The Crumbling L System (Schaumburg, Washington: transfer, to buy, taxi)

[Drover]

Today I learned that the CTA has reduced the slow-zone speed on the Blue Line to 6MPH from Division to Grand, in both directions. In just 2 months, my commute time has gone from 35 minutes to an hour. Seven miles... one hour. Red & Purple Liners, us Blue Liners are feeling your pain.

Meanwhile, we're spending some 700 million dollars to add 2 cars to the Brown Line trains. What good do 2 extra cars do when they're riding along on rotting infrastructure? Why are we expanding capacity without securing the continued operability of the existing capacity first??? Even when I was a Brown Line rider, I was skeptical of the need to spend several hundred million dollars to add 8-car capacity. Now as the rest of the North Side L infrastructure crumbles into the ground, that skepticism has morphed into anger bordering on rage. Oh, and add the outrageous Block 37/Washington Super-Station absurdity to the top of the pile.

Kruesi needs to be run out of town on a rail.

Sorry, just needed to vent somewhere.

[j33]

I'm with you. I've been riding the CTA occasionally since 1988 and regularly since 1991 and it inexplicably seems to be getting worse. I live off the Division stop on the blue line and have all but given up on taking the train downtown and have started taking the #56 bus (which is also a bit of a joke). I'd like to see Kruesi tarred and feathered first, and then run out of town on a rail.

I attended a public hearing once when they were proposing that 'doomsday' plan of theirs, God, I just get angry thinking about what a mess this is.

I don't own a car (and haven't for years) and can't afford to buy one, so I'm stuck with these guys, and it is really starting to wear on my nerves.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by j33

I'd like to see Kruesi tarred and feathered first, and then run out of town on a rail.

I may not be fully up on my Colonial-era history, but I believe being tarred and feathered is the first phase of being run out of town on a rail... so we've got you covered.

I now regret even more that I could not persuade my wife to transfer from her Schaumburg office to the company's downtown office so we could move to the South Side. With the completion of the Dan Ryan portion of the Red Line renovation, the L system on the South and West Sides now operates pretty much flawlessly.

[j33]

Originally Posted by Drover

I may not be fully up on my Colonial-era history, but I believe being tarred and feathered is the first phase of being run out of town on a rail... so we've got you covered.

I did a bit of research, and you are certainly correct. Sign me up!

I just had the miserable experience last night of the slow zone between downtown and Division. It should not take a train 20 minutes to go 2 miles, there is no excuse for that whatsoever, even the conductor was audibly annoyed and complained over the loudspeaker about the deterioration of track conditions and asked the riders to complain to their legislators.

[Drover]

Yeh, I misspoke when I said it was from Division to Grand... it's from Division to Clark/Lake.

[j33]

Okay, I need to calm down, but I'm still seething after this morning's commute that involved two buses that were too crowded to let me on, and a taxi line over twenty people long, and a train station that was overflowing (I gave up and tried the train, and failed, left the subway and finally managed to get on a bus). A women next to me at the bus stop burst into tears out frustration, cold, and who knows what else, and mild mannered looking man in a suit swore profusely and kicked a garbage can. The level of rage at the corner of Milwaukee and Division these days is palpable. It took me over an hour to get to work, a workplace I live 2 1/2 miles away from. I'm at a loss for words.

[Drover]

I just rolled past Division/Milwaukee about 20 minutes ago. What a madhouse that station was. Holy crap. It made me thankful once again that I live further up the line before the trains really load up.

[prairiestate]

Yet another reason to live on the south side!

[Southside Shrek]

how did the north side 'L' ever get into such a rotten state of near useless decadence?

[outsider1]

How? It's metal and concrete. It's old, very old.... It's been used and abused for years. The weather and salt take a yearly toll too... They never allocated sufficient funds to maintain it properly... because the south side needs the north side's tax revenue to support itself