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/
Phil O'Keefe of the Chicago Tunnel Company Railroad web page has another site out covering the CTA's historic 4000 series cars. You can see it at:
http://www.ameritech.net/users/liz357/4000a.htm
Watch out! This is a very graphics intensive site. Apparently the CTA needs to raise $3 million in order to restore these cars may never run again.
It's budget time. The CTA and Metra have both released their proposed Year 2000 budgets. I'll most likely be posting more analysis next week. Public hearings will be forthcoming. Check the Weekly Breakdown homepage for dates and times.
The CTA has started its own line of transit themed clothing and collectables. Included are a T-Shirt with the line, "One 'L' of a ride!", a $38 silk transit map necktie, and a $39 set of cuff links made out of old tokens. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 11 October 1999 ] [ I'm not making this up! Call 888-YOURCTA for a free catalog - AMR ]
A plan to build a futuristic Personal Rapid Transit system in Rosemont is apparently dead after Raytheon decided to pull the plug on the project. The company has experienced hundreds of millions of dollars in losses recently and needed to cut costs. The RTA had invested $22.5 million in the project in return for royalties from any future sales. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 15 October 1999 ]
Metra has decided to start designating "family cars" on its off peak and weekend trains. People with children will be told that these are available, but will not be forced to use them, nor with the cars be limited to those with kids. [ Source: Metra On the Bi-Level newsletter October 1999 ] [ I personally think this is a super-awesome idea since nobody wants to be around a bunch of screaming kids on the train - AMR ]
Matthew Robert Zanon sent in this repair notice:
For some odd reason, the pedway between the Washington/Madison mezzanines of the Dearborn and State Street Subways has been closed "until further notice."
This week we have a couple followups to stories from previous editions.
goof wrote in to say:
To reply to nospam-mmalone@uhlaw.com writing in the Weekly Breakdown, the reason why Paris, several European cities and even some Canadian cities keep their transit systems better looking is pretty simple.- The tunnels/stations are cleaned every night, if not, every week. I've seen vehicles come in during off hours and clean the entire track area. Does that even happen on the CTA?
- A visible police force that actually tickets people for smoking, and not just the platforms, the stations too.
- A closed circuit tv system that people actually watch and respond to incidents, unlike the Blue Line - Red Line transfer tunnel which I really doubt anyone monitors.
- Competent night service for those who work hours different than the normal 9-5.
- Better information. In Montreal, all bus stop signs have a # where you can dial an automated system, enter the bus stop # and find when the next bus will arrive.
- Web sites where you don't need adobe acrobat to read schedules. (yes, lynx friendly)
- In Montreal, when arriving to a station, displays in the car read the approching stations name and all bus routes that stop at it for connections.
And
John C. Thomas (nospam-jthoma1@enteract.com)
In response to cmmalone, the CTA is currently testing message signs on the Green Line. Funding is in place for these signs, and they are due to be installed over the next five years throughout the system.Something else of note: in the new proposal for the CMAQ grant program, 10.8 million has been set aside for the CTA to FINALLY finish construction on the Red Line stations from Lake to Jackson. The proposed CMAQ grant program will be open for public comment at the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) (you can view the package at www.catsmpo.com) from 10/8/99-11/5/99.
A personal observation -- some of these stations are starting to look pretty wierd. More and more in the next few years (unless the current state and federal funding process is amended) you will see an odd mixture of 21st, 20th, and 19th century technologies because some items receive practically automatic funding (ITS technologies, etc.) and some items are outside adequate funding mechanisms (infrastructure). Contact your state and federal representatives, and get involved in public meetings at CATS!
John is the public involvement coordinator for CATS (Chicago Area Transportation Study), our metropolitan planning organization. All transportation projects in the Chicago area that want to use federal funds must go through the CATS planning process.
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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