Carless in Chicago » CTA

Speaking of CTA and other transit funding…

Jason — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:36:12 +0000

I feel negligent in not mentioning sooner that for those interested in transit funding (and that should be just about anyone interested in Carless in Chicago), Greg Hinz over at Crain’s has been doing a great job covering the latest developments down in Springfield. In his latest blog post, he mentions a topic that seems to be dear to his heart (and to mine): the quick funding or road projects versus the glacial funding of mass transit projects.

Profile of CTA Chief Rodriuguez

Jason — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:30:02 +0000

This month, Governing magazine (which I used to read a lot more often when I knew their art director) runs an interesting profile of Richard Rodriguez, who currently serves as head of the CTA. I don’t know that much about Rodriguez, but I’m certainly familiar with his reputation as an agency fixer (which he tries to downplay in this profile). It’s a nice piece, although not terribly deep when it comes to how the CTA can get out of its perpetual crisis state.

On the loss of the X buses

Jason — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:51:14 +0000

All guidebooks contain some out of date information by the time they get published, and Carless in Chicago is no exception. Unfortunately, the CTA ensured that I’d have a bumper crop of such information when they introduced service cuts earlier this when the book was already too far along in the production process to revise. You can find a comprehensive list of those service cuts at the CTA web site.

These cuts have definitely made life a little more challenging for transit-dependent Chicagoans, and I’d like to see all of them restored. But I’d like to highlight the elimination of virtually all of the X routes as among the most problematic and short-sighted.

The CTA hasn’t always had X routes, but in recent years had begun heavily featuring these variations on local routes that bypassed minor streets for quicker travel times on major thoroughfares. These buses provided important supplementary service along streets like Ashland and Western that serve as key conduits among rail lines, and more generally for a series of increasingly dense neighborhoods, particularly between Grand Avenue and Irving Park Road, but in parts of the south side as well.

In my opinion, eliminating these routes was a mistake, and instead, the CTA should have reduced (not eliminated) local service to retain express service. In addition to adding important service along major streets, X buses make buses more attractive than driving for certain types of riders; X buses have a lower impact on traffic than local buses; and express service may have collateral health benefits by encouraging some riders to add some additional walking to their commute in exchange for a faster ride.

To be fair, less local service on these routes would have a negative impact on some riders, particularly those with less mobility due to age or disability. But much of that could be counteracted through expansion of bus tracking and employing other methods to reduce time spent waiting at a bus stop.

Of course, the other alternative as written up nicely by Matt Yglesias is general reduction of bus stops while maintaining relatively high stop density. With the caveat that we have to take the needs of all riders into consideration, that’s an experiment for which I’d happily sign up.

CTA Updates: Maxi Cars and Washington Subway

Jason — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:45:14 +0000

Courtesy of today’s Getting Around column in the tribune, two updates of interest to CTA riders:

The CTA has abandoned plans to convert more rail cars to the “Maxi” configuration with fewer seats and more room for standing passengers. (However, existing Maxi cars, which I believe all remain on the Brown Line, will not get converted back.)

The CTA also confirms the limbo status of the Washington Red Line station and transfer tunnel to the Blue Line, explaining that it wouldn’t be cost-effective to reopen the station before the final status of the Block 37 superstation is known.

CTA Capital Spending

Jason — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:02 +0000

The Sun Times published a nifty interactive graphic on its web site this week that gives approximate costs to the various kinds of regular capital expenditures made by the CTA. (I can’t quite determine what article it relates to, but this gives me an excuse to link to the Sun Times’ transportation blog, The Ride, added to the blogroll today.

From Gray to Gold

Jason — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:09:40 +0000

Gold Line Proposal

It’s not really a new story, but today’s Tribune has a nice write up about the grassroots “Gold Line” proposal to bring better mass transit to parts of the city’s South Side. Much like the earlier “Gray Line” proposal (second item in link), a key component to the plan involves expanding service on the main branch of the Metra Electric Line to several trains per hour and providing some mechanism for easy fare pass-through between it and the CTA.

As someone who grew up in Hyde Park, I find a lot of appeal in the basic idea, although the devil is in the details. Historically, Metra and CTA do not have a great track record of working together, and my understanding is that even the current Metra Electric service is underused, making it difficult to justify expansion. As the article points out, RTA is working on a unified fare card for CTA, Metra, and Pace, which might in and of itself address some of the issues that the Gold Line proposal identifies.

Again, these aren’t exactly new ideas. Chicago Weekly did a really nice job covering some of these issues last November in a longer piece that also details other proposals for improving South Side service such as extending the Red Line to 130th Street, and the Orange Line to Ford City Mall.

To 30-day or Not to 30-day?

Jason — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:32:16 +0000

In today’s Chicago Tribune, Jon Hilkevich wades into the CTA’s somewhat complicated fare structure, suggesting that because of recent changes, many riders might want to re-evaluate whether or not switching to a 30-day pass would save them money. Excellent advice, although I ‘d also add that if you regularly use mass transit you should check with your employer to see if they offer transit commuter benefits (i.e. the ability to pay for your transit tax-free through payroll deduction), or if they’re willing to add this benefit for employees.

Best and Worst El Stations

Jason — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:03:35 +0000

The Chicago Tribune has a brief but interesting story today giving it’s assessment of the best and worst El stations, along with a nice interactive graphic showing changes in ridership since 2000 by every station in the system. Quite interesting, although I’m not sure you can make a clear connection between the state of a station and ridership. (Via Uptown Update.)