by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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A substation fire in downtown Chicago knocked out power to the Loop today (Sunday, Oct. 8) forcing the CTA to suspend all service on its elevated and subway routes through the area. Service is yet to be restored as of this writing. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 8 October 2000 ]
The CTA is taking steps to reduce instances of bus bunching. Currently, drivers are assessed on their ability to get from point A to point B within a specified time and cannot deviate from their assigned route without a supervisor's approval. In an experimental program, the CTA will begin allowing drivers to use their own best judgement on route deviations such as skipping stops, speeding up, or even taking detours. [ Source: Chicago Sun-Times 5 October 2000 ]
A South Side man was arrested in connection with three robberies and sexual assaults on the CTA Brown Line. Arrested was Larry Porche. Fittingly, he was arrested at an L stop. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 2 October 2000 ]
I had a CTA like experience on Metra this week. I took an early train home one day and ended up sitting behind two women, at least one of whom smelled so bad it make me sick. I actually had to get up and go stand in the vestibule.
A co-worker of mine had his UP-West train break down on the way into work on Wednesday (?) He was stranded on the track until the UP ran some freight past, then had to transfer to another local train that stopped to pick up the passengers off his train.
Amanda Cohen wrote in with a couple interesting stories.
Hey! What happened on the Brown Line this morning? I got on at Montrose and it took about 50 minutes to get to Chicago Ave. Worse, every eighteen seconds we heard "BEEP BEEP BEEP" and the announcement that (duh) we were experiencing a delay. So much for snoozing on the train. Well, I was stuck standing, so there was no snoozing for me anyway.Oh, here's a bit for you. I met the recording engineer who produced the sessions where all current CTA announcements were recorded. I asked him why he didn't correct the guy when he said "Clybern" instead of "Clybourne." He said he was just the engineer, not the director.
He also told me that they made the guy record the numbers 4000 to 5000, or something like that. Basically to cover all the route numbers. They didn't want to record the numbers in pieces, the way you hear them on phone recordings. CTA wanted all the numbers to sound "normal." But then after they recorded like a thousand numbers, it turned out the computers on the trains didn't have enough memory to hold all the route numbers. So they went back and recorded the numbers in pieces. HA!
There's your scoop for the day.
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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