CTA Tattler

Expressing the train to Thorndale from Wilson isn't too bad.
Let's face it: Wilson & Lawrence should both be closed & replaced with a single station at Leland, with entrances at Wilson & Leland.
Argyle & Berwyn should both be replaced with a Foster station.
Thorndale could be closed if a south entrance to Granville was built at Glenlake.
And just close Jarvis.

Now let's wait for the flame war!

Wilson should be closed with a station placed at Montrose.

None of those things should happen. Slowing down to stop at a station takes seconds. Don't blame the CTA for your own impatience. Sit back and read a book or the newspaper or listen to the music/radio, and quit fuming about how the el/bus/whatever has the nerve to stop in-between your home and work. It's a waste.

If you split the Red Line into two parts, North Side & South Side, there are 20 stations in 11.5 miles from Lake to Howard, but only 13 in the 11 miles from Monroe to 95th.
There are far too many stations on the North Side.
And it's not seconds at each stop, it can be far longer when there's a problem & there are a lot of problems.
There are also way too many bus stops on Sheridan Rd, Marine Dr, & Inner Lake Shore Dr. No bus stop should be closer than 100 house numbers [one block] apart, but on these streets, there are many that are only a half bock apart.
It's pure political cowardice on CTA management to not bite the bullet & face the fact that there are too many stations here.
Outside of the Loop, the Red Line is the only one with stations as close as a quarter-mile. Everywhere else it's at least a half-mile distance between stations.

That's not rapid transit, that's not much different than a streetcar line!

It'd be silly to put a station at Montrose to better serve the cemetery. I believe in ghosts and all ... but most of them are seniors and as a result non-fare-paying, so to hell with them.

About a week and a half ago I remember waiting an extra long time on Belmont to transfer over to a NB Red Line. As soon as I got on the lead car the operator, in a mild fury, left the cabin to go fix something (a door??). Anyway, we left Belmont, no problems at Addison, then at Sheridan he announced an express to Granville (about the only good part of my day, seeing as usually it usually goes to Loyola, lacking the convenience I desire, but anyway...) Everyone is bemoaning this except me (...what an @$$) when the operator says "It is not my fault, ok?" I guess I'll take his word for it.

My enthusiasm faded as we passed many a poor soul who no doubt stood out on the cold platform perhaps longer than I did and now has to have the insult of a train blow right by them. I wonder if that feeling has ever been reciprocated?

Has any train ever been "following immediately"?

I was at Belmont the other day and the train was crowded, and the operator got on the overhead and spoke of his "immediate follower at Chicago."

Ummmm..... I don't think that counts as an immediate follower!

[If you split the Red Line into two parts, North Side & South Side, there are 20 stations in 11.5 miles from Lake to Howard, but only 13 in the 11 miles from Monroe to 95th.]

Well, gee, there's a new idea. Let's take the historically underserved South Side and use it as a model for transit on the North Side! I can foresee no negative side effects from that!

With transit advocates like you, who needs Republicans?

[No bus stop should be closer than 100 house numbers [one block] apart...]

But why? This seems totally arbitrary to me. What is your justification for this other than 100 being a nice, round number?

I would actually agree with the 100 house number rule. If a bus stops in between then it is to often. The reason is if a bus stop is placed every block then the most anybody has to walk is a 1/2 block. Buses do not need to stop every 1/2 block as this just takes more time and is very inefficient. Yes 100 house numbers is nice and round but it is also a perfect rule to use. Afterall this is how we measure distance in the city.

[The reason is if a bus stop is placed every block then the most anybody has to walk is a 1/2 block. Buses do not need to stop every 1/2 block as this just takes more time and is very inefficient.]

But the thing is, they don't stop "every" 1/2 block. They stop at certain 1/2 blocks along densely populated parts of some routes.

The 147 does stop far to often, both around edgewater and rogers park. For example, as soon as the bus makes a right turn out of the howard terminal there is another stop...right outside the station.

How many "express" trains run per line per month? I know its cold, but what effect does this have on ops? If we know there is going to be problems with the weather (hot, cold, rain, snow, ice), what does CTA do to mitigate the problems? Are there any goals?

I got stuck on one going southbound on the Green line running from Roosevelt to 55th. I hope someone in Ops is reading this, but most of the riders on the Green line SB are going to 35th. If you ran "express" from 35th, you'd probably serve your customers better and decrease the amount of griping.

Sorry LTM, but you need to ride south of 35th more often. A lot of people get off at Garfield & lots more ride to 95th.
If we followed your idea to its illogical end, then the trains should only go to 35th.
If, as I suspect you're a student at IIT, then you should fail!

Well, beyond that, a big reason to run a train express is to divide up the crowd that's accumulated during the delay. You take the part of the crowd that's going farther and whisk them there as best you can, and leave the crowd that's going to the nearer busy stop, like 35th, to wait for the next train, because they have less time to make up.

I'm pretty sure, incidentally, that I caught a Red Line operator making up an express announcement Thursday evening, though I didn't call him on it when I got off. But it was pretty obvious that the southbound crowd at Grand was just taking too long for him, so he announced that his train was going express to 69th. But I rode to Harrison and he didn't mention going express at any of the other stops. I don't ride rail service particularly often; is this common?

Between Kimball and Western, the stops on the Brown Line are 2 to 3 blocks apart. Addison, Paulina, and Southport are all extremely close together as well. I believe all the stations mentioned are outside the Loop.

It's hard for me to tell on the Purple Line, but Foster and Noyes at least appear to be closer than 4 blocks.

Generally speaking, I'm not sure that a 4-block spacing is radically better than a 3- or even 2-block spacing, especially when there are bigger gaps in other parts of the line -- such as between Jarvis, Morse, and Loyola, or between Fullerton, North/Clyborn, and Clark/Divison (four blocks north-south, but also a significant east-west distance among them). I'd bet that if you took the average, the northside Red Line comes to about 4 blocks per stop. More generally speaking, actively destroying capacity doesn't seem like a good use of CTA funds.

I had an interesting train-running-express experience last September. I was on my way south to 35th to go to a Sox game. Between North/Clybourn and Clark/Division, the train made a weird clunking noise and we stopped for about 10 minutes. The announcement stated that the train operator was leaving the train to check the equipment and, unlike most of the other times I've heard that, this time I saw the TO walking along the train. I was already running late, and said one of those very bad words favored by a wiretapped Blago.

When we pulled into Monroe, the TO announced the train would be running express to 47th. I thought this was odd since it was a game day, but figured whoever was working at the control center must have been a Cubs fan. Almost all passengers headed to the game fled the train as though it was a sinking ship. I stayed on the train because I figured it would be faster to ride to 47th and catch a northbound one stop back to 35th.

There were no more announcements throughout the rest of the trip, but as we approached 35th, the train slowed as though it was going to stop. I hopped up and stood by the door just in case someone at CTA had pulled their head out of their ass since we'd left Monroe. Lo and behold, the door opened. I sprang out of the train with such force that the cop on the platform mocked me and asked if I was trying to get the last copter out of Hanoi. Very funny, Officer.

[I was already running late, and said one of those very bad words favored by a wiretapped Blago.]

"Appreciation?"

I do think that a line with the length of the Howard line should have fewer stops. Time from Jackson to Davis when the purple line express is not running can take close to an hour. (Sorry, I don't have an exact time.)

As for bus stops, yes. I mean, why does the westbound 126 need to stop at both Clinton/Quincy? Why do the 93 and 97 need to make 2 stops in between Oakton and Howard? These are easily walkable distances.