos theory. Bunching is one inevitable result. The trip will almost always take longer than you expect, except on those rare and magical occasions where you find yourself driving on an empty expressway with no logical explanation. Don't try to get there as quickly as possible. Try to get there in one piece and with a minimum of stress. You'll thank yourself for it."
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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