CTA Tattler

Hopefully the CTA never has to put this plan into action. I'm not sure if I would trust my life in their hands during an emergency of those proportions.

I KNOW I wouldn't trust the CTA with my life in a dire situation. Sometimes I think it's scary enough I trust them with my life so I can get home in the evenings. They're going to have to do a LOT better job of communication, to start with, before I ever feel safe there in emergency situations.

The CTA's numbers are absurd!
While I haven't seen their operational plans, I'll bet anything they're saying the evacuation is from the Loop area to the ends of the lines. There's no guarantees that any natural or man-made [terrorist] disaster will happen there, plus it's very likely that a major part of the CTA's rail system would be knocked out of service in a major downtown disaster.
What if there was a power outage on the scale of the two northeast blackouts [1965 & a couple of years ago]? No CTA rail of any kind.

As for CTA buses: The traffic mess caused by cars will tie them up.
Have you ever watched the video of people evacuating from a coming hurricane? They all drive only on the right hand side of the road. While it makes sense to allow one lane inbound for certain emergency personnel, when I see two inbound lanes open, I know these people are flat out stupid. Will the same thing happen here? Who knows as it's never been attempted & no one in any position of authority has ever said how people should drive their private cars outbound, let alone to where.
And exactly where are several hundred thousand people going to go anyway?
We all saw what a mess the Katrina evacuation & non-evacuation was!

My plan is to just walk home in the event of a sudden disaster, such as an attack. An attack downtown could damage Loop tracks or cut off power to the rail system, as Sock Puppeteer said. Even if things were running, the trains would be crowded with scared, anxious people. And traffic would be a mess, so buses are out of the question.

For an expected disaster, one with time to prepare, I think the CTA could definitely be useful in getting people out of the city. But then, I have a car, so I'd probably use that in an emergency.

This is off topic, but has anyone rode the Blue line between Rosemont and O'Hare after the tracks were rebuilt? I'm wondering if it is back to full speed now or not. Thanks!

Yeah...I'm not sure how the CTA is figuring the numbers, either. On a normal workday, I regularly have to wait for 2-3 trains that are packed to the gills to pass before I can even board; how in the world would the CTA somehow be astonishingly better at moving many, many more people in the event of an emergency?

And really, in what capacity will the CTA be able to act if something happens, be it a terrorist attack that levels a part of downtown, a flood, or a tornado? From debris alone, rule out buses in every case, and I would be VERY surprised if the El was running. Good grief, a lone plastic bag catching on fire underground can cause enough chaos as it is.

I'm with Tecki; my plan is to walk home. In an emergency situation such as these, I am prepared to rely on one person and one person only to get me where I need to be: me. Not a stressed-out bus driver, not an uninformed motorman, me. I'm fortunate that I only live about 5 miles away from when I work downtown, but I've walked home because of CTA issues before (a derailment, a fire and the immigrant rights march a few years ago), and I'll probably have to do it again. In an emergency situation, it will most definitely take longer (again, debris), but thankfully I wouldn't have to stand there and wait for a bus that would never come, a train already past capacity and tottering on the tracks...*shrug*

Imagining the chaos involving CTA personnel should such a catastrophic event his Chicago is hilarously depressing. I mean, after the Blue Line accident recently involving a couple of train?

I really like "mostly safe" just like "mostly harmless".

KevinB

Hopefully in case of emergency they will open up that auxiliary exit at Sedgwick.

In regards to the off topic Blue Line question, I rode it back from O'Hare on Sunday and the trains were back up to full speed. One out of town person sitting next to me commented on how impressed they were at how fast the train was going.

yeah, i don't believe any of this for one hot second. 'nuff said.

I also have to add that any talk of additional coaches from Amtrak is not going to happen as Amtrak is currently stretched to the limit & has no available rolling stock to give out. In addition, Amtrak's Beech Grove, Indiana maintenance yard is also ludicrous as a source as this is Amtrak's main facility for heavy repairs & most of the coaches there are undergoing massive refurbishment. Amtrak coaches also require head end power equipped locomotives or special power supply cars to run the lights & HVAC systems onboard. You just can have a freight railroad's locomotives pulling Amtrak coaches. It would be more efficient to just get a lot of boxcars & paint "40 + 8" on the sides & load people on them & pull them out of Chicago.

And back to the CTA: if there's a power outage, all the traffic lights will go out. If it's nighttime, the streetlights will also be out.
And will the CTA try to collect fares under such circumstances?

The National Research Council, whoever or whatever they are should be ashamed of themselves for publishing such a useless, misleading & self-serving document such as this.

This reminds me of the plans that the Bilandic Administration paid several hundred thousand dollars for in 1978 for designing snow removal operations, prior to the Blizzard of 1979. Plans which turned out to be a joke.

Any major disaster and I'm walking home and then motorcycling the hell out of dodge.

Anyone remember the great Freight Tunnel Leak of 1992? The subways flooded and all trains had to run on the elevated tracks for the better part of a week. Even though CTA wasn't moving nearly as many people per day back then the platforms were nightmareishly packed. I'd hate to see what it would look like with today's increased ridership if an event occurred that necessitated immediate evacuation of the Loop.

I wonder where that statistic "12 percent of persons over age 5 have disabilities" comes from. It seems they probably have a very loose defintion of "disability". I'm sure only a small fraction of these have a severe enough disability that it would cause them to need special assistance during an evacuation. One thing I've always wondered is what exactly is the definition of "disability" in terms of qualifying for a reduced fare card. I wonder if it is something so broadly defined that around half the population could get the discount if they really wanted. I was diagnosed with ADHD at one point. I wonder if that qualifies me (not that I would get the reduced fare card if it did, but I am curious). I wonder if people with learning disabilities qualify. Perhaps those who have been diagnosed with personality disorders. The CTA's website seems to be pretty vague (understandably perhaps) so maybe someone has the knowledge to answer this. Sorry to veer a little off topic though.

Anyone that the Social Security Administration considers to be disabled can get a reduced fare card.