I Think We Are Being Hosed

[trainman8119]

A few observations noted over the past few days walking

around downtown on the way to work (between 1:30-2:00pm).

First, there are definitely less trains running on the L. Not

as much rumbling as often, especially on the outer loop

(Brown Line). For that matter, not that many Orange, Green

or Pink Trains either.

If there is an increase in busses, I have not seen it. Either

they are just not there, or they are so bogged down, they

are not getting where they are suppose to. Over the 2 days

now, either on Clark (southbound) or Dearborn (North) I have

seen all of 1 Clark (route 22) bus, and that was northbound

on Dearborn at Randolph. No 22's at all on Clark from La Salle

to at least Van Buren (as far as I could see). Other than the

1 at Randolph yesterday, no other buses in sight on Dearborn...

no 22, or 36. There were 2 62's and a 24. Today had just 1 62

at Randolph. Nothing else in sight on Dearborn as far south as

Van Buren and nothing at all on Clark between La Salle and

Van Buren. Quite odd for supposed increased service.

Today, on State Street....nothing at all southbound between Lake

and maybe Jackson...and north had 1 each 151, 147, 145 and 146.

Yesterday had 3 147's turn all at once off State onto Washington,

all 5800's, no artics. Behind that one 151, 145 and 146. After that,

nothing...not even a 29. Southbound 1 each 62 and 6. Where is

all of this supposed extra service. Are rush hours being run at the

expense of midday service?? Maybe these buses are not really

there (I can't believe I said that). Maybe that is the cost of having

all part timers doing this...change of shifts !!!

And Metra is not exempt from hosing us either. Once again, they

have appeased a select few at the expense of many others. In

order to accomodate this wonderful "sunrise express", they were

forced to take cars away from other trains to make this possible.

The result...people standing on trains that were overcrowded to

start with and now find themselves operating a car short. Even

the 8:30 Northwest Line, which I have resorted to take home

(gas is getting way to expensive) has lost a car. Last Wednesday

and Thursday...5 full cars. Friday and Monday were a little better

4 full and 1 not so full. Today we find only 4 cars...all full, borderline

standees. Put a ball game out there and forget it. So, once again,

it appears that the geniuses that are making the decisions are once

again looking at the 4 walls and laying down the law without any

consideration to the consequences they are creating. This new stuff

should not take place if you don't have the equipment to do it. Robbing

Peter to pay Paul is a lousy way to operate. Unfortunately, Metra is

real good at it. Metra seems to be losing their identity...they are bowing

much to often to the politics involved and are rapidly losing touch

in regards to their regulars..they are more and more sticking it to

them. Sooner or later, they will find themselves losing out.

[Busjack]

I suppose what you are trying to say is that resources are being shifted around.

What this illustrates is the definition of economics--the allocation of scare resources. Pace is only starting to understand that, by saying in the slide show on the South Cook-Will restructuring (page 7):

Pace does not have enough operating funds or vehicles at this time to implement all of the changes contained in the service concepts.

This is, of course, after all their years in playing with the recovery ratio. CTA just says that it wants "funding," without acknowledging (at least in their Press Release, and not really in their response to the Auditor's Report) the Auditor General's recommendations that its operations have to become more efficient. At least Moving Beyond Congestion says "funding" involves new taxes, and the RTA doesn't care what taxes are raised, so long as it gets another $400 million a year. The 3 service boards are united on that, even though they don't apparently agree on anything else.

Another thing to consider is that even if there were infinite money, it still takes time to complete the projects, as typified by the statement that it would take 3 years to fix the slow zones on the Blue Line west of Jefferson Park, even if the money were found tomorrow. Remember, the problems were not discovered until the subway fire, when track inspectors suddenly had to do their job. Now, consider the time it would take to fix all the slow zones on the North Side main, while CTA staff falsely told Carole that all would be fixed before the 3 track.

Now, let's apply that here. I'm not sure that the cause of the car shift on Metra was the Sunrise Express, because, according to the UPN North schedule that train goes out of service in Waukegan at 6:48, and could be recycled for the next train out at 7:09. Since I don't work for Metra and you do, I don't know if that happens. More than likely, the extra cars were needed for the added Winnetka to Ogilvie runs to divert riders from the north side L lines affected by the 3 track. In any event, the Sunrise Express is not going to be canceled, because State Sen. Susan Garrett got the money to run it.

Then looking at the Purple Line schedule, it appears that only half the rush hour trains now go to the Loop. Since CTA said that the Red Line lost only 5 trains, most of the cutbacks must have been on the Brown and Purple.

Now going into predictive mode, Swami Murph says that the effect of this is that riders from Rogers Park north through Wilmette are going to stick with Metra, the Purple Line Express never gets back to its former frequency, and the cars not needed all the sudden appear on the 8 car Brown Line trains, since the 5000 series cars will not be ready until long after the Brown Line project is over (especially not if the plan is to use the first 340 of the 406 ordered to replace 2200s and 2400s).

You said that you didn't see CTA bus downtown around 1:30 to 2:00, but the added service is only during rush hour. CTA off-peak service downtown hasn't been what it was, and with reports that the new runs can't be out of North Park, it wouldn't surprise me that other Archer, Forest Glen, and Chicago routes have been cut back. There can't be that large a reservoir of drivers and equipment, even if there was massive hiring of temporaries and instead of being retired, the 5300s are being sent to 103rd. No matter what, New Flyer isn't delivering more than 10 buses a week. CTA also hasn't said if the new runs were included in its deficit-riddled 2007 operating budget.

While I complain about the poor way CTA allocates its resources, economics indicates that some allocation is necessary.

[trainman8119]

I suppose what you are trying to say is that resources are being shifted around.

Another thing to consider is that even if there were infinite money, it still takes time to complete the projects, as typified by the statement that it would take 3 years to fix the slow zones on the Blue Line west of Jefferson Park, even if the money were found tomorrow. Remember, the problems were not discovered until the subway fire, when track inspectors suddenly had to do their job. Now, consider the time it would take to fix all the slow zones on the North Side main, while CTA staff falsely told Carole that all would be fixed before the 3 track.

Just exactly is the cause of all the slow zones west of Jeff ??? Is the rail that gapped. Are the

ties bad. Were the rail inspectors that bad, or were they never actually dispatched as they

should have been. The line out there is not that old, so it shouldn't be deteriorated as bad

as it is. I still wonder if the problems out there are that bad or are just created to make

it look worse that it really is. To take 3 years implies to me that they want to practically

rebuild the thing, which to me is way beyond belief !!!

Now, let's apply that here. I'm not sure that the cause of the car shift on Metra was the Sunrise Express, because, according to the UPN North schedule that train goes out of service in Waukegan at 6:48, and could be recycled for the next train out at 7:09. Since I don't work for Metra and you do, I don't know if that happens. More than likely, the extra cars were needed for the added Winnetka to Ogilvie runs to divert riders from the north side L lines affected by the 3 track. In any event, the Sunrise Express is not going to be canceled, because State Sen. Susan Garrett got the money to run it.

Since there are no cars held at outlying points in the morning, it would stand to reason that

the equipment would find it's way downtown and to Cal Ave for daily inspections. I would also

expect Metra to jump at the op to scarf away CTA riders and put the money in their coffiers.

My main point, is that this was done in almost a knee jerk reaction (which Metra is REAL good

at) with little or no planning, and definitely no consequence considered. We bash CTA all the

time for doing things like this, and I feel Metra shouldn't get a pass on this one. The politics

is getting too much into the operation here these days, and the results in service are starting

to rear their ugly head.

[Busjack]

The politics

is getting too much into the operation here these days, and the results in service are starting

to rear their ugly head.

Since all the service boards are relying on the state legislature to bail them out, this isn't surprising (especially since a legislator got the funds for the route in question).

With regard to the bus alternatives to the 3 track, it might be that CTA overdid the reallocation, given the scrutiny it was under, but imagine the outcry if the alternatives don't work. Similarly, Metra said in its Press Release that it "expects additional ridership to cover the cost of the new service" to relieve the "CTA riders facing service reductions on the Red, Brown and Purple "L" lines."

Since we previously discussed that Metra can't cut the consist on leaving Zone E, either the equipment has to be stretched, or more trips run short. The Japanese would probably like to build more cars, but the capital funds haven't been appropriated for them.