CHICAGO CARLESS

(Photo: Since last winter, it’s been a wild ride on a Lake Shore Drive express bus.)

The easiest jollies for eligible Chicagoans can be found on any Lake Shore Drive northbound express bus. If your knees and your bottom can stand it.

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(Photo: Google’s brand is emblazoned on the ‘L’. So why doesn’t the ‘L’, itself, get similar respect from the CTA? Credit: cavanmoon.)

It’s a fair question. New York City has its subway. Boston has its T. Washington D.C. has its Metrorail. London has its Underground. Paris has its metro. In all of those cities, the colloquial name for the rapid-transit system is emblazoned on maps and signs, used in official documents, and pushed forward in press releases as a way to help riders–existing and potential–easily conceive of the rail network.

So why aren’t the most famous elevated trains on the planet–ours here in Chicago–similarly branded?

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(Photo: Gleeful riders aboard seatless Japanese metro train. Similar glee coming soon, to a CTA ‘L’ car near you? Credit: Mil.)

“The cattle car is being reintroduced on CTA trains…”

That’s how Jon Hilkevitch described the CTA’s plan to run seatless ‘L’ cars on some rush hour trains in Thursday’s Chicago Tribune. I wholeheartedly agree.

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(Photo: This is what a 15-minute walk to the ‘L’ feels like to me. Credit: Ross Bon.)

The problem with ADHD is you can never make your mind up. Right or left? Chocolate or vanilla? Go or stay?

It’s a symptom that has been driving me–and by extension, Chris–crazy for the past few weeks. He’ll need a new roommate come September 1st (and, boy, the reason why is a story and a half, but I digress). Back when we were boyfriends, I was adamant that roommate be me. Then we broke up and I wasn’t so much anymore.

Then I looked at my finances and his in-unit washer/dryer and wheedled my way back into potential roommate-dom again. Those of you doing the math are already wondering why Chris and I would be crazy enough to be roommates after we just broke up.

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(Photo: Just how independent do you really feel every time you reach into your wallet these days to pay for owning an automobile?)

The front-page story in today’s Sun-Times chronicles a northwest side paralegal, Melissa Monroy, who has decided to dump her car to get to work. The way she is quoted in the article, you would think not having a car in Chicago–the city with the second largest train, bus, and commuter rail system in America (uneven CTA service notwithstanding)–is a death sentence.

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(Photo: Would this face of celebrity ride the bus?)

The following is a Chicagoans Project guest post from local Chicago blogger Jasmine Davila. For the genesis of this project, please see here. To tell your story, email me at mike (at) chicagocarless (dot) com.

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(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 in the Loop for almost seven hours.”

Oddly enough, I was wondering what would happen to ‘L’ service in the Loop if a problem forced the closure of the entire circle of elevated tracks. I was wondering that this weekend, thanks to the CTA’s bone-headed decision to eliminate ‘L’ service in the State Street subway and along the Lake Street and Wabash Avenue legs of the Loop

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