September 25, 2008
More L-bow Room on the CTA
Have you found squishing your way onto the L train a little less difficult? If so, you may have already ridden one of the new reduced-seat "MAX" L train cars the CTA has been testing out on the Brown Line during rush hour since September 12. The number of seats on these new cars has been reduced by 12 or 14, freeing up space for an additional 20 passengers.
The CTA reports that riders with strollers, suitcases and the like are grateful for the extra wiggle room. (We’ve all gotten dirty looks for shoving our luggage onto an already packed train on the way to the airport. What else are we supposed to do?) This has prompted the transit agency to look into adding these cars to the Blue and Orange lines. (Please!) The Sun-Times called praise from passengers with bicycles “curious,” since bikes aren’t allowed on trains during rush hour. Ok, maybe they still deserve the dirty looks.
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Trains are crowded at times beyond rush hour. Nobody who's paid their CTA fare in full and who is not violating any terms of service deserves no dirty looks. Chicagoist deserves to be called to task for shirkless, mean-spirited writing such as this.
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are these the trains with the vibrant blue seats? i hadn't even noticed the difference. please install them in blue line cars.. actually, just wipe those jalopies off the face of the earth, kthx.
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If you're referring to the "blinker door" 2200 series Blue Line cars, they were originally supposed to get retired and replaced but CTA has instead decided to restore them to extend their service life until between 2012 and 2016. See http://chicago-l.org/trains/roster/2200.html
But agreed, they're poorly-designed cars in terms of useful passenger space, and should have been gone a while ago.
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I don't ride the blue line all that much, and when one of those "blinker door" cars comes up, I feel like i'm in another city.