CTA Tattler

My Red Line commutes to and from the Loop (between Berwyn and Jackson) have been taking an almost identical amount of time before and after the track work was completed.

What I HAVE noticed over the past six months is a big increase in delayed/express trains.

Kevin:

Any idea when they will fix the problems at the Howard St Station on the brand new end that showed themselves as soon as they opened? Those would be the brand new roof that leaks in the area just inside the turnstiles where you go down to the tracks on either side and the escalator comes up.

Also, it seems that the employee bathrooms on the main level have been out of service for about a month now, and the bike parking area, seems to have been constructed to double as a duck pond due to drainage issues in addition to being woefully inadequate for the number of bikes that should have been planned for......I think you can park 12 there with teh number of poles they put up...and it's definitely not a lack of space.....

I've noticed more packed red line trains at belmont/fullerton and I've also noticed that the purple line seems to fight for loading space with the red line due to inadequate planning for platform space, thus making the purple line run late. You'd think with only a few stops in Evanston to Howard, there would be little or no chance for these trains to be late....plus it seems like they go just about as fast as a red line that makes stops due to more of the phantom signal/stops from Howard to belmont and the slow speed that most of the operators seem to go at...

KevinB

Also, looks like the state and city of chicago isn't that interested in federal stimulus money for transportation projects:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-stimulus-projects_04mar04,0,2935700.story

At least according to the feds...

KevinB

My commute from Addison to Jackson is a good 5-7 minutes faster now than it used to be at the height of three-track work. And I can accurately predict how long it will take now! For me, the new faster and smoother commute was definitely worth the months of misery.

My commute is Berwyn to Jackson as well and my commute is definitely several minutes shorter than before 3 tracking ended. I usually get the train in the morning about 8:15am. Before, the train would sit for a couple minutes at Addison, then creep to the junction, then sit and sit. Now its rare if we come to a complete stop at the junction. Recently, I had a great operator that was very quick at getting doors opened/closed, the train happened not to be overcrowded either and I made it from Jackson to Berwyn in 24 minutes at around 6pm. Its been YEARS since I had a ride that quick!

Now, if they can just get all the slow zones removed North and South of the Sheridan curves and also ones that are near Wilson (but of course STILL do not appear on the slow zone map), it might be possible during a non-rush period to see about a 20 minute ride, which is roughly what it was in the early 90's.

I think my Brown line commute in has increased somewhat since the end of three-tracking. I don't know if it's because of the added switching for the purple line going the other way or what, but trains are always slowed or delayed a few minutes going into the Mart.

On the other hand, my commute home is way faster. I don't notice the same switching delays on the way out, plus it's great to not have to ride all the way around the Loop.

Agree with Jordan. I take the Brown or Purple lines from Fullerton to the Mart. I don't think there has been one Loop-bound trip that hasn't been stop and go from around Division all the way into the Mart. It's as if they worked so hard getting back to four tracks that they completely failed to contemplate how doing so would affect traffic going into the Loop.

I take the Brown Line from Addison, downtown to Washington & Wells. Although there are occasional delays, I estimate taht the trip is about 5-7 minutes faster now. More important, the trains seem to come more often, reducing my wait in the freezing cold and allowing me to (usually) get a seat.

I've heard that the delays during the daytime (non-rush) hours are still pretty bad, though.

Agree with Jordan. Morning commute takes longer as I don't think I've ever gotten into the Mart since December 20 without at least a 2-3 minute delay.

The rare occasions I skip the 147 and take the Red Line from Edgewater to downtown, the Red Line proves itself much faster than it has been and a little faster than the 147. But the construction at Grand makes that station so unpleasant that I still prefer the 147.

Still don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm happy the train gets me to work. I leave at the same time every day and get to work about the same time every day. Maybe because I'm getting on the train at 7am I don't see the problems later arrivals do.

I've switched back to a combo Brown/Red line commute and I have noticed significant improvement. So much so I need to start leaving for work later because I'm getting here 20-30 minutes early.

To the people complaining about brown lines coming into the Mart...

This is due to the signal issues at the junction coming in to the Loop. They are currently working on it, and have been for some time. Or so they tell us. This is the biggest bottleneck since trains are slowed down waiting for signals to proceed into the Loop. We were told when this gets replaced, the difference will be very significant. This has nothing to do with the 4-tracking, and everything to do with more trains using the same old signal station.

I don't see how anyone could ride the red line every day and not see improved times since December. It's great!

KevinB,

What do you mean about purple and red fighting for loading space? I don't understand what you mean...

I "reverse commute" on the Purple to Evanston. The two big changes are more frequency and the old, better routing within the Loop. Also, better phasing with the Brown through Belmont. One baffling thing, though--it still runs VERY slowly on the express track, which it doesn't share, above Belmont. Often the Howard Red will pass us. Weird.

According to the CTA slow zone map there is more than 12,000ft of track condition slow zones on track 4 between Belmont and Howard. Not a big surprise that it's slowing northbound express service.

Chris, I think Kevin B was talking about Howard, not Blemont/Fullerton, when he said the Purple has to compete with the Red for loading.

With respect to Kevin B's comment about the Red being as fast as the Purple going downtown from Howard, he's right. The Purple has many more stops south of Belmont than the Red and loses any time it gained from Howard to Belmont. Both before and after 3 track, it takes the same time to go from Howard to Chicago Ave regardless whether you are on the Red or the Purple. However, both a better ride since 3 track ended due to the increased frequency of trains.

Since the ending of the three-track operation, my Bryn Mawr to Lake communte is considerably faster. What took me 40-45 minutes is now 35 minutes (including my walking time to the el stop, so probably 30 minutes on the train.) This goes for morning and evening commute. I moved here spring 2007, so I've never known an open Belmont/Fullerton track system- this is so much better!

I have noticed that the red lines are way faster, and not just during rush hour.

But the four track has killed the purple line. I don't know if they just are having a hard time going the other way around the loop or what, but every single purple line train I've been on has been so delayed by the time they made it to howard that it's had to express run to Davis. This morning, TWO PURPLE LINES pulled into howard at the exact same time. That means there was an eight minute delay!!

I think KevinB was saying that from Belmont to Howard, it's about the same time on the Red or Purple lines. Some of this is just that the red line tracks now have many less slow zones. Some of this is just mind boggling.

OK,

Here is my take as a Blue Line rider.

I ride from Logan Square to Washington, and get on the train anywhere between 8:00 and 8:45. The slow zones have all been eliminated from that stretch, so its about a 15 minute ride once I get on the train, which is nice.

While I don't know the cause (more often then not it happens when there is/has been snow), occasionally there will be delays farther up the system, and a train coming in to Logan will run express to Damen. Aside from a few very high profile snafus the past year, its generally pretty predictable.

There are, however, three big problems I see with the Blue Line:

1) The frequency of the trains during the rush hours has not increased to keep up with the increased population along the line. Currently the trains run every 7 minutes, and oftentimes all the seats are taken by the time the trains reach Logan Square, and full to capacity by Damen or Division. The frequency should be increased to 3 to 5 minutes, as is done on the Red Line.

2) The Blue Line trains need all new cars. There is simply no excuse that, on most lines, the four middle cars are of the old variety, which do not easily support O'Hare passengers with luggage.

3) The subway stations downtown need some serious rehab. Division and Chicago look like John Wayne Gacy's basement, and Washington and Monroe aren't much better. Clark/Lake is passable, but Jackson is the ideal to which all stations should reach. I was skeptical at first, but surprisingly, the shoestring fix of Grand is a good stop gap solution that should be immediately implemented for all other stations.

I agree with all of Eric's suggestions regarding the Blue Line. The CTA has seemed completely gobsmacked by the population growth on the near nw side. (For a hellishly overcrowded east-bound commute in the am, try the Chicago Ave. bus)

Although they seem to have resolved their rush-hour delays, after 9 am, the entire Blue Line seems to be a continuous slow zone. For two days in a row, the train crept along as if there were workers on the tracks all the way from Logan to Washington.

My guess is that the blue line will be the first to get the new rail cars that I think are arriving next year. I'm sure those will replace the old cars with the accordion doors first. Probably brown line cattle cars will go next, since they only did those to cars they plan to replace, from what I heard.

I don't expect them to get additional cars anytime soon though, since I believe orders on things like these take longer than buses.

(For a hellishly overcrowded east-bound commute in the am, try the Chicago Ave. bus)

I notice that on the mornings I just don't want to transfer from the Brown to the Red Line at Belmont or Fullerton and just take the Brown down to Chicago Av. There are usually three buses all bunch together by the time they get to the Brown Line station, and it's always the one that's most packed that stops.

Chris:

There are two inbound platforms at Howard. Red line rains are supposed to leave every 3 or 4 minutes during rush and they haven't been leaving on schedule. The purple line trains coming about every 7 minutes during rush hour also use those same platforms to load/unload riders before they switch over to the outside purple line track to go from Howard to Belmont and vice/versa. On top of that the Yellow line trains also let off riders before doing the reverse loop from howard to skokie.

I've seen the same delay northbound coming home when we can't pull into Howard because there are two red line trains awaiting operators to either go to the yard or turn around in preparation for a southbound trip along with the occasional yellow line train.

More and more, I've seen purple lines not getting into the station at their scheduled times (they are on a schedule during their express service to downtown and back) because there are two red line trains just sitting at the platform not going out when they are supposed to or a yellow line train sitting there without an operator blocking one of the only two platforms.

The way that I've come to understand it is that a "ferry operator" brings the red line trains from the yard or from the Northbound side to the platform and then turns it over. More and more there seems to be a "delay" while the real operator gets everything ready for the trip. From my direct observation they seem to be much more worried about interacting with their fellow employees or sitting in the control station at the north end of the platform than actually getting their train out on time. There are exceptions, I can easily identify several "no nonsense" operators who are out on the platform ready to take over as soon as the train pulls in. One of my favorites is a guy who always shakes your hand when he sees you and wishes you a pleasant day as well as a little light banter during the ride.

KevinB

My Brown Line commute has been faster in both directions, although I don't know how much of the change to the evening commute is due to the end of 3-tracking and how much is due to me having a new job with a different schedule. Instead of leaving from Quincy at the beginning of rush hour, I now leave about an hour later.

Still, the trip is shorter. So I'm fine with that.

Kevin, I think you are correct. The intervals of the Red line during rush periods is VERY uneven, especially Southbound in the morning from Howard. Not 2-3 days goes by that either there is a 10 minute gap or 2-3 trains all bunched up stopping and starting all the way downtown because they are bunched up. Ridiculous!!! I've also been stuck on delayed Red line trains starting at Morse due to a logjam of Red lines trying to get into Howard more times than I can count.

I travel from the Brown/Purple line diversey stop and switch to the red at Fullerton to get to school. Since my class times are irregular hours, I often travel during off-peak times, but I have a fair amount of rush hour traveling as well.

My biggest complaint is that despite the ubiquitous signs heralding the end of 3-track, get on the train on a weekday after 9:30 and you would be forgiven for being a little confused. 3 track is still alive and well during non-rush hour times, with the concomitant delays and inconsistency.

That said, during rush hour, both ways, the commute has improved considerably. 20-25 minutes *consistently*, in other words, I can now count on the commute time to be what was before the best case scenario. I like very much.

On the whole, the situation actually leads me to shoot for travel during rush hour. More consistent service. I'm not sure the CTA wants to encourage people to travel during rush hour, but I suppose there aren't many people like me that have a choice.

[3 track is still alive and well during non-rush hour times, with the concomitant delays and inconsistency.]

Well, sure, there's construction and maintenance going on during off-peak hours at any number of places in the system on any given day. Work has to get done sometime.

yea, I understand, but the fact that they have all the signs when really they haven't finished the work is kind of confusing... and frustrating, when you're sitting there waiting for the brown and reds to squeeze through 3 tracks at belmont, and you see signs saying "3 track is complete... smooth service is back." Not true for non-rush travelers.