Why I boycott the CTA

This past weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to take Chicago's beautiful CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). My commute to the Loop would take me on both train and bus. As it was too rainy for bike riding, too far to walk and my destination was not by any parking, my boycott of the CTA would have to be temporarily suspended. Maybe I would be pleasantly surprised. Having spent the better part of my 11 years living in the city using public transportation (as well as riding my bike) I have had the opportunity to see it's utter decline in service and appalling conditions on the CTA trains escalate to an alarming degree. But maybe I am overreacting....

Saturday, I hear the train coming and I am half a block away. I run through the turnstile and sprint up the stairs, dash across the platform and slip into the car just as the doors bang shut behind me. My relief of making it onto the train was fleeting as my nostrils were immediately accosted by the smell of SHIT. Not a "shitty smell", or "shit" as in "garbage" but the smell of HUMAN FECES. I looked around the train and everyone in the car had a disgusted face (see image). While trying not to gag, I wondered why anyone was still on this car and planned to exit at the Western stop and change cars. The distance from the California stop to the Western stop can only be two miles max and should take about 4 minutes. The train pull away from the station. As soon as my car clears the platform the train stops. No announcement - just standing still, smelling shit. I wonder if it is safe to pass between cars while it is raining. Is it better to get electrocuted or to stand here smelling shit? I decide to wait. When the train does start to move it is at a snails pace. Slowly we move along, stretching this 4 minute jaunt into a 10 minute affair, we crawl along, then stop, shit smell is not lessening. Crawl along then stop, smell is not waning and I am not "getting used to it". Finally we reach the Western Station, I run to the train car directly behind the SHIT CAR, but barely make it as the doors are only opened for a few seconds, maybe they are trying to make up time. Again, I slip in as the doors are closing behind me and this time I find myself standing in a cloud of smoke. Cigar smoke. No one on the train car can be seen smoking now (though it is hard to tell through the haze). The pungent odor is trapped and I gag and cover my nose and mouth. The rain and warm weather have made for a hot and sticky situation. At least i can't smell B.O. I pray for ZEN as we slowly chug along to the next stop, where I change cars again. My trip on the Blue Line: four stops, three train cars, half an hour, maybe two miles.
Should have walked.

THIS IS WHY I BOYCOTT THE CTA.
So, Tuesday morning, while riding my bike to work, I notice hundreds of pissed off people huddled in groups at EVERY bus stop on Milwaukee Avenue, a major diagonal artery of the city, to which the Blue Line runs adjacent. I only take Milwaukee from Western to Ashland, but clearly there is some sort of transit breakdown happening. I see only two busses on this entire route and they are not stopping. They are too full to take on passengers and blow right past the angry/expectant commuters. When I get to work I look online for news of the problem.
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune

At lunch I hear co-workers complaining that major bus routes in the city (like Grand Avenue) were stripped of their buses to shuttle Blue Line passengers (but where were these shuttles?). Get it together CTA! Many of the 149,000 commuters who take the Blue Line daily were inconvenienced. The trains were stopped for almost 2 hours, during rush hour.
In a growing city with congestion problems we need to put money into these dilapidated transit lines. Instead, the trains are almost unbearable. I would rather walk.
The boycott is back on.
Videos of Monday morning's CTA evacuation HERE.
An article about the "rider revolt" where the CTA plays the old Blame the Victim game, here.