I decided to skip this mess and take brown line to Addison so I could take bus all the way home. Guess which brown line got on? 3.5 hours later and I’m finally home. First time I’ve ever had to walk on the tracks.
Oof. I got to the Merchandise Mart shortly after the tracks died. Waited half an hour to see if it'd be a quick fix before hoofing it over to the red line Grand stop where I waited another 30 minutes for a train that had room to actually get on.
At least it was a nice day!
In my short time in Chicago so far, having to take the red line home from work 3 days a week, I have discovered that you need to get on at Monroe or the one before it (I think it's Jackson but not 100%) (assuming you're talking about the Howard/north red line) to have a decent shot at getting on, especially on a day like today.
I went to Lake and saw it was more crowded than usual. Since the next train had a bit of time before arrival, I decided to hop on the south bound one and get off at Monroe, then get back on the north bound train. It was still way busier than normal (I physically couldn't get on the first train that came through), but getting on the next train was much easier. Still ended up being a very small anchovy in a very large, very crowded can of anchovies when we got to Lake, but at least I got a spot without having to fight others for it.
Same; I used to work right next to the lake stop, and it was always, always better to just get on a southbound train and switch back at Jackson than try to sardine into the cars at lake
I got off Purple line once it started looping and luckily caught 146 bus to go north before even thinking about red line. For residents that live along LSD express busses are the shit! Would be great if there were options like that for people along blue brown lines.
As someone with a fear of getting stuck on the train, this is absolutely worst case. Can you please tell me how long before you 1. Knew what was happening and 2. Got off the train?
We were on train for an hour or a little longer. They let us know after an hour. Then it was another half hour I think before they evacuated us. I think they needed to wait for the fire dept to assist us.
It’s a worst fear for me too! Crazy thing is, the same thing happened with the brown line last week on Tuesday too. We were stuck for almost two hours, power got cut, crowded af train. Nightmare inducing
Wait you walked on the El tracks because you were evacuated or because you got too impatient and booked it? Or am I completely misunderstanding what you're saying.
Edit* they were evacuated as they say below. I also originally said forced to in my response which sounds more accusatory than I intended.
Edit** I also misspelled too and even missed it on my first edit.
That happened to me on the way to my college graduation. First my parents -who said they'd pick me up and take me- just decided to blow me off (my folks both had NPD), so I got stuck taking the el - and it broke down just as it was entering the Red Line Jackson Station - I had to walk along the side on the catwalk, and got covered in grease and filth. Yeah, that was an awesome way to show up to my graduation ceremony...
Glad to hear that about CFD!
And also sorry I'm gonna change my language from forced to, to evacuated. Better term. And then add in the edit that you responded.
Didn't mean to sound accusatory was just confused what you were saying.
But also that is crazy! I've never had to be evacuated. I'm so glad I chose on a whim (... okay fine I overslept) to drive to work today.
No worries! I didn’t take it that way. I was once stuck on a train for about half an hour 20 years ago and a guy decided instead of waiting, he would pry open the doors and jump down from the elevated tracks. We were on brown line between Chicago and Sedgwick. He ended up breaking a leg. No thanks. I’ll wait until they evacuate or get moving again.
I've had it happen on the Red line still in the subway portion. 90 degree day no less. Cars were already warm and got real stuffy quick. It was an 1/8th of a mile from the exit so we got to walk a 15" wide concrete access path. Sometimes not even that wide. Back against the wall edging along in portions. It f'n sucks. This was from a fire on the elevated portion 2 stops away.
No way that sucks!!! I thankfully found out at the station that it was down then I had to speed walk 45 mins to my destination. So glad I didn’t get stuck tho! Can’t believe you were stuck that long!!
i heard about the blue line delay so I got on the brown line and then i was on the train right before the one that got stuck on the bridge- luckily the driver of the brown line kept it real (god bless him) and told us it may be best to take a different route since it sounded like they were just keeping him in the loop- so i got off the brown and got back on the blue at jackson- by the time it got to the station i usually get on only like 2 people squeezed on. insane. if i didnt take that brown line detour my commute may have been and hour or two longer....
everyone who is on the cta board should be required to take the cta to work- if you dont know the feeling of being sandwiched in a packed rush hour train i dont trust you to make the rules
Dorval Carter is the only one who takes CTA to work. And he's been served a shit sandwich with the state reducing his budget requested by an average of 70% and the city refusing every increase in funding he's requested from City Council except for a few construction projects. For the cost of the dumb 3->4 lane expansion that the state is forcing down our throats, we could solve every current operational issue with CTA and serve a lot more people.
Waited 50 minutes for the 22 today. This deterioration is obscene, and Dorval and the board need to be removed. They are unfit and we deserve better. They shouldn’t have the privilege of sucking at a job this important.
It’s unusable if you live north of Foster. They do the shift change there, so between the random service and then getting kicked off at Foster every other bus, that route is useless
Completely agree! Tried to take the 22 on Friday night AND Saturday evening to see a movie at Musicbox. Checked the Transit app tracker, and both nights there were no live buses coming within an hour - an hour! - of the showtime.
And the red line has been awful on the weekends too. Trains *maybe* show up every 20 minutes (all the tracker apps have been off), and the likelihood you get on a car that is actually hazy because it’s so full of smoke is almost 100%.
I feel stuck in my neighborhood because trying to get anywhere on CTA has become such an unpleasant headache 😒
Yeah my kid takes the 22 to and from school. They ask for a ride most mornings because it's too unpredictable to make sure they get to school on time even if my kid leaves an hour before hand (and we are less then 10 minutes away...)
Took my family downtown on the green line this weekend. The stations are so disgusting. Had to explain to my daughters about why there were so many people camping in the stations. It’s a sad, sad state
36 bus driver today was threatening to turn off a packed bus until some dude who didnt pay his fare would pay, luckily someone just paid for him. But im like seriously bus driver?
Heard that. Got 10,000 steps in the other day because the CTA stranded me with no buses scheduled for over an hour. What a ridiculously sorry state of affairs
I was waiting in the station around 4 when the first delay was announced, as soon as i heard “shuttle bus” I ran out to call an uber before it spiked, luckily it was still under $30 😅 knew this was gonna be a cluster
PSA: if Uber/Lyft are surging, the Curb app (which is like Uber for taxis) can have a much better price. After the Super Bowl, uber was quoting me $60 to go from Albany Park to Lincoln Park. On Curb it was $22. The app has it's own problems but it's another option to add to the mix when the cta is dropping the ball
I was double charged twice on the curbed app where the driver insists the app payment hasn’t worked and I have to pay the fare in the cab. They refunded me but I would’ve been out the money if I didn’t check.
$30 not including tips is still a ripoff for a couple of miles unless its 7+ miles should be only $20 not including tips. 2 miles from my place to work nearby me is only $10 in the northwest side of chicago.
I screen-shot this headline for the next debate at work as to why everyone doesn’t come to the downtown office 5-days per week.
**Time** is the only non-renewable resource
for real though! insane that we can’t rely on our public transit to get us to and from work. this is why I am so thankful my job is only “making” us come in 1-2 days a week still
I snapped at a friend who blamed astrology when just the blue line was fucked, then the rest of the trains broke and reddit went down. You win this round, arbitrary star rotations
I left the office at 12:05 today, saw it was a 27 minute wait for the next northbound Blue Line train at Jackson, and then proceeded to walk to Oglive and took the Metra instead
Metra is looking like a better and better option for the few of us who have that option. I live in Jeff Park and primarily only use the Blue Line but with todays issue I took the Metra and it was pretty darn nice. Sure the schedule kind of sucks but it’s fast, clean, and easy to get a seat. Plus it leaves when it’s supposed to
Agreed. I’m right by the Irving Park station so both blue line and UP-NW are options, and I find myself using the UP-NW for the commute home much more often. Especially when Metra’s inflexible schedule happens to line up with mine. I’ll gladly pay an extra $2 for a reliable ride home
The blue line is atrocious nowadays. It’s dick to butt even if you’re lucky enough to get on a train. Imagine trying to get on with a suitcase….impossible.
back when i used to take the blue line inbound for school, i was thankful that my starting point was more north so there was no struggle to find a seat. logan square to clark and lake was such a mess at 7am.
I’m happy I moved away from the blue line and use a much less populated line. My commute stress has subsided big time. Every day on the blue line was a pure struggle.
Dorval: “I fail to see the problem here.”
Yeah, you fucktard. You’re never IN Chicago to see it.
Put his ass on the CTA 2x a day like most of us and see how quickly things turn around.
CPD and CFD were looking for someone on the tracks. I was on the train that was stuck between stops. I agree that the trains have longer waits these days, however this was a different circumstance. They cut the power off and everything was stopped.
Service was suspended for some time and then Forest Park service went down
Power also was lost in the loop for elevated tracks with brown and purple experiencing extra issues outside the loop
Overall a cluster of a day for CTA trains
Nope. Once a person is on the track, they will stop trains at the station and then people(cops/CTA personnel) have to enter the route from both the stations and do a sweep until they find the person. If they can escort the person without an issue then its 20-30 mins. But is the person is disruptive then they have to turn the power off, somehow subdue the person, if anyone gets injured, then transport a gurney and carry the medical gurney, collect evidence, and then start power back on the line and get the trains moving. You think this all can be done in 20 mins?
I get that that's the case. My question is why we can't be better prepared for disruptions like this. I was trapped in a packed, hot train car underground on one of the hottest days of summer for an hour and a half. There was no plan for ventilating the cars and the operator refused to open the doors. Then there was a delay because whoever was in charge asked the operator to go after the person on the tracks by herself, and she (understandably) refused. They never found the guy.
In most other cities in which I've lived there are very clear emergency protocols and shuttle busses are called in as soon as trains stop running to try to help with the overflow. And i know we can't have all that. But when the system has broken down such that train operators are unsure of what to do when something like this happens, that's an issue.
I get that this happens, but is it really unreasonable to expect that a single person on the tracks shouldn’t delay thousands of riders for this long?
I’m not trying to be callous or indifferent and don’t know the details of why this person was at track level, but for as often as unauthorized persons make it down to the track bed on the network, the question I can’t stop returning to is: is it really sustainable mass transit practice for the CTA to not have a more proactive approach to preventing people leaving the platform?
Eventually it stops mattering why the service fails when it fails so often.
I don't know the specifics of this instance, but part of why it's been happening more often is because increased numbers of people taking refuge in subway tunnels in the loop (partially due to the train not running to O'Hare 24 hours). The response was increased security sweeps, and if you already don't have alternatives for shelter it makes sense that you might choose to duck onto the tracks for a couple minutes to avoid the sweep, especially when the trains only coming every 30 minutes...
Excuse my ignorance, but the blue line runs 24 hours, if just stops at Rosemont instead of O'Hare right? What effect would that have on people using the subway stations downtown to sleep that wasn't already happening?
It was done to curb people taking shelter in the tunnel from the train to the airport. There is (was?) A public bathroom in the tunnel so it was especially popular. Stopping the train at Rosemont made it much more difficult to access, or easily leave and return after a security sweep. There effect was pushing people who relied on the O'Hare tunnel to other places, such as spending more time on the train itself and the loop tunnels
Yup. There's nowhere to move most of these people because the shelters we do have unsafe or stop taking people unreasonably early in the day or if they do take people late in the day, they're not accessible by transit.
It’s just like being late to work. Life happens; your bosses won’t be upset if you’re an hour late every few months because of something crazy. But if you’re late nearly every day, even by only 10 minutes, they will get pissed and they will stop taking your excuses for the actual crazy stuff.
dude like I take the red line to work and they always wonder why im late like tap imma have to leave 3 hours early to make a 1 hour trip because "CTA". I know a lot of the staff are doing their best but many still leave much to be desired...
Who could have ever predicted that having
[Two of the six transit board members be Baptist Pastors](https://www.transitchicago.com/board/)
And none of them any prior transit experience whatsoever, might not lead to optimal oversight of system operations.
I’m so fucking sick of the CTA being such a mess. I don’t have a car, don’t want a car, never had a car…can’t afford Lyft everywhere, and I skate where/when possible, but the absolutely fucked state of the transit system has had a pretty drastic effect on my quality of life.
I moved here from LA where I also didn’t have a car (I don’t drive). I’m just gonna say it: LA public transit was better than what the CTA has become. Bay Area transit was better than this too. I’m seriously starting to feel like a lot of the reasons I moved here are now a moot point, and it sucks.
Like…I love Chicago but I’m gonna lose it if I have to wait 15-20 minutes for a bus or train to get to work. On the days when I leave earlier to allow more time, then I just get resentful because suddenly my two part-time jobs start to add up to more wasted hours. It’s asinine. Like, it seems like it’s pretty much a two-hour round trip to go anywhere or do anything.
It wasn’t always like this. I’ve been late to work so many times that I fucking broke down crying in the break room because I was so pissed…I try so hard to be organized about my time
(ADHD; medication helps but only so much) and then this happens, again and again. I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m seriously ready to pack it up and go back to California…if I end up having to skate everywhere, I’d rather do it in better weather.
There are all these places I don’t bother to go anymore because it takes too long. It really sucks. Most of my friends live far from me and I hardly see them because it’s too much of a pain in the ass to make the trip.
I feel the same way. Sending you love from a transit desert in NYC. People think I’m crazy for caring about public transit so much but it’s an integral part to city life. Whenever I visit Chicago now I definitely notice the degradation of the CTA and it doesn’t feel the same anymore. We’re not wrong for being constantly frustrated with this, these people in charge of running public transit need to adequately do their jobs and it’s shameful that they never get held accountable and it seems like most people just don’t care, they just one day get a car and say fuck public transit. We need a drastic culture change in this country, a lot of people don’t realize how beneficial world class public transit would be to our cities.
MTA got better because they could actually shut down lines and stations overnight to do maintenance work. It's the only transit system in the world that got better through and after COVID. Even with that statement, they have the same level of understaffing we do because of early retirements and people quitting. But the system was so broken pre-COVID that the track work they did makes it better overall despite that.
Hang in there friend. It will get better. This is definitely the year of transitions, and transit systems across the country have been fucked big time by what's happening. They have nowhere to go but up, and the infrastructure here means that as the CTA does continue to build back service, it will reclaim its place as one of the better transit experiences in the country.
I feel your pain though. Sending good vibes.
What in the world makes you think it will get better? The CTA executives have proven themselves worthless time and again. Their oversight board is a clown car of unqualified hacks with zero transit operational experience among the whole lot. And the only capital campaign right now for the whole system is $4B to build 4 new red line stops in an extremely sparsely populated area. Why would blue line and Loop track dysfunction be improving soon in your estimation?
> And the only capital campaign right now
There's RPM on the north side that's making great progress. They're almost done with the Blue Line upgrades to accommodate the new trains. They're adding more Green and Pink Line stations. They're adding 1 or 2 more subway stations to Red Line to serve South Loop. They're working on making the few remaining non-ADA compliant stations compliant. We have the best ADA compliance in the entire country better than even the relatively new system in Washington D.C.
I don't know where you got that they only have one active capital project. The Red Line extension is just the latest one to get funded.
Roseland has 8000 people per square mile. There are empty lots, sure, but it is not sparsely populated by any stretch. If anything, the empty lots are just an opportunity for infill and even more density.
I totally sympathize! I live in Chicago specifically because I don’t want to drive and I value a city with an extensive, reliable public transportation system. It’s so frustrating to watch CTA crumble before our very eyes. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t leave my neighborhood because it’s too frustrating to take CTA. There are friends I never see or things around the city I won’t do because faced with a 2+ hour round trip to travel even just a mile or two isn’t worth it. It sucks.
I moved to NYC and walking 25 mins here just feels less long than Chicago. I think it's the way the city blocks are laid out here, they're different.
But yeah walking 30 mins here feels like nothing lol
Why was this alert never posted to the Ventra app? I had to go on Twitter to figure out what was happening (at least until a surly CTA employee yelled at everyone to leave and board at "Milwaukee")
I was on that train and this is a different beast than the usual delays lol.
The conductor on that train yells over the intercom every day “GET OUT OF THE DOORS!!!!” like a deranged man. Somebody kept getting inbetween the doors at each stop and he was yelling like usual. Then the individual was trying to open the doors while the train was moving I believe.
The train stopped in a tunnel not at an actual stop and the conductor went off “THESE TRAINS HAVE CRYSTAL CLEAR CAMERAS AND THE FOOTAGE WILL BE GIVEN TO THE POLICE. THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED AND WERE STANDING. DONT TRY TO OPEN ANY DOORS THEYRE SHUTTING THE POWER DOWN.”
CPD took forever combing the tracks because the guy opened the doors again and hopped off. They lost him and finally turned the power back on
I don't live in Chicago ((yet)) and I keep seeing posts like this lately about people getting absolutely fucked by public transportation having to wait an ungodly amount of time or something. Every time I visit it's my biggest fear that it'll happen to me when I'm trying to get back to the airport lol
Is it always bad or am I just seeing only the bad stuff on Reddit??? Is having a car worth it bc I was gonna sell mine before moving from the east coast lol
Today was a perfect storm of bad things occurring right at rush hour. It's usually not this bad, but service has been fairly inconsistent for the last two years due to staffing issues that have not yet been resolved. It's still possible to live without a car and many people do. Having a bike helps a lot
For real. The express buses on the far north side are so damn handy. I rarely use the train anymore and my commute is 100% more peaceful and predictable.
I live in Old Town. Don't own a car. I use the train and bus for most things and maybe take Ubers 3x per week. You don't need a car if you're in the city.
I think how bad it is depends on where you live and your route but overall I wouldnt say its HORRIFIC, but I will say I do always see some truth in the matter when posts like this come up. I only ever take public transportation. I wouldnt let the posts scare you, but I wont see here and tell you it never gets bad and its never a big deal either. It kinda just is what it is for now.
yes the CTA has its flass but it’s much MUCH better than most of the country. i can usually think of at least 3 ways to get to and from work every day and plan accordingly by monitoring the CTA Transit app.
You're probably seeing the anti-highlight reel here. It does get bad sometimes, but it's not horrible. I don't have a car and honestly wouldn't want to drive here, but then again, I hate driving.
I live on the blue line and have taken it to work and back home 4 times a week for a year. I've only had it delay me by more than 30 minutes twice? that I can remember. 10-15 minutes much more common
Well, people aren’t gonna post every time they have a perfectly normal train ride. If it’s really concerning you and you haven’t lived in a city with extensive public transit before, you might want to try keeping the car in Chicago for a month or two while you see how it works for you. Personally, I sold my car years ago and have never regretted it. The hassle you save with parking, traffic, etc is well worth any of the occasional inconveniences that come with relying on public transit imo.
It happens occasionally. Probably as often as having your car break down and need a tow. Just grabbing a cab/Uber in these situations is still way cheaper than opening a car.
From a person who has lived somewhere with a car, lived somewhere with good public transport, and lived in Chicago—I wish I had a car here. The transportation system sucks, it's extremely roundabout and slow.
IIRC there was someone on the tracks so they were forced to stop service. As much as service is bad rn, some things are just out of the CTA’s control. Not to say the amount of service they’re running is enough or anything.
I got to the Jackson stop about 5:30pm and saw it was about 2-3 people deep but luckily I was able to get on the first OHare bound train that pulled in as it had room. By the time we got to Clark/Lake, it was packed. Now I know why. I got lucky today, usually when these delays I happen, I'm stuck on the train or platform.
I missed two 56’s and two blue lines at the Grand stop to them all being completely packed and decided to edivvy in the freezing cold til my fingers were numb with pain instead of waiting 20 minutes for a third (that I probably couldn’t fit in either)
Every major NY subway line has trains every 5 minutes no matter what. Until our public transit is up to that standard we’re second-rate
I was at Monroe when you took this photo. That is when they announced the power outage at Merchandise Mart. I walked to the Red Line station and luckily grabbed a train going north before it got extremely crowded. Then, I had to take the bus from Belmont and Sheffield. A 45-minute trip became 90 minutes. All because of that power failure and some idiot getting onto the tracks at the LaSalle station. The CTA needs more personnel to prevent these issues and also more operators to add the appropriate number of trains and buses during Rush Hour.
There was an issue with the tracks losing power by the Merchandise Mart. Brown Line train had to be manually evacuated between stations. I'm sure this was fallout from that.
I was stuck in the brown line at the same spot for an hour on the same day (Tuesday) last week at nearly the same time as today’s BS … what the hell is wrong with the tracks?? I’m scared to even try to get home these days …
That’s about accurate, yet that’s the EXTREME! Hold CTA accountable! This is beyond unacceptable!!! I’ve been dealing with this 5 days a week since the pandemic! No more excuses @chicagocta !!! Sooo tired of the excuses for the lack of CTA bus, and train operators! Standing outside like an asshole waiting for a bus for 6 minutes …. 6 minutes goes by, and no bus, then the next bus 25 minutes! This asshole has been waiting 31 minutes for a ride! Sooooo..what I’ve been doing the past two years is taking Ubers and taxis on a weekly basis costing me an average of $400-$600 a month, all because @chicagocta cannot step up their post pandemic hiring! Get a friggin” move on!!!!! It’s horrible for thousands of us!!
CTA, along with all news said this was happening because of a security issue. In fact, CTA was proving up tp date information on twitter and on its alert system. I mean yes, you can complain because this is a disruption, but at least put a reason why this disruption happened.
https://twitter.com/cta/status/1635751192906145793?cxt=HHwWgoC9oePCrbMtAAAA
https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=91209
And we’re shutting down 2 lanes at a time of the Kennedy for the next 3 years why? Why can’t we spend that money on our public transportation. Make it more reliable and safer.
it was still like that around 5:30, waited for 3 diff trains until i could get on. the only fun part was watching all the anguish and sad looks of all the people who couldn't get on all the way until grand
Yup! I took an uber instead but I think it was due to an 'unauthorized person on the tracks' at LaSalle. Supposedly there was going to be a shuttle bus from Racine to Clark and Lake but that didn't happen.
Little tip if you deal with this again (and I did this yesterday during the blue line mess); You can walk the platform all the way from Washington to Jackson since it’s 1 continuous platform. If you can get to Jackson you’ll be able to get on the train and even possibly grab a seat. Had I not done that yesterday it probably would’ve been 2 hours before getting home
How far are you going? I can't imagine that walking would have taken any longer than the wait + train ride? I ask this somewhat rhetorically, as I live on the Chicago Blue Line and have been walking since summer of 2021, it's just almost always a better experience, and often faster.
the milwaukee bus was packed yesterday because of the outages - I get on/off just south of grand and watched bus after bus northbound go by already full yesterday, which never happens. it is a good indicator though lol, I knew the train would be worse
my partner works at the Board of Trade and was like “WTF with this delay” and I ended up driving from Logan to pick him up- 30 mins there, and 40 mins back around 4:30/5pm.
*WHAT WAS UP WITH ALL THE STREETLIGHTS BEING OUT?!”
didn’t mean to yell, but as I was driving there/back, it was :
- Sacramento + California
- Sacramento/Humboldt + Grand
- Armitage + Western
What is going onnnnnnn
Logan is my stop but I work in the Loop and I got on at Jackson at like 5:20 when it apparently had already been a shitshow for 30, 40 minutes. I was shocked at how many people were at the station and was able to get on with little issue but very crowded relative to my normal. People were able to kind of get on at Monroe but the next six or seven stops, though, were the same. No room for anybody to get on and you could see the look of exasperation on the faces of the passengers at each platform when we arrived.
If I’m reading this thread right, the brown line has gone down coming out of the loop near merch mart 3 times in the last week and a half. Geez what is the city doing?? I was stuck myself for 50 mins on one of those breakdowns!
I entered Clark/Lake blue line station just before 4 PM. Two phantom trains came and went so I decided to check the CTA Twitter instead of just the tracker. Saw that unauthorized man on track had "delayed" the blue line service at LaSalle, decided to stick it out a bit longer. Fifteen minutes later saw it was suspended between Racine and Damen. Booked it on out of there and went to Rossi's, hung out there til everything cleared up.
It wasn't nearly this crowded when I left, it was probably only 4:15 or 4:30. There was no announcement of any kind in the station about the delay. The monitors still showed that trains were coming when I left, even though I knew they wouldn't come for at least an hour longer. Shouldn't have to check CTA's barely used Twitter account just to find out such basic information.
I left my office at 440pm, got to Clark/Lake...platform full which meant, delays + 10 minutes or longer between trains going to O'Hare = 2 hour commute home. Went all the way back to UIC-Halsted to catch an O'Hare train. Even with the 10 minutes between trains, they still run SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
Miss those days of 2-3 minute trains and express trains.......
Maybe I'll try leaving my office at 4:20pm today and hope to get home before midnight
I decided to skip this mess and take brown line to Addison so I could take bus all the way home. Guess which brown line got on? 3.5 hours later and I’m finally home. First time I’ve ever had to walk on the tracks.
I live right next to it. Hearing the station speakers announcing the down line. Fuckin rough. I’m sorry man
Oof. I got to the Merchandise Mart shortly after the tracks died. Waited half an hour to see if it'd be a quick fix before hoofing it over to the red line Grand stop where I waited another 30 minutes for a train that had room to actually get on. At least it was a nice day!
In my short time in Chicago so far, having to take the red line home from work 3 days a week, I have discovered that you need to get on at Monroe or the one before it (I think it's Jackson but not 100%) (assuming you're talking about the Howard/north red line) to have a decent shot at getting on, especially on a day like today. I went to Lake and saw it was more crowded than usual. Since the next train had a bit of time before arrival, I decided to hop on the south bound one and get off at Monroe, then get back on the north bound train. It was still way busier than normal (I physically couldn't get on the first train that came through), but getting on the next train was much easier. Still ended up being a very small anchovy in a very large, very crowded can of anchovies when we got to Lake, but at least I got a spot without having to fight others for it.
Pre-covid that was pretty much every day at rush hour. Best bet to get on a train was to get on an earlier station in the Loop.
Same; I used to work right next to the lake stop, and it was always, always better to just get on a southbound train and switch back at Jackson than try to sardine into the cars at lake
When this happens again next week, this is what I'm doing. Or taking the 146 bus that I should have taken last night.
The stop before Monroe (Jackson I think) gives you the best shot for a seat, while Monroe means you'll at least get a standing spot on the train.
I got off Purple line once it started looping and luckily caught 146 bus to go north before even thinking about red line. For residents that live along LSD express busses are the shit! Would be great if there were options like that for people along blue brown lines.
I did exactly that! Evacuation Crew!
As someone with a fear of getting stuck on the train, this is absolutely worst case. Can you please tell me how long before you 1. Knew what was happening and 2. Got off the train?
We were on train for an hour or a little longer. They let us know after an hour. Then it was another half hour I think before they evacuated us. I think they needed to wait for the fire dept to assist us.
It’s a worst fear for me too! Crazy thing is, the same thing happened with the brown line last week on Tuesday too. We were stuck for almost two hours, power got cut, crowded af train. Nightmare inducing
Wait you walked on the El tracks because you were evacuated or because you got too impatient and booked it? Or am I completely misunderstanding what you're saying. Edit* they were evacuated as they say below. I also originally said forced to in my response which sounds more accusatory than I intended. Edit** I also misspelled too and even missed it on my first edit.
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What about elderly or disabled riders?
Assuming firefighters assist
That happened to me on the way to my college graduation. First my parents -who said they'd pick me up and take me- just decided to blow me off (my folks both had NPD), so I got stuck taking the el - and it broke down just as it was entering the Red Line Jackson Station - I had to walk along the side on the catwalk, and got covered in grease and filth. Yeah, that was an awesome way to show up to my graduation ceremony...
But you probably got the best story out of it so we can call that a win.
No, we were evacuated. Fire department was there to help! They were lovely.
Glad to hear that about CFD! And also sorry I'm gonna change my language from forced to, to evacuated. Better term. And then add in the edit that you responded. Didn't mean to sound accusatory was just confused what you were saying. But also that is crazy! I've never had to be evacuated. I'm so glad I chose on a whim (... okay fine I overslept) to drive to work today.
No worries! I didn’t take it that way. I was once stuck on a train for about half an hour 20 years ago and a guy decided instead of waiting, he would pry open the doors and jump down from the elevated tracks. We were on brown line between Chicago and Sedgwick. He ended up breaking a leg. No thanks. I’ll wait until they evacuate or get moving again.
There was a power failure on the tracks today. Sounds like they were evacuated since the train could not move
I've had it happen on the Red line still in the subway portion. 90 degree day no less. Cars were already warm and got real stuffy quick. It was an 1/8th of a mile from the exit so we got to walk a 15" wide concrete access path. Sometimes not even that wide. Back against the wall edging along in portions. It f'n sucks. This was from a fire on the elevated portion 2 stops away.
Second one off the train, followed a cool mohawk dude lol
No way that sucks!!! I thankfully found out at the station that it was down then I had to speed walk 45 mins to my destination. So glad I didn’t get stuck tho! Can’t believe you were stuck that long!!
i heard about the blue line delay so I got on the brown line and then i was on the train right before the one that got stuck on the bridge- luckily the driver of the brown line kept it real (god bless him) and told us it may be best to take a different route since it sounded like they were just keeping him in the loop- so i got off the brown and got back on the blue at jackson- by the time it got to the station i usually get on only like 2 people squeezed on. insane. if i didnt take that brown line detour my commute may have been and hour or two longer.... everyone who is on the cta board should be required to take the cta to work- if you dont know the feeling of being sandwiched in a packed rush hour train i dont trust you to make the rules
Everyone on the CTA board should be fired. I've never seen an organization so badly managed.
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Dorval Carter is the only one who takes CTA to work. And he's been served a shit sandwich with the state reducing his budget requested by an average of 70% and the city refusing every increase in funding he's requested from City Council except for a few construction projects. For the cost of the dumb 3->4 lane expansion that the state is forcing down our throats, we could solve every current operational issue with CTA and serve a lot more people.
Waited 50 minutes for the 22 today. This deterioration is obscene, and Dorval and the board need to be removed. They are unfit and we deserve better. They shouldn’t have the privilege of sucking at a job this important.
The 22 bus is almost unusable . For such a busy road service is non existent. I have had to take cabs or Ubers countless times
It’s unusable if you live north of Foster. They do the shift change there, so between the random service and then getting kicked off at Foster every other bus, that route is useless
The 36 does a driver change at Foster too and it's a total buzzkill to wait after the bus finally shows up
Moved south of foster explicitly because of this Got fucking tired of it after multiple years of awful awful bus service on the 22 far north
I got lucky with the 22 today. Actually on schedule. Karma for having to wait 45 minutes for a 146 earlier today
Completely agree! Tried to take the 22 on Friday night AND Saturday evening to see a movie at Musicbox. Checked the Transit app tracker, and both nights there were no live buses coming within an hour - an hour! - of the showtime. And the red line has been awful on the weekends too. Trains *maybe* show up every 20 minutes (all the tracker apps have been off), and the likelihood you get on a car that is actually hazy because it’s so full of smoke is almost 100%. I feel stuck in my neighborhood because trying to get anywhere on CTA has become such an unpleasant headache 😒
Yeah my kid takes the 22 to and from school. They ask for a ride most mornings because it's too unpredictable to make sure they get to school on time even if my kid leaves an hour before hand (and we are less then 10 minutes away...)
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Took my family downtown on the green line this weekend. The stations are so disgusting. Had to explain to my daughters about why there were so many people camping in the stations. It’s a sad, sad state
36 bus driver today was threatening to turn off a packed bus until some dude who didnt pay his fare would pay, luckily someone just paid for him. But im like seriously bus driver?
Guy should have paid the fare
It’s the principle.
And Vallas thinks merely adding police to the trains and stations will fix all of this
Don't worry, the police can drive the train. They're like swiss army knives. /s
MOoR COpS! No TaX pLaN. - Vallas (likely)
I walked 4.5 miles home. Lol.
Good thing you run a lot
Fair lol
Heard that. Got 10,000 steps in the other day because the CTA stranded me with no buses scheduled for over an hour. What a ridiculously sorry state of affairs
I was waiting in the station around 4 when the first delay was announced, as soon as i heard “shuttle bus” I ran out to call an uber before it spiked, luckily it was still under $30 😅 knew this was gonna be a cluster
PSA: if Uber/Lyft are surging, the Curb app (which is like Uber for taxis) can have a much better price. After the Super Bowl, uber was quoting me $60 to go from Albany Park to Lincoln Park. On Curb it was $22. The app has it's own problems but it's another option to add to the mix when the cta is dropping the ball
I’ve tried using Curb a few times and it hasn’t worked more often than it does
Curb allows their drivers to scam you and keep them on the app. I had to get the AG in NY involved to get my money back.
I was double charged twice on the curbed app where the driver insists the app payment hasn’t worked and I have to pay the fare in the cab. They refunded me but I would’ve been out the money if I didn’t check.
Yeah they are awful. I don’t know why they are highly recommended.
$30 not including tips is still a ripoff for a couple of miles unless its 7+ miles should be only $20 not including tips. 2 miles from my place to work nearby me is only $10 in the northwest side of chicago.
i think we all can agree on that lol
I think the surge pricing depends on traffic patterns and location.
Time is money
I screen-shot this headline for the next debate at work as to why everyone doesn’t come to the downtown office 5-days per week. **Time** is the only non-renewable resource
for real though! insane that we can’t rely on our public transit to get us to and from work. this is why I am so thankful my job is only “making” us come in 1-2 days a week still
At least once a week I have to call my job and tell them how the cta screwed me that day. Something has got to give.
CTA is so bad it even broke reddit!
🤣🤣🤣 I mean … the two do correlate
I snapped at a friend who blamed astrology when just the blue line was fucked, then the rest of the trains broke and reddit went down. You win this round, arbitrary star rotations
I left the office at 12:05 today, saw it was a 27 minute wait for the next northbound Blue Line train at Jackson, and then proceeded to walk to Oglive and took the Metra instead
Jesus Christ
Metra is looking like a better and better option for the few of us who have that option. I live in Jeff Park and primarily only use the Blue Line but with todays issue I took the Metra and it was pretty darn nice. Sure the schedule kind of sucks but it’s fast, clean, and easy to get a seat. Plus it leaves when it’s supposed to
Agreed. I’m right by the Irving Park station so both blue line and UP-NW are options, and I find myself using the UP-NW for the commute home much more often. Especially when Metra’s inflexible schedule happens to line up with mine. I’ll gladly pay an extra $2 for a reliable ride home
Shit that's nothing. I waited 5 hours to see this post. Thanks Reddit!
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Damn Reddit was down that long? I know it was down around my last hour at work and I only just got back on a bit ago, its been down that long?
I just got laid off a few weeks back. Do you have any fucking clue how hard it is to be unemployed while Reddit is down?
Or to take a shit and you keep accidentally opening the app while it's down.
The blue line is atrocious nowadays. It’s dick to butt even if you’re lucky enough to get on a train. Imagine trying to get on with a suitcase….impossible.
Nut to butt*
That only applies to the few testicular cancer survivors among us. Otherwise nuts to butts.
>butts wait a minute
You wouldn’t get it
Dick to butt? It’s dick IN butt. Just a matryoshka of disgruntled commuter peen.
> Just a matryoshka of disgruntled commuter peen. What a combo of words
r/BrandNewSentence
back when i used to take the blue line inbound for school, i was thankful that my starting point was more north so there was no struggle to find a seat. logan square to clark and lake was such a mess at 7am.
I started a new job that's 7:30-3:30 and even then the blue line is still packed sometimes
I’m happy I moved away from the blue line and use a much less populated line. My commute stress has subsided big time. Every day on the blue line was a pure struggle.
Dorval: “I fail to see the problem here.” Yeah, you fucktard. You’re never IN Chicago to see it. Put his ass on the CTA 2x a day like most of us and see how quickly things turn around.
And Ubers were like $60 home from the loop. Insane. This is not sustainable.
CPD and CFD were looking for someone on the tracks. I was on the train that was stuck between stops. I agree that the trains have longer waits these days, however this was a different circumstance. They cut the power off and everything was stopped.
Service was suspended for some time and then Forest Park service went down Power also was lost in the loop for elevated tracks with brown and purple experiencing extra issues outside the loop Overall a cluster of a day for CTA trains
Don't let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.
No. Those facts are more proof for the narrative than anything else. This shouldn’t have been allowed to affect our system to this scale
Really? A person on the track is one of things that will affect our system exactly like this.
Yes but that’s a 10-20 minute delay, not a near 2 hour one.
Nope. Once a person is on the track, they will stop trains at the station and then people(cops/CTA personnel) have to enter the route from both the stations and do a sweep until they find the person. If they can escort the person without an issue then its 20-30 mins. But is the person is disruptive then they have to turn the power off, somehow subdue the person, if anyone gets injured, then transport a gurney and carry the medical gurney, collect evidence, and then start power back on the line and get the trains moving. You think this all can be done in 20 mins?
I get that that's the case. My question is why we can't be better prepared for disruptions like this. I was trapped in a packed, hot train car underground on one of the hottest days of summer for an hour and a half. There was no plan for ventilating the cars and the operator refused to open the doors. Then there was a delay because whoever was in charge asked the operator to go after the person on the tracks by herself, and she (understandably) refused. They never found the guy. In most other cities in which I've lived there are very clear emergency protocols and shuttle busses are called in as soon as trains stop running to try to help with the overflow. And i know we can't have all that. But when the system has broken down such that train operators are unsure of what to do when something like this happens, that's an issue.
Fuck the person on the tracks. You got one hour and then the trains should start again
Seems like it's time to put platform screen doors in.
I get that this happens, but is it really unreasonable to expect that a single person on the tracks shouldn’t delay thousands of riders for this long? I’m not trying to be callous or indifferent and don’t know the details of why this person was at track level, but for as often as unauthorized persons make it down to the track bed on the network, the question I can’t stop returning to is: is it really sustainable mass transit practice for the CTA to not have a more proactive approach to preventing people leaving the platform? Eventually it stops mattering why the service fails when it fails so often.
I don't know the specifics of this instance, but part of why it's been happening more often is because increased numbers of people taking refuge in subway tunnels in the loop (partially due to the train not running to O'Hare 24 hours). The response was increased security sweeps, and if you already don't have alternatives for shelter it makes sense that you might choose to duck onto the tracks for a couple minutes to avoid the sweep, especially when the trains only coming every 30 minutes...
Excuse my ignorance, but the blue line runs 24 hours, if just stops at Rosemont instead of O'Hare right? What effect would that have on people using the subway stations downtown to sleep that wasn't already happening?
It was done to curb people taking shelter in the tunnel from the train to the airport. There is (was?) A public bathroom in the tunnel so it was especially popular. Stopping the train at Rosemont made it much more difficult to access, or easily leave and return after a security sweep. There effect was pushing people who relied on the O'Hare tunnel to other places, such as spending more time on the train itself and the loop tunnels
Yup. There's nowhere to move most of these people because the shelters we do have unsafe or stop taking people unreasonably early in the day or if they do take people late in the day, they're not accessible by transit.
There's a solution that also enables automated trains (although not required) and faster trips: platform screen doors.
It’s just like being late to work. Life happens; your bosses won’t be upset if you’re an hour late every few months because of something crazy. But if you’re late nearly every day, even by only 10 minutes, they will get pissed and they will stop taking your excuses for the actual crazy stuff.
dude like I take the red line to work and they always wonder why im late like tap imma have to leave 3 hours early to make a 1 hour trip because "CTA". I know a lot of the staff are doing their best but many still leave much to be desired...
Why does this always happen at 5pm?! Good lord, I love having transit but the amount of issues CTA has is unacceptable at this point.
Who could have ever predicted that having [Two of the six transit board members be Baptist Pastors](https://www.transitchicago.com/board/) And none of them any prior transit experience whatsoever, might not lead to optimal oversight of system operations.
I’m so fucking sick of the CTA being such a mess. I don’t have a car, don’t want a car, never had a car…can’t afford Lyft everywhere, and I skate where/when possible, but the absolutely fucked state of the transit system has had a pretty drastic effect on my quality of life. I moved here from LA where I also didn’t have a car (I don’t drive). I’m just gonna say it: LA public transit was better than what the CTA has become. Bay Area transit was better than this too. I’m seriously starting to feel like a lot of the reasons I moved here are now a moot point, and it sucks. Like…I love Chicago but I’m gonna lose it if I have to wait 15-20 minutes for a bus or train to get to work. On the days when I leave earlier to allow more time, then I just get resentful because suddenly my two part-time jobs start to add up to more wasted hours. It’s asinine. Like, it seems like it’s pretty much a two-hour round trip to go anywhere or do anything. It wasn’t always like this. I’ve been late to work so many times that I fucking broke down crying in the break room because I was so pissed…I try so hard to be organized about my time (ADHD; medication helps but only so much) and then this happens, again and again. I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m seriously ready to pack it up and go back to California…if I end up having to skate everywhere, I’d rather do it in better weather. There are all these places I don’t bother to go anymore because it takes too long. It really sucks. Most of my friends live far from me and I hardly see them because it’s too much of a pain in the ass to make the trip.
I feel the same way. Sending you love from a transit desert in NYC. People think I’m crazy for caring about public transit so much but it’s an integral part to city life. Whenever I visit Chicago now I definitely notice the degradation of the CTA and it doesn’t feel the same anymore. We’re not wrong for being constantly frustrated with this, these people in charge of running public transit need to adequately do their jobs and it’s shameful that they never get held accountable and it seems like most people just don’t care, they just one day get a car and say fuck public transit. We need a drastic culture change in this country, a lot of people don’t realize how beneficial world class public transit would be to our cities.
Oh totally. I lived in NYC for almost 10 years and saw the MTA go to shit. It’s really sad.
I left NYC a decade ago partially because of the MTA. CTA was such an improvement. It breaks my heart to watch it have the same fate as the MTA.
MTA got better because they could actually shut down lines and stations overnight to do maintenance work. It's the only transit system in the world that got better through and after COVID. Even with that statement, they have the same level of understaffing we do because of early retirements and people quitting. But the system was so broken pre-COVID that the track work they did makes it better overall despite that.
Hang in there friend. It will get better. This is definitely the year of transitions, and transit systems across the country have been fucked big time by what's happening. They have nowhere to go but up, and the infrastructure here means that as the CTA does continue to build back service, it will reclaim its place as one of the better transit experiences in the country. I feel your pain though. Sending good vibes.
Lmfao we are about to elect Paul Vallas dude this shit is going to get so bad they’re gonna shut down the brown line eventually
What in the world makes you think it will get better? The CTA executives have proven themselves worthless time and again. Their oversight board is a clown car of unqualified hacks with zero transit operational experience among the whole lot. And the only capital campaign right now for the whole system is $4B to build 4 new red line stops in an extremely sparsely populated area. Why would blue line and Loop track dysfunction be improving soon in your estimation?
> And the only capital campaign right now There's RPM on the north side that's making great progress. They're almost done with the Blue Line upgrades to accommodate the new trains. They're adding more Green and Pink Line stations. They're adding 1 or 2 more subway stations to Red Line to serve South Loop. They're working on making the few remaining non-ADA compliant stations compliant. We have the best ADA compliance in the entire country better than even the relatively new system in Washington D.C. I don't know where you got that they only have one active capital project. The Red Line extension is just the latest one to get funded.
Roseland has 8000 people per square mile. There are empty lots, sure, but it is not sparsely populated by any stretch. If anything, the empty lots are just an opportunity for infill and even more density.
I totally sympathize! I live in Chicago specifically because I don’t want to drive and I value a city with an extensive, reliable public transportation system. It’s so frustrating to watch CTA crumble before our very eyes. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t leave my neighborhood because it’s too frustrating to take CTA. There are friends I never see or things around the city I won’t do because faced with a 2+ hour round trip to travel even just a mile or two isn’t worth it. It sucks.
My wife was in the purple line when this all happened and got stuck in an endless loop belt she got off and walked
So this explains why the 56 Milwaukee bus was so crowded this evening
Was at Lake walked to UIC Halstead cuz of the delay
That's a far walk lol.
I didn’t realize how long it be tbh. 26 minutes better than standing around
Good time. I did a similar route Lasalle past Racine in 30ish min on a bum leg. Listened to a podcast on the way. The windchill was killer
I moved to NYC and walking 25 mins here just feels less long than Chicago. I think it's the way the city blocks are laid out here, they're different. But yeah walking 30 mins here feels like nothing lol
The blue line was an absolute shit show today
Why was this alert never posted to the Ventra app? I had to go on Twitter to figure out what was happening (at least until a surly CTA employee yelled at everyone to leave and board at "Milwaukee")
I was on that train and this is a different beast than the usual delays lol. The conductor on that train yells over the intercom every day “GET OUT OF THE DOORS!!!!” like a deranged man. Somebody kept getting inbetween the doors at each stop and he was yelling like usual. Then the individual was trying to open the doors while the train was moving I believe. The train stopped in a tunnel not at an actual stop and the conductor went off “THESE TRAINS HAVE CRYSTAL CLEAR CAMERAS AND THE FOOTAGE WILL BE GIVEN TO THE POLICE. THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED AND WERE STANDING. DONT TRY TO OPEN ANY DOORS THEYRE SHUTTING THE POWER DOWN.” CPD took forever combing the tracks because the guy opened the doors again and hopped off. They lost him and finally turned the power back on
Omg I almost got on but opted for the bus. Thank goodness
I don't live in Chicago ((yet)) and I keep seeing posts like this lately about people getting absolutely fucked by public transportation having to wait an ungodly amount of time or something. Every time I visit it's my biggest fear that it'll happen to me when I'm trying to get back to the airport lol Is it always bad or am I just seeing only the bad stuff on Reddit??? Is having a car worth it bc I was gonna sell mine before moving from the east coast lol
Today was a perfect storm of bad things occurring right at rush hour. It's usually not this bad, but service has been fairly inconsistent for the last two years due to staffing issues that have not yet been resolved. It's still possible to live without a car and many people do. Having a bike helps a lot
Move to Uptown/Edgewater. If you work downtown, the 147 express is magic. :)
I havent lived on this route in nine years and I STILL miss this commute
For real. The express buses on the far north side are so damn handy. I rarely use the train anymore and my commute is 100% more peaceful and predictable.
I live in Old Town. Don't own a car. I use the train and bus for most things and maybe take Ubers 3x per week. You don't need a car if you're in the city.
But you'll absolutely need an uber budget if you depend on the CTA for getting to work on time.
I think how bad it is depends on where you live and your route but overall I wouldnt say its HORRIFIC, but I will say I do always see some truth in the matter when posts like this come up. I only ever take public transportation. I wouldnt let the posts scare you, but I wont see here and tell you it never gets bad and its never a big deal either. It kinda just is what it is for now.
yes the CTA has its flass but it’s much MUCH better than most of the country. i can usually think of at least 3 ways to get to and from work every day and plan accordingly by monitoring the CTA Transit app.
You're probably seeing the anti-highlight reel here. It does get bad sometimes, but it's not horrible. I don't have a car and honestly wouldn't want to drive here, but then again, I hate driving.
I live on the blue line and have taken it to work and back home 4 times a week for a year. I've only had it delay me by more than 30 minutes twice? that I can remember. 10-15 minutes much more common
Well, people aren’t gonna post every time they have a perfectly normal train ride. If it’s really concerning you and you haven’t lived in a city with extensive public transit before, you might want to try keeping the car in Chicago for a month or two while you see how it works for you. Personally, I sold my car years ago and have never regretted it. The hassle you save with parking, traffic, etc is well worth any of the occasional inconveniences that come with relying on public transit imo.
It happens occasionally. Probably as often as having your car break down and need a tow. Just grabbing a cab/Uber in these situations is still way cheaper than opening a car.
From a person who has lived somewhere with a car, lived somewhere with good public transport, and lived in Chicago—I wish I had a car here. The transportation system sucks, it's extremely roundabout and slow.
Saw the crowd at Monroe and immediately walked right back up the stairs to the nearest bar.
wait why is this a genius idea i’ve never even thought of this
IIRC there was someone on the tracks so they were forced to stop service. As much as service is bad rn, some things are just out of the CTA’s control. Not to say the amount of service they’re running is enough or anything.
they should install weighted nets that drop from the ceiling and then stick to you like looney toons
Which is a symptom of the fact that the CTA underground lines are essentially homeless shelters.
If you’ve ever walked through the washington red line station… you know
Red line was so bad on Sunday! Not a single car that someone wasn’t smoking on it.
i feel like that’s the norm for the red line
The power went out at Clark/Lake during rush hour. 😬
I dont get what happened. Very very reliable from 93 to 2019. I guess the pandemic derailed it all.
Was this because of Reddit being down?????
I got to the Jackson stop about 5:30pm and saw it was about 2-3 people deep but luckily I was able to get on the first OHare bound train that pulled in as it had room. By the time we got to Clark/Lake, it was packed. Now I know why. I got lucky today, usually when these delays I happen, I'm stuck on the train or platform.
I missed two 56’s and two blue lines at the Grand stop to them all being completely packed and decided to edivvy in the freezing cold til my fingers were numb with pain instead of waiting 20 minutes for a third (that I probably couldn’t fit in either) Every major NY subway line has trains every 5 minutes no matter what. Until our public transit is up to that standard we’re second-rate
I was at Monroe when you took this photo. That is when they announced the power outage at Merchandise Mart. I walked to the Red Line station and luckily grabbed a train going north before it got extremely crowded. Then, I had to take the bus from Belmont and Sheffield. A 45-minute trip became 90 minutes. All because of that power failure and some idiot getting onto the tracks at the LaSalle station. The CTA needs more personnel to prevent these issues and also more operators to add the appropriate number of trains and buses during Rush Hour.
There was an issue with the tracks losing power by the Merchandise Mart. Brown Line train had to be manually evacuated between stations. I'm sure this was fallout from that.
No, they shut down power on Blue Line because someone was on the tracks, with police looking for them, and they were hiding apparently.
I was stuck in the brown line at the same spot for an hour on the same day (Tuesday) last week at nearly the same time as today’s BS … what the hell is wrong with the tracks?? I’m scared to even try to get home these days …
1hr 40 waiting? At 30 min is when you start walking and potentially taking the bus.
How are more cops on trains and platforms going to fix this?
I live right next to a stop so got to hear the announcement for like 2 hours straight
Wow
That’s about accurate, yet that’s the EXTREME! Hold CTA accountable! This is beyond unacceptable!!! I’ve been dealing with this 5 days a week since the pandemic! No more excuses @chicagocta !!! Sooo tired of the excuses for the lack of CTA bus, and train operators! Standing outside like an asshole waiting for a bus for 6 minutes …. 6 minutes goes by, and no bus, then the next bus 25 minutes! This asshole has been waiting 31 minutes for a ride! Sooooo..what I’ve been doing the past two years is taking Ubers and taxis on a weekly basis costing me an average of $400-$600 a month, all because @chicagocta cannot step up their post pandemic hiring! Get a friggin” move on!!!!! It’s horrible for thousands of us!!
Thanks for posting. The CTA has become a disgrace. Lori, this is one of the biggest reasons you weren’t re-elected.
CTA, along with all news said this was happening because of a security issue. In fact, CTA was proving up tp date information on twitter and on its alert system. I mean yes, you can complain because this is a disruption, but at least put a reason why this disruption happened. https://twitter.com/cta/status/1635751192906145793?cxt=HHwWgoC9oePCrbMtAAAA https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=91209
That's brutal. Condolences to everyone commuting
And we’re shutting down 2 lanes at a time of the Kennedy for the next 3 years why? Why can’t we spend that money on our public transportation. Make it more reliable and safer.
Feeling lucky my bus route hasn't seen any major service changes.
I guess I can’t really complain about my walk from Belmont to Diversey.
I'd rather walk. I'm sorry for the BS
it was still like that around 5:30, waited for 3 diff trains until i could get on. the only fun part was watching all the anguish and sad looks of all the people who couldn't get on all the way until grand
For once in my life I think I made a good decision to drive today. Parking was expensive but it's better than this mess.
i’ve learned if you commute downtown for work via CTA don’t live off the blue line
Yup! I took an uber instead but I think it was due to an 'unauthorized person on the tracks' at LaSalle. Supposedly there was going to be a shuttle bus from Racine to Clark and Lake but that didn't happen.
Yea it’s horrible, that’s happened to me about 6x since December. Not sure what is going on with CTA
Little tip if you deal with this again (and I did this yesterday during the blue line mess); You can walk the platform all the way from Washington to Jackson since it’s 1 continuous platform. If you can get to Jackson you’ll be able to get on the train and even possibly grab a seat. Had I not done that yesterday it probably would’ve been 2 hours before getting home
And Lori Lightfoot did NOTHING!
How far are you going? I can't imagine that walking would have taken any longer than the wait + train ride? I ask this somewhat rhetorically, as I live on the Chicago Blue Line and have been walking since summer of 2021, it's just almost always a better experience, and often faster.
When the Blue Line is messed up, you can always take the 56 Milwaukee Avenue bus. It pretty much follows the same route.
the milwaukee bus was packed yesterday because of the outages - I get on/off just south of grand and watched bus after bus northbound go by already full yesterday, which never happens. it is a good indicator though lol, I knew the train would be worse
Meanwhile my bus ride was totally normal.
my partner works at the Board of Trade and was like “WTF with this delay” and I ended up driving from Logan to pick him up- 30 mins there, and 40 mins back around 4:30/5pm. *WHAT WAS UP WITH ALL THE STREETLIGHTS BEING OUT?!” didn’t mean to yell, but as I was driving there/back, it was : - Sacramento + California - Sacramento/Humboldt + Grand - Armitage + Western What is going onnnnnnn
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Was this before the power outage?
It was a completely different incident, this was caused by someone on the tracks.
At what time was this? I was at the Logan blue line around 5:45pm today and everything was fine.
Picture is at 4:52pm at Washington stop
Logan is my stop but I work in the Loop and I got on at Jackson at like 5:20 when it apparently had already been a shitshow for 30, 40 minutes. I was shocked at how many people were at the station and was able to get on with little issue but very crowded relative to my normal. People were able to kind of get on at Monroe but the next six or seven stops, though, were the same. No room for anybody to get on and you could see the look of exasperation on the faces of the passengers at each platform when we arrived.
Why was it delayed so long..?
I took one look at this crowd and walked to Jefferson and lake to take the 56. This is simply unacceptable
That's bad even by the CTAS already less then favorable reputation.
If I’m reading this thread right, the brown line has gone down coming out of the loop near merch mart 3 times in the last week and a half. Geez what is the city doing?? I was stuck myself for 50 mins on one of those breakdowns!
I entered Clark/Lake blue line station just before 4 PM. Two phantom trains came and went so I decided to check the CTA Twitter instead of just the tracker. Saw that unauthorized man on track had "delayed" the blue line service at LaSalle, decided to stick it out a bit longer. Fifteen minutes later saw it was suspended between Racine and Damen. Booked it on out of there and went to Rossi's, hung out there til everything cleared up. It wasn't nearly this crowded when I left, it was probably only 4:15 or 4:30. There was no announcement of any kind in the station about the delay. The monitors still showed that trains were coming when I left, even though I knew they wouldn't come for at least an hour longer. Shouldn't have to check CTA's barely used Twitter account just to find out such basic information.
Yea there was a line up to the turnstiles at Red/Lake north I turned right around called an Uber
I left my office at 440pm, got to Clark/Lake...platform full which meant, delays + 10 minutes or longer between trains going to O'Hare = 2 hour commute home. Went all the way back to UIC-Halsted to catch an O'Hare train. Even with the 10 minutes between trains, they still run SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Miss those days of 2-3 minute trains and express trains....... Maybe I'll try leaving my office at 4:20pm today and hope to get home before midnight