chicago is like six times bigger than portland. more latenesses are to be expected. i caught a bus almost every day for a year and it was pretty much always always there, give or take a minute. i think that's pretty good.
on the flipside, i had to take the el almost every day for a year, and sometimes it was there, sometimes not. sometimes i waited at howard for 2 seconds, sometimes i watched the purple leave right a i arrived, and sometimes i waited for fifteen minutes.
when you have a light rail train it should not be faster to drive.
i took that bus to a train and it was never a big deal. here's the way i look at it--when you're dealing with public transportation you have to do two things: make your own internal time schedule for things like buses and subways and els and expect that you might be a little late if you don't leave early enough. after a couple of times riding the same piece of transporatation, you can usually get a feel for how it runs during a certain time of the day. i think that i looked at the time schedules for the el maybe three times in my entire life and the same with the bus schedule. things generally run on time in chicago. generally and of course, there are sometimes big gaps but i'm sure that'll happen anywhere, especially when they're doing work on the tracks, which, in chicago, they've been doing for sometime now
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really, the term light rail is more commonly used in reference to street-level transport systems running off of electricity (usually from an overhead source, not within the rails themselves), not really subways. and, you know, it's light. smaller, shorter trains with less capacity. the mta, by comparison, is no amtrak, but it's certainly heavier than the DART (in Dallas) or SEPTA (in Philadelphia).
and yeah, our subways are useful. but i've absolutely never, ever looked at a time schedule here.
the dc metro is great, no lie and i'm not comparing the el's wonder and beauty to everywhere else. all i was saying is that i never had huge problems with it. and i agree that they shouldn't fuck up something that works.
even though you just said my argument fell apart, i stand by the fact that big cities are in constant states of renewal and disrepair and shit just isn't always going to work the way it should or could. good for seoul, but doesn't make me hate chicago.
well, okay, i shoulda just said TRAINS not light rail, which is why i clarified.
this isn't just "i am so over chicago," though i am (although, yes, the el is pretty, i will give you that). i felt this way about the CTA before i left there, and the way that they are completely fucking with prices and the stupid chicago card and all of that is really crappy as well. they keep crying overbudget and then they find warehouses full of unused buses (something like that, i cant remember specifically, i now that makes me look idiotic).
i used seoul as an example that shit CAN work. with 10 million people.
isn't one of the big reasons they're messing with fares because they're revitalizing almost entire brown line and making the stations handicap-accessible, as well as making the platforms long enough to almost double the capacity of each run? i'm not saying it doesn't suck for the fares to be hiked, but it's still not that expensive. and what's wrong with the chicago card? mine worked fine and i had it for three years. it was nice to have a renewable source in case i lost it, which i did (three times).
and i know that's why you used seoul, dorkus. all i was saying is that just because it's better somewhere else doesn't make me (*personally*) hate chicago. i believe i actually said, "good for seoul..." and i meant it. hooray for them. that doesn't really make me get terribly pissed off at other places because they're not as good.
huh. i didnt think that i was being mean or creating an atmosphere you would need to escape from. or that i was making it hard for you to debate--i mean, i agreed with tons of what you said. this might be a case where my caffeine-fueled enthusiasm is taken as aggression, but i don't feel like i was being jerky in any way.
also, i misspoke. i dont hate chicago. i just dont want to live there again....
so yeah, sorry if you thought i was attacking your personally. i just like debating things.
i didn't think you were attacking me personally. i'm just not good at debating. especially online. or really, i guess, in person. i like THE QUIET LIFE.
also, i was cranky due to the fact that we have run out of q-tips (cotton, not rapper) and i've been feeling kind of waterlogged for two days. could i go to the drugstore only steps up the block right now? yes. will i? no. why? because i'm boycotting them? yes. because? they have absolutely no cadbury mini-eggs and yet they have scads of other crappy easter candy.
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on the flipside, i had to take the el almost every day for a year, and sometimes it was there, sometimes not. sometimes i waited at howard for 2 seconds, sometimes i watched the purple leave right a i arrived, and sometimes i waited for fifteen minutes.
when you have a light rail train it should not be faster to drive.
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and yeah, our subways are useful. but i've absolutely never, ever looked at a time schedule here.
the dc metro is great, no lie and i'm not comparing the el's wonder and beauty to everywhere else. all i was saying is that i never had huge problems with it. and i agree that they shouldn't fuck up something that works.
even though you just said my argument fell apart, i stand by the fact that big cities are in constant states of renewal and disrepair and shit just isn't always going to work the way it should or could. good for seoul, but doesn't make me hate chicago.
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this isn't just "i am so over chicago," though i am (although, yes, the el is pretty, i will give you that). i felt this way about the CTA before i left there, and the way that they are completely fucking with prices and the stupid chicago card and all of that is really crappy as well. they keep crying overbudget and then they find warehouses full of unused buses (something like that, i cant remember specifically, i now that makes me look idiotic).
i used seoul as an example that shit CAN work. with 10 million people.
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and i know that's why you used seoul, dorkus. all i was saying is that just because it's better somewhere else doesn't make me (*personally*) hate chicago. i believe i actually said, "good for seoul..." and i meant it. hooray for them. that doesn't really make me get terribly pissed off at other places because they're not as good.
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also, i misspoke. i dont hate chicago. i just dont want to live there again....
so yeah, sorry if you thought i was attacking your personally. i just like debating things.
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also, i was cranky due to the fact that we have run out of q-tips (cotton, not rapper) and i've been feeling kind of waterlogged for two days. could i go to the drugstore only steps up the block right now? yes. will i? no. why? because i'm boycotting them? yes. because? they have absolutely no cadbury mini-eggs and yet they have scads of other crappy easter candy.
Reply
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