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CHICAGO | Public Transport

409K views 1K replies 211 participants last post by  pudgym29 
#1 ·
Blue Line- Chicago

Anyone have pictures of Chicago's Blue Line since it was redone?
 
#93 ·
Very nice compilation Chicagoago

If one wants to vist a vast comprehensive site on the web for the L then I suggest this great site. It is very useful especially if you want to know details about each station also with great info on routes and various plans (some fullfilled and some not) by transit planners in Chicago over the course of its history.

http://www.chicago-l.org/
 
#94 ·
I've only ridden 4 metro systems in my life. Those being, the TTC in toronto, the CTA in Chicago, Vancouver's Skytrain, and London's Underground.

Chicago was the only city that I definitely wasn't overly impressed with. The dingyness of the metra rail cars (separate agency, but still a major factor) and just how run down and potentially cheap things were. I've only ridden the red line from Jackson up to Addison (for a Cubs game) but have been on Metra rail 3 times, and it just seemed like I was in the 1960s based on the rail cars. Felt very outdated compared to the GO transit that I ride quite a bit back around Toronto.

And the above-mentioned use of wood wasn't something that I cared for. I guess it just looked incredible cheap, temporary (even though permanent) and almost rickety and un-safe (based on appearance)

Needs some upgrades, the El, while cool, didn't really impress me, mainly due to the pillars blocking the street and dividing lanes up.

That said, I love Chicago as a city. Easily in my top 5 favourite cities that I've visited and checked out. Just the CTA and public transit didn't do much for me.
 
#99 ·
Actually it's a very well off area, but it's a matter of the houses in Chicago are mostly brick with stairs down the back. What people did was put up wooden or vinyl siding around those stairs and make unheated little storage areas around the stairs going down. They're just add-ons that have room to put things and protect the stairs. They look AWFUL from the back, but no one ever sees them anyway, so who cares.

I never noticed it really until a friend from Amsterdam was on the train and said "god, I can't believe all your houses are made out of wood!", to which I told him those are just small porches put on years after the building was completed.

The front of those places look much nicer for the most part.

Here are some typical shots from around that neighborhood from the video:







 
#98 ·
^Have you ever been on any of those systems?

Portland, Denver and Dallas have systems that are when completed will be puny compared to what Chicago already has.

Lets keep in mind that parts of the EL are very old. Older in fact than most European systems and certainly not funded as well either.
 
#102 ·
Lets keep in mind that parts of the EL are very old. Older in fact than most European systems and certainly not funded as well either.
I think that's the main point here. Chicago's system is almost as old as many european systems. Considering that transit here gets only a fraction of the funding as it does in Europe (and barely a nod of the head), the CTA is "not that bad".
 
#105 ·
I made my comment because someone put up some rinkydink LRTs in other cities as an example for Chicago which I thought was asinine.

Same with the age of the system thing, both were uninformed and kind of silly. Generally most people who have never been to Chicago do not realize how ambitious the system was when it opened.
 
#103 · (Edited)
Yeah the funding here drives me insane. I'm fairly amazed the system runs as often and as well as it does for basically being bastardized by anyone involved in any funding.

The system is underfunded by tens of millions every year, and sadly by BILLIONS in needed infrastructure upgrades.

They did an audit to find out why it's always having issues and "where's all the money going???". There were tons of people just thristy for the report so they could yell and scream about how the CTA wastes SO much money, is completely mismanged and completely corrupt.

Well the report came out by the independant auditors comparing the CTA to the other transit systems in the country, stating trends, funding and what can be inproved.

Amazingly, the CTA was at the top as far as the agency that is able to provide the most options and service for each dollar of funding it receives.

Instead of finding out where all the millions are being wasted, it was discovered that compared to other US transit, the CTA was basically running as a skeleton, providing as much service as possible with as few resources as possible.

This is why the system looks so "old school".

The state will finally give in and hand over $20 million in some given year so the agency doesn't collapse, and then people yell and scream their heads off when the CTA needs another "bailout" of $20 the next year. As if they're just throwing it all away or stealing the money. The state needs to compeletely revamp the funding structure to finally FIX the problems instead of just throwing $1 at a problem that needs $100 to correct.

As the newspapers stated it "you're putting bandaids on a gunshot wound"

They did revamp the funding structure last year - but of course our INSANE governor said he'd increase the levels of funding.....and then at the very last second said he also wanted to give free rides for every single person over the age of 65. Well boom, there goes another $35 million a year. It was silent mouths hanging open at his crazy request after 2 years of finally getting things settled..and now the CTA is broke again. Welcome to Chicago.
 
#104 ·
No it is not almost as old, it is older than most european system. (I don't understand why for many people Europe = old, most european system were build after the second half of the 20th century)
Paris metro was opened 8 years after Chicago El train.
 
#107 ·
^What is sad is that there was a coordinated campaign against transit.

Most towns and cities in North America dismantled their streetcars and other infrastructure because of it.

In this regard Chicago was not all that different but at least it held onto some of what it had.

:no:
 
#108 ·
Generally most people who have never been to Chicago do not realize how ambitious the system was when it opened.
Sadly, it's remained for the most part stagnant.

No it is not almost as old, it is older than most european system. (I don't understand why for many people Europe = old, most european system were build after the second half of the 20th century)
Paris metro was opened 8 years after Chicago El train.
I thought Paris' was older than that. Guess not... Ok, is the London Underground and NYC subway the only older systems in the world? Seems hard to believe.
 
#112 ·
Chicago L train is elevated, Budapest is underground.
The first underground section for Chicago was opened in 1951.
So Budapest has an oldest subway than Chicago.

Sadly, it's remained for the most part stagnant.

I thought Paris' was older than that. Guess not... Ok, is the London Underground and NYC subway the only older systems in the world? Seems hard to believe.
Paris metro was opened in 1900.
New York subway date of 1904, 12 years after Chicago L train,
New York had elevated train before Chicago but these aren't in service anymore.
 
#109 ·
^Oddly enough I think Budapest is the second oldest but if not it is certainly up there.
 
#111 ·
^Sounds about right and the point has been made.
 
#113 ·
Chicago L train is elevated, Budapest is underground.
The first underground section for Chicago was opened in 1951.
So Budapest has an oldest subway than Chicago.
I think we are getting confused with what we are talking about. I am talking about heavy rail transit (subway, elevated, or grade). In Chicago and NY the first rail networks happened to be elevated, in Boston they were subways, etc. True enough, Chicago's first subway (State St) opened in 1943, but passenger service on a heavy rail network dates to 1892 (South Side Elevated)
 
#114 ·
^^It's a difficult task to decide when the first urban heavy rail network opened in a city: for example, despite what people usually think, the first urban network in Paris opened in 1862 with the inner ring line (closed in 1937). It did not begin with the opening of the Métro in 1900. There is the same problem in NYC with El vs Subway.
 
#117 ·
But at least it only crept up from 7% to 8%! Hopefully they get things fixed again this summer. They blamed most of the issue on the fact it's hard to do work in the winter when there's a half meter of snow on the ground and it can get down to -25C.
 
#118 ·
I see in the 3rd quarter of 2008 ridership was:

680,000 trips per weekday.

Ridership has actually increased from 120,000,000 trips in the late 90's to 200,000,000 in 2008. That's pretty good growth for such an old system. Around 66%.
 
#120 ·
^^That would be a kick-ass system.

The changes you propose would: allow commuters to take CTA rail around the city without having to transfer in the Loop, and connect CTA rail with Metra rail. Those are the two biggest flaws in Chicago's rail system.
 
#121 · (Edited)
I noticed that there was no thread on Chicago's rapid transit system known as the "L" so I decided to create one.

The Chicago "EL" is the third busiest mass transit system in the US after New York and Washington DC and the second oldest after NYC. It is called the "EL" because most of it is above ground with the exception of the Dearborn Subway (ie Blue Line) and State Street Subway (ie Red Line) which go underneath the Downtown area. It is one of the few systems to operate 24/7 on the Red Line and the Blue Line.
















Also the CTA decorates a train for the holidays.
http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_information/holidaytrain.aspx



 
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