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Do you feel as if your trips on the Blue Line are taking longer these days? You're not alone. Today, the Sun-Times is reporting on how the Blue Line to O'Hare — the second busiest branch after the Northside Red Line — is suffering from huge rush-hour crowds, compounding the problems already caused by crumbling infrastructure.
Blue Line trains now putter through slow zones on a third of the tracks between Division and O'Hare, up significantly since this summer. Compare that to the Forest Park branch, which has no slow zones. Since the trains take longer to make their trips, fewer of them run overall, meaning riders pile up at busy stops during the rush hour. The slow zones appear to be caused by shoddy rail ties laid by contractors in the 1980's when they extended the branch to O'Hare. The ties should still be in good shape after 24 years, but apparently they didn't use enough creosote. The CTA could fix this mess by repairing the ties or expanding its fleet of trains, but they can't do either because they're broke, leaving Frank Kreusi in his usual position of lying prostrate before the state legislature, begging for more money.
Oh, and remember the impending mess this spring when the Red, Brown, and Purple will share three tracks instead of four at the big Belmont and Fullerton stops? One of the alternates suggested by the CTA was the Blue Line.
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Please, no more people on the Blue Line. It is mega-slow coming in from O'Hare, agreed, but it isn't like the train starts moving quickly once it gets past that... Sometimes it takes 25 minutes to get from Division into the Loop.
The blue line would be an extremely impractical alternate to the red line - they go in widely different directions. I sort of don't think red line riders will switch to the blue, even with the 3-track delays.
And yeah, the blue line up north is much slower. I take it once a month out to the Harlem stop after work. The long stretch in between Jefferson Park and Harlem is now a slow zone, and it seems to take forever to get through, where it used to whizz by. It's annoying, but I try to think of it as more time to read my book.
that's what kreusi is counting on, dpnash. i should invest in one of those laptop dvd players and take it on the train.
I will try to think of it as more reading time when 3-tracking starts--or when future problems cause delays, assuming the mayor keeps on ignoring the CTA decay that Crain's and now some other papers are begging him to address. As for the Blue Line, I find myself taking more cabs to and from O'Hare because of CTA unreliability.
But, I suspect, that lengthier reading time some of us might be looking forward to will eventually turn to annoyance and then rage, assuming some of our El commutes, as predicted, rival the commutes faced by those with jobs in the 'burbs. Companies, too, will get annoyed by tardy workers and their CTA excuses. And--a longer shot, but who knows?--landlords will join in as well after they face higher property taxes but decreasing rental rates at some apartment buildings geared toward El commutes.
Frankly, I hope enough people get pissed off--really pissed off. Perhaps that will convince enough citizens to shake off the myth of the "city that works," the Daley glow and other crap that is working against, not for, the improvement of this city. And, maybe, fueding regional leaders--many of whom might be stuck in longer traffic jams or face more city residents on crowded Metra trains--will see that mass transit deserves more money and better leadership.
The ideal outcome? Going to McDonald's and seeing Frankie K. dishing out my fries one day in the near future.
The expected outcome? Frankie gets tossed for PR purposes by a mayor worried about the non-Olympic portion of his legacy, and then Frankie lands a high-paying consulting job somewhere--you know, the Chicago way. Meanwhile, thanks to a half-assed state bond issue (Illinois First lite) and a nominal increase in city contributions to mass transit, the CTA gets fixed years later, but only after more middle-class professionals and businesses have moved out and given up on Chicago. I wish I could be more optimistic--worst-case scenarios often are wrong--but I've seen nothing that would make me so, not when it comes to the CTA.
Erm...how exactly is the Blue Line an alternative if it doesn't happen to run anywhere near where you live or where you're going? Man, those CTA officials are geniuses.
bangs head against the wall.
...perhaps it is time I polish off my resume and move to a city with real public transportation.
Just out of curiosity, and not to start a flame war, but what cities, in your opinions, actually do have decent public transit? And what are they just flat out getting right that we aren't?
I always hear people who've lived in New York and now here say New York is 100 times better, but I also hear tales of it being dirtier, more dangerous, and more complicated.
And I was really impressed by DC's, but after reading some DCist.com posts, apparently that's not as true as I thought. I also came away from San Fran's BART nonplussed.
How ironic that Chicagoist will say "Frank Thugg'n till I die Kreusi in a usual position of lying prostrate before the state legislature, begging for more money," Yea blame it on Springfield( just as he does) instead of Darth Daley and for yall who think Darth Daley is gonna fire Frankie knuckles Kreusi, fagetaboutit. Daley will just move him to head up another agency that poor and working class overwhelmingly rely on like the Public Schools, to kill that too
Not everyone lives next door to the train, folks. The Blue is an alternative for a lot of people who take buses to the Red from points northwest. I get on the Belmont bus at Western. I will be able to go south on Western to the Blue after the Red/Brown go to 3 tracks.
(Not that I will be happy about it. And nor will the 1,000,000 people already jamming into that train.)
I take the Milwaukee bus from Logan Square because I'm already fed up with the Blue Line, and now the bus is starting to suck. I wouldn't mind paying a little more in fare, but not without a guarantee of better, more reliable service - and I'm pretty sure that's not coming.
spook, I didn't mean to say it was Springfield's fault, I just meant that the CTA always pins the problem on lack of funding, instead of trying to plug the leaks of the money they do/did have. Maybe "whining" would have been a better word choice than "begging."
And can we make "Thugg'n Till I Die" Frank Kreusi's official nickname from now on?
Would anyone actually move out of Chicago because of the bad transit situation?
I know I would--I'm lucky to have that option with my career--and apparently Vit is considering it, but I wonder what would have to happen to push other transit users out of Chicago for, say, NYC or DC. Seriously, for those who have embraced a carless, urban life, what would it take?
It would take a lot more than what's going on right now, but I don't even want to consider what exactly that might be.
One thing is for sure, I'll start a "sit-in" in front of CTA offices before I'd go back to owning a car.
nmpkm, what other cities have better public transit?
Well, let's check SF again. BART is incredibly punctual (around 95% on-time when I lived there), generally free of urine smells, and you can often find somewhere to sit. Platform LED signs tell you exactly how long until the next train (much more helpful than "train arriving shortly"). SF Muni, the bus/light rail system, might have a few flaws, but at least it can use the excuse that its trains share the tracks with cars. Muni also has real-time tracking of all its trains (and some busses) displayed in all stations and at many surface stops. You can even check online or on your phone!
Ever been abroad? Ride around Berlin or Tokyo for a while, and report back. It's amazing how efficient public transit can really be. Even Mexico City uses rubber-tired metros...so quiet and smooth, it's actually possible to have a normal conversation.
I was recently thrilled that my employer is moving some jobs from the burbs to downtown (sell car, take red line), but the impending 3-track doom has tempered my excitement. I ought to just move back to CA.
nmpkm, what other cities have better public transit?
Well, let's check SF again. BART is incredibly punctual (around 95% on-time when I lived there), generally free of urine smells, and you can often find somewhere to sit. Platform LED signs tell you exactly how long until the next train (much more helpful than "train arriving shortly"). SF Muni, the bus/light rail system, might have a few flaws, but at least it can use the excuse that its trains share the tracks with cars. Muni also has real-time tracking of all its trains (and some busses) displayed in all stations and at many surface stops. You can even check online or on your phone!
Ever been abroad? Ride around Berlin or Tokyo for a while, and report back. It's amazing how efficient public transit can really be. Even Mexico City uses rubber-tired metros...so quiet and smooth, it's actually possible to have a normal conversation.
I was recently thrilled that my employer is moving some jobs from the burbs to downtown (sell car, take red line), but the impending 3-track doom has tempered my excitement. I ought to just move back to CA.
I was partially joking about the moving thing, but I am getting really angry to the point of considering it. However, I don't really know if there are a whole lot of options for those of us who don't really want to own a car.
I've been abroad, have ridden the trains in Europe, and don't understand why we can't get our act together in our largest cities to provide decent public transportation.
no light rail in Seattle (except the goofy monorail), but the bus system was AMAZING. Free if you board downtown, goes everywhere, and fast. There's a number you can call for help finding routes and schedules (I've had awful experiences with 312-YOUR-CTA, but other people seem to like it), and, granted Seattle is way smaller than our fair city, but one end to the other in 45 minutes ain't half bad.