Mother Nature and the CTA Conspire against Commuters

Fully expecting a horrendous commute yesterday, after the CTA cut numerous buses and trains on busy routes, I trekked to my El stop with visions of sardine-can rides from now until, well, until some anonymous donor bails out the CTA (which is a lovely thought but will never happen). Yet, when I arrived on the platform and the first train came, I found, ironically, that I was able to get a seat—something that never happens for me in the morning. I stepped right on and sat right down, like nobody’s business. Okay, this must be a fluke, I thought.

So, today, with snow blustering and accumulating at an alarming rate outside, I thought, “Okay, Em, you got lucky yesterday, but today it’s going to be Stove Top stuffing in there” (I heard someone say that once, and liked the metaphor). As I slipped through the turnstile and headed down the steps to the open doors of an awaiting train, however, I found several open seats again. CTA cuts? Blizzard? You wouldn’t know it from this train.

The only explanation I could figure for this anomaly was that a whole lot of commuters, expecting the worst, arrived 30-60 minutes early as they were told to do on the news. And those of us who didn’t feel like rolling out of bed an extra half hour earlier were reaping the benefits. Of course, I do tend to catch the El a little earlier than most working people anyway, primarily because I like to avoid being crushed up against strangers, and getting my toes stepped on, or dodging gropers, which I have had to do on occasion.

So, the day proceeded and there I was thinking how lucky I am to be getting these great train rides this week, and then, well, I left work at 4:50 p.m. Um, yeah. A slightly different story. There was no "hopping" onto a train at five o'clock. It was pure pushing and shoving onto already packed train cars, in an attempt to escape a platform that was filling up fast. Yes, things are a bit different at rush hour. In a blizzard.

I'm wondering how much Chicagoans will put up with before we all start driving and both traffic and parking become an even greater nightmare than they already are. If we increase vehicular traffic, transportation in Chicago could fall into a vicious, frustrating, and environmentally-unfriendly cycle that, at best, would lead to the reincorporation of the buses and trains that have just been cut, or, at worst, would erode Chicago’s famed public transportation infrastructure. For good or bad, I imagine that we're all going to grin and bear it until it becomes literally unbearable.

But if it's this bad now, imagine what it's going to be like during baseball season. True, people won't be waiting outside in a blizzard to catch one in a handful of buses. But people will be waiting. Lots and lots of people. Now I’m really going to have to plan my entire life around the Cubs, and I don't even like baseball.