The Blue Line blues
January 30, 2007
By MONIFA THOMAS Chicago Sun-Times Transportation Reporter
It’s bad enough that trips out to O’Hare Airport on the CTA Blue Line are taking longer thanks to an abundance of slow zones. Now, even getting on the train can come with a built-in delay because trains and station platforms have become increasingly packed during rush hour.
Riders say trains on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line have been coming at longer intervals these past few months, and when they do arrive, they are often too full to board. Crowded platforms add another wrinkle, since riders have to wait until the people in front of them have squeezed onto a train before they can.
This is especially true during the afternoon rush when Barbara H., of Norwood Park, says she has to budget “easily an extra half hour” to catch a train that isn’t already crammed with people at the busy Clark and Lake station.
“To have a one-hour 45-minute commute when it used to be an hour or less [a year ago] . . . doesn’t put you in a good mood,” said Barbara H., 53, who didn’t want her last name used.
“I’ve never seen the Blue Line worse,” said Mike Murphy, who’s been riding the CTA for 21 years and now budgets an extra 30 to 45 minutes to get to his job near the Washington stop.
The problems on the Blue Line illustrate how slow, unreliable and inconvenient taking the L has become for riders on almost every line.
CTA President Frank Kruesi said a number of factors are to blame, not least of which is the CTA’s crumbling infrastructure.
Slow zones now riddle the Blue Line O’Hare branch.
Trains are taking longer to complete their runs and are therefore making fewer trips overall, Kruesi said. That means more people per train.
At the same time, larger rush-hour crowds on the platfor