Taking A Gander

By Jocelyn Geboy in News on Apr 10, 2007 3:44PM

The week in CTA has started off in typical fashion: sad and disappointing.

The traffic report we heard on the radio spoke of an "accident" on the Red Line at Wilson. We thought it was interesting to hear the CTA mentioned in a traffic report, but we know accident is code for suicide. Chicagoist hates to hear about that. Whatever inconvenience that might be for a commute, we are always reminded that the human lives involved are worth more than a few hours. The Tribune ran a story that actually admitted the woman jumped to her death yesterday afternoon, but also made sure to mention that so far people haven't noticed any real delay in their commute times. We would like to think that this is how things are going to continue on. Hell, we'd like to think if we all do "The Secret," and positively think it for the next three years, it just will manifest itself. So, get a-thinking, Chicago. Unfortunately, we doubt this will work.

In a pretend scientific experiment, WBEZ decided to race four people from starting from downtown up to the Green Mill using a car, bike, el and Metra train and see who got up there fastest. In their one-time try, the car won, followed by the bike, the el and the Metra. We'd like to see this experiment repeated for a week to see what the varying results would be. The comments on CTA Tattler point out some flaws in their version of the experiment, and we'd love to see one that takes some of the comments into consideration in order to better fair things up. Maybe we'll do just that ...

Lastly, over at newish CTA blog, CTA Stories, there is the discussion of the "tortoise" vs. "hare" CTA driver. The tortoise is the el or bus driver who is ridiculously slow, taking their sweet time at every stop sign or bus stop, or just going 6 m.p.h. everywhere, making everything a slow zone. Then, there is their diametrical opposite, the hare. They are the ones who race right up to the stops, then slam on their brakes as if they didn't have a clue the stop was coming. Sometimes, they cause people to fall over, crashing into poles and each other. Not cool.

So ... how's it been going? Any difference Monday morning? Do you have any regular "tortoise" or "hare" drivers?

"Easter Bunny" via reggaedori