Livid is the only word that can describe me after a fiasco of a train ride the other night.
I managed to get off of work early on Saturday, and decided to ehad out and join Rick M. and co at Big Chick’s for Euchre. I was thrilled that I was walking out of the store in Evanston only a quarter past 4 on a Saturday afternoon, especially since I still managed to work 50 hours this week. I meandered down Davis Street, made a quick stop in the 7/11 to get smokes, and was able to sneak one in before grabbing a 4:35 train to Howard. I was a bit tired, so I rested my eyes for the normally 10 minute trip.
I now have become used to sitting on the train outside of Howard for a bit, as it’s typical that the Purple Line, in its descent toward the Howard station, ends up coming to a stop just beyond the train yard, and with those three annoying beeps the automated rote CTA announcement blares over the train speakers: “Attention passengers, we are standing momentarily, waiting for signals ahead. We expect to be moving shortly.” So naturally on this ride i didn’t as much look up, and instead sat back, my head resting against the cool tempered window, waiting for the train to pull in so we could all disembark and make our transfers, with mine being to the Red Line. It wasn’t until after a moment, when a second announcement was made by the conductor himself, asking for our momentary patience, that I took note of the situation around me.
It was a mere 4:46pm, so I still had almost an hour to get to Argyle and the bar, but the yard below us was packed. A Yellow Line, from Skokie, was just pulling up, and crept to a stop just beyond the overpass on which my train sat. Not one, but two Red Line trains, evidentally just in from the south side, were stalled in the turnaround. Behind us, another Purple Line sat, just at the crest of the hill, waiting for us to pull in. With the knowledge that Howard station was down to a mere two platforms, as the regular weekend construction on the center lanes was commencing, I knew we might be in for a bit of a wait.
How long of a wait, however, was the most criminal part.
We sat on the train in limbo, watching both Red line trains as well as a third one, and the Skokie train, all pull up and into the station. For 45 minutes. Yes folks, it wasn’t until 5:25pm that my train finally pulled up to the platform and let us off of it. miracles of miracles, no one had gotten ill, had any kind of medical fiasco, or anything like that in all of the time we sat there, because Lord knows there really wasn’t much of a way off the train. However, we were a rowdy, rather pissed off bunch, annoyed at the long wait, the fact that no one on the platform knew what was going on, and many of us running behind for some other appointment or such.
Immediately a few of my fellow passengers began to drill CTA personnel on the platform on what the delay had been. The first reply had been the ever intelligent, ‘Uh, gee, sorry, I’m not sure,’ which of course did not soothe our tempers. Then, as one of the conductors was attempting to re board the train we had just left so to move it to the opposite side, we inquired when the next Red Line would be coming in. His response was absurd, ignorant and completely insensitive:’Gee, you just missed one, it just left.’ Unfuckingbelievable! I immediately snapped back at him, ‘Well, gee, maybe if we all had not been TRAPPED on the fucking train out there, maybe we wouldn’t have missed it!’ He simply shrugged, shut the door, and went on his merry way.
Then announcements began to echo over the platform, ‘We apologize. blah blah blah, signal errors, blah blah blah…’ with the notification that it would also be an extended period before the next southbound train would be arriving. It was now 5:35pm, and wanting to get to cards on time, I headed to the far end of the platform to find the exit, and descended to the bus stop below… where not one bus of the 8 routes that pull into Howard was anywhere in site. What the fuck is going on?I tried to hail a cab for another 5 minutes, but seeing that others around me were scrambling to do the same, I sprinted to Clark Street, just a block west. There I was able to flag a cab that got me to Chicks with minutes to spare.
I was FURIOUS, and still am. What the fuck kind of ridiculous transit system is this city trying to pawn off on us? There is no excuse for leaving passengers trapped on a train for a period longer than 10 minutes, unless there was a serious accident or it was for our safety. This situation involved neither of these scenarios, it came down to human stupidity and laziness, and all around piss poor organization. The system has to be fixed, and soon. If I ever have to sit like that on a train again, Ron Huberman’s head is going to roll, and I will have his job… and his balls.
Rants of The Misanthrope and other musings 