CTA Personnel on Downtown Diversions: “We Have No Idea”
(Photo: And the sucking sound turns out to be immediate…)
No sooner do I complain about the CTA’s vert short-sighted decision to shunt all almost all Loop bound ‘L’ service to a single pair of tracks for most evenings and weekends throughout 2008 when already I encounter alleged CTA customer service attendants who have no clue how to help people navigate the changes.
I just got back from a late dinner in the Loop with a neighbor. Walking by the now-closed CTA State/Lake ‘L’ station, we overheard a confused rider asking two transit workers who were positioned at the bottom of the stairs with maps how to get to the Pink Line to get home. I felt certain he wasn’t the only person who would be asking about how to get home: the Dolly Parton concert at the Chicago Theater and Wicked at the Oriental had just gotten out, too, and many people were milling about.
The CTA folks were unable to tell him anything except he had to make his way to Ashland/Lake where Pink Line service is turning back all weekend. How exactly he was supposed to travel the two miles between State and Ashland with no ‘L’ service in the east Loop?
They told him they had no idea.
I stepped in and told the distressed rider he had to make his way on a local bus to Washington/Wells to take a Green Line train to Ashland to transfer to the Pink Line.
The CTA workers thanked me for doing their job.
I hope someone from the CTA reads this. I really do. Pathetic job, folks. Totally and completely pathetic.
Other posts you might like from Chicago Carless:
Sometimes I feel a bit guilty about the bad props I give the Chicago Transit Authority. Trouble is, as experience shows, time and again when you give the CTA enough rope, they just seem to hang themselves. Like they just did again, by installing 3,000 on-board system maps--without proofreading them first. 'Bemont' Avenue, a...
A visit from an NYC friend yesterday reminded me how much I prefer the Chicago 'L'--and Chicago, in general--over New York and its (apparently) increasingly dangerous subway. Click above to view my premiere video blog and I'll tell you my reasons why.
Today, at long last, comes the day Chicagoans have dreaded in one guise or another since the bad old era of the Blagojevich regime: CTA 'Doomsday'. You might be surprised to learn I welcome it with open arms. Here's why.
No CTA Backup Plan Leads to Loss of Loop ‘L’ Service
(Photo: And the sucking sound gets louder before a single weekend has passed…) Just in from the Chicago Tribune: “A cable fire near some Loop elevated tracks late Saturday forced the CTA to shut down all elevated train service…