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/
Tom Holmberg sent me a link to the TubeHell web site:
which, as you may guess, is dedicated to the London Tube. You can probably also guess it isn't too positive about it.
The original Skokie Switft terminal at Dempster is facing the wrecking ball soon. The station is for sale for $1, but the buyer must pay to relocate it and restore it to historic standards.
Dan Meldazis wrote in with the following incident:
METRA SouthWest Service on 6/19/00 left Union Station at 5:45 (we are supposed to leave at 5:30, but that is when it arrived with no explanation). After leaving Union, we sat on the track from 6:15 to 6:40. The problem on the track first was a freight train passing in front of us and then the signal would not clear for us to move on. Quite unpleasant.
Mike Pietrusinski wrote in with an interesting tale:
This past week I took the #27 bus (South Deering) to get to my house on the South Side. When I boarded I noticed tape and stuff all over the farebox....so I asked the driver where should I put the fare....he smiled and I went on...needless to say its not often we get a free ride on the CTA and it made for a nice ending to an otherwise humdrum day.Later I told my brother about it and he said that hes had it happen a few times before to on the same route. Wonder if this is isolated to the South Side or does this happen systemwide??
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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