Chicagoist: Rest Easy: The CTA Will Save Us In An Emergency

Tower18

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:49:13 -0600

When the world ends, I'll be motorcycling it the hell out of here.

Albanyparkour

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:30:07 -0600

Dopplerd is right on. Waiting for the bus/train in an emergency? FAIL. Now if it was more organized, slower evacuation (massive lake flooding due to climate change for instance) I could see a role. But being in an underground tunnel or elevated platform with 100,000+ other people, all their possessions, kids and animal in a moment of crisis? Nope. Walking.

dopplerd

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:14:26 -0600

I'll be on my bike in the event that things go all Republican wet dream in Chicago. I'll be in Milwaukee while you are waiting for the train that isn't coming. Does the CTA think that the train and bus operators are going to continue going into the Loop when there is a major terrorist attack under way? Look at NYC on 9/11. Self propelled transport (bike and on foot) was the only way out of town. Just don't jump me and take my bike because you didn't plan ahead, mmm-kay?

ednamode

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:49:40 -0600

No confidence here. 100,000 evacuees per hour? Riiiight. Wasn't I just trapped in the intersection of Damen/North/Milwaukee with 800 other people two months ago because the CTA crapped itself when the most predictable breakdown possible happened at rush hour? I'm sure bombs would have made that much easier for them to figure out.

kgvs72

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:49:00 -0600

I'll third that! I live on the SE Side of Chicago, we only have one bus that passes (Route 30) during non-rush hours and it passes whenever there's some sort of anomaly. I go to CSU and it takes me 25 minutes on bike. If I go the bus route, I have to take two buses and it takes me between 45 minutes or over an hour ($4 a day for rountrip, multiply that by 4 days that I go to school. That's $16 a week, $64 a month). In a car it's like 15-20 minutes and a parking pass for the whole semester is $55 or $110 for the year. It is cheaper for me to go on car (including car maintenance) than to take the bus (we don't have a U-Pass, but from what other schools pay it's more than the parking pass). Of course the best alternative is bike. You buy less oil from greedy oil companies and seedy governments abroad, and it's a health benefit.

poptart

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:21:46 -0600

I second that. I get around faster on my bike than on the CTA.

matty

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:14:58 -0600

Phh. The CTA can barely get me to work much less out of a warzone.