Sox Shuffle Continues
Friday Afternoon Diversion
Jay-Z Announces 2010 Tour Dates. Chicago Not On List.
Around Town
I Fight Dragon$
As Hizzonner continues his whirlwind tour of Beijing, the Trib* took us along for his little train-ride the other day. As it turns out, if you spend $7.7 billion on a transit system, it A) looks nice, B) operates well, and C) would be lovely to have in case an Olympic games somehow ends up in our neck of the woods. Oh, and if we want one, we're gonna have to pony up. Who knew.
One of the regular arguments for having the Games in Chicago is that we'll be forced to upgrade our trains and buses. Well, if we get what Beijing's got, we'll have:
- Bright wide corridors on platforms
- tickets purchased from bilingual touch-screen kiosks
- wide train platforms
- sliding glass doors to protect riders
- jumbo-sized wider cars with seats against the windows
- illuminated overhead route signs
- TVs to broadcast the games
- quality kickin' A/C
- Unicorns and magical elves and rainbows spreading sunshine
How likely do you think that is? And how, you ask, would we pay for all these things, were we to give it a good shot at bringing them here? Answer: A capital spending plan with improvement cash for the CTA and RTA, as well as "look[ing] to the federal government for assistance." We'll take all the help we can get, but can we expect the state government to get its collective head out of its ass in the next 8 years?
*Hey, Kathy Bergen - nice use of the word "bowels" in your lede.
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There was an old saying that under Soviet rule you could walk through Red Square waving hundred dollar bills and never worry about crime.
China's a totalitarian society. Of course they get the trains to run on time.
Unicorns you say? Maybe the Chinese caught onto to this and agreed: http://tenreasonsitwouldruletodateaunicorn.com/
Hell, I'd be happy if we could somehow manage those "next train arriving in x minutes" signs that every other city in the world seems to have figured out in the 1980s.
I don't think we even need to get all taxy about it. How about we all just write the city a damn check? I'll pony up $50. Take it. Just make the friggin thing better already.
i fucking love that graphic. hahahahah
Hey, you guys can come visit us in San Francisco and see the NextBus signs predict the next bus that isn't coming. That is, in fact, one of the few things in our system that isn't antiquated. You should see our vintage 80s subway turnstiles (not that you have to hop a turnstile, mind you, since the "security" gates are just at waist height) and our advanced system of selling monthly passes at grocery stores and tobacco shops. Hey, but you get a transfer for FREE if you pay the $1.50 fare. Make sure you have correct change in the subway, and I mean quarters or dollar coins. Sure, the buses and trains themselves take bills, but you expect the turnstiles in the subways to take bills? Wait?! You can use MONEY in the turnstiles instead of those complicated yet significantly more secure and efficient fare cards? Everybody loves cash money on the turnstiles! Especially a turnstile full of quarters and dollar coins and the coin slot has a steel plate over it.
Madrid 2016