[Chicago] CTA

[magid]

I used the CTA last night, taking a train on the Brown line to a bus to get to the fish place (mmmmm…. fish) near Skokie.

I was surprised that the price for a train + bus differs depending on which kind you start with. (If one doesn’t have a day/week/month pass, of course.) A CTA employee helped me buy a ticket (notably, the machines don’t give change, and having an ATM next to it without a change machine isn’t quite as useful as it might be), and we chatted a bit, comparing Boston and Chicago. He thought $57 cheap, and spent a while looking at my CharlieCard.

The automatic announcements included the usual ones about the doors closing. There were also ones letting people know whether the doors would open on the right or the left at the next stop. I got to hear the things that are verboten on the train: smoking, littering, eating, soliciting, and gambling (does this mean the T is behind or ahead of the times in only reminding people that smoking is forbidden?).

I was surprised by how open the platforms are, rather worse than Charles/MGH, since the windows are just holes in the back walls, if there are walls rather than railings at all. Some parts have roofs, while a lot more don’t. I’d’ve thought that a city known for its severe winters and strong winds would have more shelter offered to those waiting.

For some of the way, there was another line that used the same stations, including the same platforms, since the trains were going in similar directions. It was entertaining when the tracks paralleled each other for a while, even through a station, which let me look into another train car when we were both paused.

There are ads inside the trains, as I’d expect. I hadn’t thought about ads on the outsides of the trains, though it makes sense, given that they’re mostly visible. Even so, it seemed odd.

Being on an elevated train meant being able to watch the sunset, and see into houses and backyards. I was surprised more people didn’t pull their blinds, and wondered about the probability of an Agatha Christie sort of moment, the brief only-possibly-seen witnessing of a crime…

The triple deckers (and quadruple ones, and similar sorts of buildings) are very different from the back, with back staircases spiraling from porch to porch, rather than inside, making the porches rather more public than they’d be in Boston (plus there’s the issue of clearing them off if there’s a storm).

Some of the buses were very new, announcing each stop, with information about the time and route and such. The bus I took, though, was old, requiring pulling on a cord running the length of each side to request a stop. I asked the bus driver to tell me when we got to my stop, and she did; I’m glad, ‘cause it was hard to keep track of streets and intersections in the dark as we passed.

One bus annoyance: it seems that a lot of them don’t run the whole time. Which would be fine, if signs said something like “last bus at 7 P.M.”, but saying that the bus runs until early evening or until the end of rush hour doesn’t cut it.

Good Morgan’s is a combination fish store and restaurant (in the sense that they’ve got a couple of tables; I get the impression more people get take out than eat in). I was there once five years ago and had an amazing whitefish sandwich. I got another one, which wasn’t quite as perfect as the one I remembered, but it can be hard to live up to memories, and it was pretty darned good (especially given how hungry I was…). The woman behind the counter was chatty, so I talked (well, listened) rather than read my way through my meal. When she heard I was planning to walk back to the train (the bus I’d taken stopped running in the evening sometime), she said it was too cold, too dangerous, and so on for me to do this (rather like some suburbanites feel about Boston, actually; I didn’t think it would be an issue), and she’d give me a ride to my hotel. I was very surprised, and when she insisted, didn’t argue overmuch. Paying it forward….

Comments

[zahzeh.livejournal.com]

That's a great story about the restaurant woman giving you a ride back to your hotel. People are basically good, if you let them be.

[magid.livejournal.com]

She was very sweet, though considering how long I waited and the errand she did on the way, I suspect the timing ended up being similar for me. Still, much nicer to be driven than to stand in the cold waiting for a train :-). She told me lots of stories of frum Chicago, and hosting travelers, and such.

[arfur]

but saying that the bus runs until early evening or until the end of rush hour doesn’t cut it.

ya think?

I must say, that was my one real annoyance with the system.

I was surprised that the price for a train + bus differs depending on which kind you start with.

lotsa places do that. frex, washington DC. They figure it's easier to track in one direction, and it will all come out in the wash anyway.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Easier to track in one direction? *confused look* It still cost more to transfer than to stick to one mode of transportation (and come to think of it, I'm not sure what they do about bus to bus transfers).

[arfur]

Meaning usually, it's easier to place proof of ride on the rail system, and verify it on the buses where fares are (were?) collected manually, than to do the reverse. So Bus->Rail was full price, while if you did Rail->Bus, the bus was practically free.

[magid.livejournal.com]

They used the equivalent of CharlieCards, so it was a card swipe/insert on both modes of transit. Bus to rail was $2, rail to bus $2.25. Officially, the bus is $.25 cheaper, and transfers between modes is $.25.

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Oh, the CTA made me a bit batty while I lived in Chicago.

I found that everything that ran near the University of Chicago (I was a post grad there for a year) ran late.

The worst was coming back from downtown after a Saturday night with friends. Green Line 'L' to 55th street and then get to stand on the freeway overpass waiting for the 55 bus for an hour in freezing cold with no bus shelter. Wow.

I did get kindof used to it. People that visited didn't though. Here's my brother at the 'no shelter' Garfield Station on the green line. :)



Personally, I loved the snow.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The first time I visited Chicago, I was visiting a cousin who was then a grad student at the University of Chicago, then travelling to a friend out in Buffalo Grove. The directions for taking buses and trains felt arcane.

I didn't see that particular stop, but I noticed the train stations above the highway heading to O'Hare, and they looked like miserable places to spend time, stuck between four lanes of traffic on either side, with no protection from the weather. Ugh. I suppose it's efficient to have the train tracks integrated with the highway, though.

I didn't get to have any snow, just wind...
(You look so young in that photo! (And your brother looks resigned.))

CTA

[(Anonymous)]

My most recent CTA experience was a few months ago, when I went across town from a meeting near O'Hare to see a newborn cousin. I was shocked at how well everything worked. I chose a route that involved two transfers, which is usually a recipe for misery. But all connections were smooth, the buses had clear signs and announcements, and all equipment worked flawlessly, with one exception: on one bus, the fare box was broken, so the ride was free.

Contrast this an incident from 1996: An elderly woman is working her way toward the exit. The bus starts to move. People shout, "wait!". The driver says, "Hurry up!". The woman says, feebly, "I'm 78 years old." The driver replies: "Get. Off. The. Bus!"

--Your Cousin

Re: CTA

[magid.livejournal.com]

My transfer to a bus wasn't quite so smooth: it seems that the 11 is not only not so frequent, but not so well marked, either. Plus it was an old bus. I suspect the mor traveled routes get the new buses first.

It would've been a better wait had there been a bus shelter, but those don't seem standard there.

And ouch for the old lady.