For those of you who don't live in Chicago, here's the rundown on where we stand with Doomsday:
In September, the CTA threatened to have a Doomsday because of no funding and pretty much going to go broke. The solution back then was a rate increase and cutting service from about 20-30 bus lines, most were the Express routes. After wheedling and begging, they got some money at the zero hour and Doomsday was averted - to six weeks later. In November, similar threats of impending hikes and cuts, already with talk about ANOTHER Doomsday in January. This time, again at the zero hour (because apparently nobody likes to make a solution other than the night before the deadline), the small amount of funding came through - in the form of an advance on their 2008 funding. So now they obviously are further in a funding deficit and the January Doomsday is in less than a week. The plan now involves a larger rate hike, including higher rates during "rush hours", and cutting the service on over 80 bus lines.
At this point, there WAS legislature in the works to increase the sales tax and real estate tax and that would come up with the funding. And instead of signing the legislation, Governor Blagojevich decided to gum up the works by saying, "Sure, I'll sign this - but only if we give free rides to all senior citizens."
That's where we currently stand, from what I've been following and am able to digest.
I don't know what the hell our governor is thinking. No wait, I probably know EXACTLY what he's thinking. I just can't believe that with the crisis at this level, he won't put on his big-boy face and just sign the damned bill without playing with his devious political agenda like a mischievous child pulling the wings off of flies. He likes his power and he wants to stay in power and he likes the feeling of power over all of us.
So, you may ask, where does the whole senior citizen plan come from and what's so bad about giving them a free ride?
Well, for starters, I'm not saying that giving the elderly a free ride is a "bad thing" - I'm just saying it's a bad idea, especially at this point in time. And this point in time is all about the fact that our public transit system is BROKE, which means that it's the wrong time to talk about plans to bring in LESS MONEY by giving free rides. If your bakery is going under financially, that means it's a bad time to decide to hand out loaves of bread to pretty women in hopes of getting laid. Which is a good analogy for what Blagojevich is doing.
He's just sucking up to get the old people votes.
Yea, the elderly historically do the most voting. So that means catering to them is top priority for the sneakiest of politicians. And what better way to kiss some wrinkled ass than by offering them free public transit rides? I mean they currently have a DISCOUNT program so they pay a hugely-reduced fare, but Blagojevich is worried that the general fare increase, even with the huge reduction in price, would be too much for the elderly and their fixed-income lifestyles. So rather than doing something sensible like demand that reduced-fare prices remain the SAME, he's decided to go with a demand for free rides for the elderly and children can pretty much suck a lemon until they're old enough to vote for Blagojevich.
Don't get me wrong, kids need to do a lot more lemon-sucking in this day and age, but it's not like the kids are paying for the fares: their parents are. And parents suck enough lemons on a daily basis.
So of course, as soon as people starting coming to their senses about why he might be catering to the elderly (and the rest are fuming over putting another wrench in the works for ending Doomsday), he took his soapbox over to the pulpit and started defending himself while at the House of Hope megachurch and went from sucking-up to guilt-tripping. Once the reverend James Meeks had livened up the crowd of churchgoers, of course. I think that what sums up his argument is apparently his quote of: "How many of you agree with me that it is the right thing to do to give your grandmother a free ride on a bus?"
So that's it. Apparently if we're not cool with him handing out freebies while the system goes broke, we're so evil and wrong that we apparently hate our own grandmothers. Well, Rod, as long as we're tacking on laws designed to make wishes and nonsense come true, then how about adding that any male with an offspring be sold only winning lottery tickets? After all, how many of you agree with me that it is the right thing to do to make sure your father wins the lottery?
Mayor Daley shouldn't be so pessimistic," Blagojevich said. "Maybe he needs to come to the House of Hope and have a little bit of hope, because I have high hopes for our lawmakers."
LAWS AREN'T PASSED WITH HOPE, YOU POMPOUS DOUCHEBAG!
Laws are passed by legislators, and despite your bag of hope and sunshine overflowing, this addition you've made has pretty much made half a dozen legislators decide to probably change their votes. Since the original bill luckily passed and went into your hands (where you promptly used it as toilet paper and marked it "return to sender") by only a slight margin, these vote changes have likely doomed the bill to not pass this second time around. And then we're all screwed and Doomsday wins.
If you want a REAL taste of Blagojevich's dastardly suck-up plan, you'd have to look closer at what he actually wants for senior citizens. Even though he stated at one point that all Illinois seniors would ride for free, he REALLY only meant LOCAL senior citizens. In order to qualify for the free ride, you'd have to live in that district. Chicago elderly can use the CTA/Metra/Pace systems for free, but in other connected cities, it would only apply for the public transit in their district. And as for the rest of Illinois seniors from downstate - there's no hope for you.
Then there's the entire issue of HOW all of this would be DONE. Special cards issued by district? Some kind of shiny pass that can be copied and sold? Magic beans? The truth is that the governor didn't think of ANY of this crap. He just wanted to pander to the voting elderly in the city, and his next appearance being at the Hallmark Retirement Home at 2960 N. Lake Shore Drive this morning in about 2 hours is just more proof of that.
If he REALLY cared about the senior citizens with fixed incomes not having to suffer with rate hikes, he should have proposed to keep their reduced fare cards at the SAME PRICE, rather than just letting them have free rides and screwing over the children in the process. That would be the genuinely-thoughtful and practical thing to do.
You know what? After all of this, I'm rethinking some of my cast choices for my CTA-based movie (which now has a working title of "Crossing the Line"). I'm thinking Daley should be played by someone more like Danny DeVito rather than Fred Thompson. DeVito can deliver a little better humor than Thompson could. I'd consider Patton Oswalt, but he's a little young-looking. And maybe someone a little more evil than Tom Cruise for Blagojevich, despite my wanting to see Cruise in a villainous role.
I wonder if Satan is available.
(Blagojevich at the megachurch with his "hope")
(The truth about which senior citizens would ride free)
Read more!
Showing posts with label CTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CTA. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Sandler and the CTA!
Stop the presses! I've just solved the CTA's money problems and if we can get this screenplay together in less than a week, we can present it to Hollywood and sign a contract for millions of dollars and that plus royalties should keep the CTA afloat!
Here's where it all began:
I'm reading the RedEye like I usually do in the mornings, riding the #44 bus (until it's killed on Doomsday) and the Orange Line train I take to get to work downtown, and the article about the CTA Doomsday and Blagojevich's legislation nonsense and that's when I see it. It's the first time I've seen a photo of the CTA President, Ron Huberman. My first instinct?
Man, that guy looks a LOT like Adam Sandler!
Well, maybe it's that Adam Sandler could easily portray this guy with a slightly different haircut and not much else. That's when I get my big idea: creating a movie about the CTA starring Adam Sandler as Ron Huberman. Or, well, not necessarily him completely - the movie's going to TECHNICALLY be fiction, but the plot setup is rather true-to-life.
Possible plotline:
Ron Huberman arrives to his office on the first day of his new position of CTA President, only to find out from the staff that there's no money, no funding, and the previous president has already created Project Doomsday which is now in motion. Ron learns that almost half of the bus lines will be axed (as well as the drivers), fares will need to be increased to almost double, and the entire Santa's Holiday Train project will be scrapped this year - all with 30 days as the deadline to get the money or funding before the CTA goes literally broke.
(I think he'll come to work on that first day right after Thanksgiving and the Doomsday will be maybe like Christmas, so this can become a holiday season movie.)
All the while trying to fight a few high-up legislators who never agree, like Mayor Daley and Governor Blagojevich, Ron must attempt some crazy stunts to try and create funding for the CTA. Basically it's every hilarious idea that the RedEye readers have sent in, plus some of the decent ones which accidentally go horribly awry (in comedic fashion). I'm picturing everything from a Bake Sale scene to possibly Ron talking to a mob boss (this is Chicago, after all) at one point. All the while, most of this takes place along the Red Line because you don't even need to exaggerate it that much to turn it into comedy.
I'm thinking a possible scene could be having Ron wrangle up all of the homeless musicians from along the Red Line stops and having a huge concert featuring the Red Line Players or something hilarious like that. It'd be fun to get musician cameos with popular musicians dressed as hobos!
The movie finally ties together - in the exact same way that reality would! Ron's last idea is his best ever; he creates a CTA screenplay and pitches it to Hollywood! The last few scenes would be Ron receiving the huge check from the movie studios and celebrating by riding in the sleigh along the Red Line with Santa's Holiday Train as riders cheer him on. There's a brief fade and we notice it's now an ACTOR playing Ron in the sleigh and as the credits roll, the camera pans out to a movie theater where Ron is having a screening with the other characters - still celebrating the victory and having one last laugh before the real credits roll.
Possible actors/actresses:
Adam Sandler as Ron Huberman. I think he can pull it off and make even Doomsday seem funny - at least to everyone not from Chicago. Plus, he's got the "nice guy" attitude until something pisses him off and he does the classic Adam Sandler yelling and freaking out stuff.
Tom Cruise as Governor Blagojevich. When was the last time we saw Tom as some kind of bad guy? I think Tom could bring some weird devilish evilness as a governor who's ruining the funding process.
Fred Thompson as Mayor Daley. Well, he's gotta have something to fall back on once he eventually drops from the presidential primaries. He can at least settle for mayor in a movie!
The usual Happy/Madison members like Rob Schneider and [those other guys] as CTA Red Line riders. If you've ridden the Red Line, you'd know what I'm talking about.
Morgan Freeman as a kindhearted hobo, offering sage advice in-between selling items on the train (the items change randomly in every scene he's in).
Perhaps some actress as a Blue Line rider who becomes the love interest after constantly bumping into Ron in the Jackson transfer tunnel. Perhaps a slow-motion Jackson transfer tunnel reconciliation montage near the end?
That's all I have so far. Maybe you're not all that interested, but I think there's a chance that Hollywood would go for it. And sign a big fat check that would take care of enough of the REAL CTA's Doomsday woes with potential royalties supplying the rest?
That's my big idea. What ideas have YOU offered to save the CTA from Doomsday? Well, mine's better. Because my idea could incorporate yours as a comedic scene!
Read more!
Here's where it all began:
I'm reading the RedEye like I usually do in the mornings, riding the #44 bus (until it's killed on Doomsday) and the Orange Line train I take to get to work downtown, and the article about the CTA Doomsday and Blagojevich's legislation nonsense and that's when I see it. It's the first time I've seen a photo of the CTA President, Ron Huberman. My first instinct?
Man, that guy looks a LOT like Adam Sandler!
Well, maybe it's that Adam Sandler could easily portray this guy with a slightly different haircut and not much else. That's when I get my big idea: creating a movie about the CTA starring Adam Sandler as Ron Huberman. Or, well, not necessarily him completely - the movie's going to TECHNICALLY be fiction, but the plot setup is rather true-to-life.
Possible plotline:
Ron Huberman arrives to his office on the first day of his new position of CTA President, only to find out from the staff that there's no money, no funding, and the previous president has already created Project Doomsday which is now in motion. Ron learns that almost half of the bus lines will be axed (as well as the drivers), fares will need to be increased to almost double, and the entire Santa's Holiday Train project will be scrapped this year - all with 30 days as the deadline to get the money or funding before the CTA goes literally broke.
(I think he'll come to work on that first day right after Thanksgiving and the Doomsday will be maybe like Christmas, so this can become a holiday season movie.)
All the while trying to fight a few high-up legislators who never agree, like Mayor Daley and Governor Blagojevich, Ron must attempt some crazy stunts to try and create funding for the CTA. Basically it's every hilarious idea that the RedEye readers have sent in, plus some of the decent ones which accidentally go horribly awry (in comedic fashion). I'm picturing everything from a Bake Sale scene to possibly Ron talking to a mob boss (this is Chicago, after all) at one point. All the while, most of this takes place along the Red Line because you don't even need to exaggerate it that much to turn it into comedy.
I'm thinking a possible scene could be having Ron wrangle up all of the homeless musicians from along the Red Line stops and having a huge concert featuring the Red Line Players or something hilarious like that. It'd be fun to get musician cameos with popular musicians dressed as hobos!
The movie finally ties together - in the exact same way that reality would! Ron's last idea is his best ever; he creates a CTA screenplay and pitches it to Hollywood! The last few scenes would be Ron receiving the huge check from the movie studios and celebrating by riding in the sleigh along the Red Line with Santa's Holiday Train as riders cheer him on. There's a brief fade and we notice it's now an ACTOR playing Ron in the sleigh and as the credits roll, the camera pans out to a movie theater where Ron is having a screening with the other characters - still celebrating the victory and having one last laugh before the real credits roll.
Possible actors/actresses:
Adam Sandler as Ron Huberman. I think he can pull it off and make even Doomsday seem funny - at least to everyone not from Chicago. Plus, he's got the "nice guy" attitude until something pisses him off and he does the classic Adam Sandler yelling and freaking out stuff.
Tom Cruise as Governor Blagojevich. When was the last time we saw Tom as some kind of bad guy? I think Tom could bring some weird devilish evilness as a governor who's ruining the funding process.
Fred Thompson as Mayor Daley. Well, he's gotta have something to fall back on once he eventually drops from the presidential primaries. He can at least settle for mayor in a movie!
The usual Happy/Madison members like Rob Schneider and [those other guys] as CTA Red Line riders. If you've ridden the Red Line, you'd know what I'm talking about.
Morgan Freeman as a kindhearted hobo, offering sage advice in-between selling items on the train (the items change randomly in every scene he's in).
Perhaps some actress as a Blue Line rider who becomes the love interest after constantly bumping into Ron in the Jackson transfer tunnel. Perhaps a slow-motion Jackson transfer tunnel reconciliation montage near the end?
That's all I have so far. Maybe you're not all that interested, but I think there's a chance that Hollywood would go for it. And sign a big fat check that would take care of enough of the REAL CTA's Doomsday woes with potential royalties supplying the rest?
That's my big idea. What ideas have YOU offered to save the CTA from Doomsday? Well, mine's better. Because my idea could incorporate yours as a comedic scene!
Read more!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Letter to RedEye: Doomsday Gloom Days
Just felt like writing in a letter to Hey CTA in the RedEye. It's a little call-to-arms for all of the bus lines getting the axe in a few weeks to cheer up a little. Die with your head held high, because right now... Well, it's explained in the letter.
(As always, if they publish anything, I'll make it bold in an update.)
Doomsday Gloom Days
My bus drivers have been getting grumpier and less friendly over the past few days. I frankly don't blame them for feeling that way, but it's rather rough on the customers who are trying to enjoy the last few days we have together. I remember it like it was just two weeks ago - because it was - and my #44 bus driver actually flagged down a #62 bus on the opposite side of the street so that it would stay there for a minute while an elderly passenger disembarked and crossed the street to transfer without having to stand out in the cold at the Halsted station waiting for the next one. Friendly smiles, salutations and reminders to "watch your step" now seem like fading memories.
The change happened just after Christmas, probably as all the CTA employees got nothing in the stockings except reminders of the Doomsday money shortage. By January 1st, all hope seems to have faded from their eyes, and it feels like they're transferring their wrath onto the passengers. My bus line is being executed on January 20th and there's no call from the governor yet. In fact, the governor is just taunting my bus line, saying he'd LIKE to call and issue a pardon, but there's a bad phone connection and the operator keeps hanging up on him and "yadda yadda yadda" you're going to die, just like all the others.
In just two days, I've heard more complaints about my slated-to-die bus line than I've heard in the past two weeks, and in those two weeks it's been more than I've heard in months and months. My bus line is often neglected, rarely fully-functional and yet still ran on-time with moderately-friendly service at worst. Now, it's running 15 minutes late at times, kicking off my friend who was having a card issue and I even heard of one bus driver texting while at the wheel and the bus was in motion.
Please, bus drivers on lines slated to die, don't make this as hard on your passengers as I'm sure it must be for you. I understand that your job is on the line and nobody can tell you it's going to be okay. But please, if you have to die - at least die with your head held high. Remember to be kind to us, and we'll return the favor by trying to make your last days as comfortable as possible.
Trust me, we're going to miss you when you're gone.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport Read more!
(As always, if they publish anything, I'll make it bold in an update.)
Doomsday Gloom Days
My bus drivers have been getting grumpier and less friendly over the past few days. I frankly don't blame them for feeling that way, but it's rather rough on the customers who are trying to enjoy the last few days we have together. I remember it like it was just two weeks ago - because it was - and my #44 bus driver actually flagged down a #62 bus on the opposite side of the street so that it would stay there for a minute while an elderly passenger disembarked and crossed the street to transfer without having to stand out in the cold at the Halsted station waiting for the next one. Friendly smiles, salutations and reminders to "watch your step" now seem like fading memories.
The change happened just after Christmas, probably as all the CTA employees got nothing in the stockings except reminders of the Doomsday money shortage. By January 1st, all hope seems to have faded from their eyes, and it feels like they're transferring their wrath onto the passengers. My bus line is being executed on January 20th and there's no call from the governor yet. In fact, the governor is just taunting my bus line, saying he'd LIKE to call and issue a pardon, but there's a bad phone connection and the operator keeps hanging up on him and "yadda yadda yadda" you're going to die, just like all the others.
In just two days, I've heard more complaints about my slated-to-die bus line than I've heard in the past two weeks, and in those two weeks it's been more than I've heard in months and months. My bus line is often neglected, rarely fully-functional and yet still ran on-time with moderately-friendly service at worst. Now, it's running 15 minutes late at times, kicking off my friend who was having a card issue and I even heard of one bus driver texting while at the wheel and the bus was in motion.
Please, bus drivers on lines slated to die, don't make this as hard on your passengers as I'm sure it must be for you. I understand that your job is on the line and nobody can tell you it's going to be okay. But please, if you have to die - at least die with your head held high. Remember to be kind to us, and we'll return the favor by trying to make your last days as comfortable as possible.
Trust me, we're going to miss you when you're gone.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport Read more!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Christmas on the CTA
I saw this, and had to share. I know, it's wrong of me to post hilarious things that I didn't write (and have no idea who the original author is) - but if you live in Chicago, you'll hopefully crack up as much as I did and forgive me. I've seen it on this awesome blog and originally on a post in this LJ community post.
And if you're not living in Chicago, maybe it'll give you some insight into our horrible world, full of Doomsdays (and apparently a supposed walkout on Monday that will leave the city crippled with no CTA, RTA or PACE).
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there
But St. Nick himself, plump and brimming with joy
Hit a snag on his last stop: Chicago, Illinois
For Rudolph the reindeer, whose nose led the way
Suddenly fell ill and could not guide the sleigh
Santa said “Well, just one option remains
I'll finish my route using CTA trains”
He gathered the reindeer and sack full of toys
To give to Chicagoland good girls and boys
And though well-equipped, CTA card in hand
He'd soon find their trip wouldn't go quite as planned
The train that they rode went from four tracks to one
And wouldn't move fast 'til construction was done
Right then, Santa's joy changed to derision
Saying “It'll take 3 damn hours to reach Clark and Division”
“We normally fly through the air with such speed
But this subway, it moves like a turtle on weed”
The seats were all dirty and beyond repairs
The reindeer stood in urine, which for once wasn't theirs
And Sally's new doll, it would just have to wait
Her Brown Line stop's closed until 2008!
Yes…Santa, he trudged and he slogged and he groaned
It seemed that his Doomsday would not be postponed
But he made a vow on that cold Christmas night
“I must do my job, and do the job right!”
He rode on that Red Line, and then on the Blue
Plus the 36 bus and the Clark 22
He rode on the Orange Line, rode on the Green
From O'Hare to East Side and all homes between
And despite the delays at a few of those places
He did all he could to put smiles on kids' faces
And when he was done, he sighed with relief
Though the trip had been rough, it was worth all the grief
He delivered those presents, he was true to his word
He looked at his watch…..it was January 3rd.
They all flew back home once Rudolph felt better
Mrs. Claus fetched his hubby hot tea and a sweater
Then St. Nick sat down in his favorite chair
And thought all about the entire affair
He hoped that the CTA would succeed
In getting their present: the funds that they need
And I heard him exclaim, as exclaiming's his habit
“Merry Christmas to All! Next time, f**k it, I'll cab it!!!!” Read more!
And if you're not living in Chicago, maybe it'll give you some insight into our horrible world, full of Doomsdays (and apparently a supposed walkout on Monday that will leave the city crippled with no CTA, RTA or PACE).
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there
But St. Nick himself, plump and brimming with joy
Hit a snag on his last stop: Chicago, Illinois
For Rudolph the reindeer, whose nose led the way
Suddenly fell ill and could not guide the sleigh
Santa said “Well, just one option remains
I'll finish my route using CTA trains”
He gathered the reindeer and sack full of toys
To give to Chicagoland good girls and boys
And though well-equipped, CTA card in hand
He'd soon find their trip wouldn't go quite as planned
The train that they rode went from four tracks to one
And wouldn't move fast 'til construction was done
Right then, Santa's joy changed to derision
Saying “It'll take 3 damn hours to reach Clark and Division”
“We normally fly through the air with such speed
But this subway, it moves like a turtle on weed”
The seats were all dirty and beyond repairs
The reindeer stood in urine, which for once wasn't theirs
And Sally's new doll, it would just have to wait
Her Brown Line stop's closed until 2008!
Yes…Santa, he trudged and he slogged and he groaned
It seemed that his Doomsday would not be postponed
But he made a vow on that cold Christmas night
“I must do my job, and do the job right!”
He rode on that Red Line, and then on the Blue
Plus the 36 bus and the Clark 22
He rode on the Orange Line, rode on the Green
From O'Hare to East Side and all homes between
And despite the delays at a few of those places
He did all he could to put smiles on kids' faces
And when he was done, he sighed with relief
Though the trip had been rough, it was worth all the grief
He delivered those presents, he was true to his word
He looked at his watch…..it was January 3rd.
They all flew back home once Rudolph felt better
Mrs. Claus fetched his hubby hot tea and a sweater
Then St. Nick sat down in his favorite chair
And thought all about the entire affair
He hoped that the CTA would succeed
In getting their present: the funds that they need
And I heard him exclaim, as exclaiming's his habit
“Merry Christmas to All! Next time, f**k it, I'll cab it!!!!” Read more!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
CTA - Chicago Transit by Aaron?
I was in a particularly chatty mood last night while on my way home. Perhaps it was the thrill of being anywhere other than work. Yes, that's probably it. Anyway, I got off the train to transfer to my bus route home (#44) and only saw a bus at the #8 loading station. A few seconds went by, and I noticed the lights on the bus there flashing "Wallace/Racine", which is what a #44 bus would say. So just as I peek my head out to see if this is truly a #44, it pulls out. Of course.
And yes, it was a #44 bus. Which meant waiting for the next one with the five other people who just got fooled the same way. We all started chatting about how annoying it is when the bus gets ready to leave, pulls into the different area to pick someone else up, and fools everyone else who wants to rush and get on before it leaves but can't find it because it's in the wrong spot.
Another one pulled up about two minutes later, and of course then sat there at the station for ten minutes or so. Luckily, an odd train of thought entered my head when I was talking to one of my regular Bus Ladies (I don't know their names, they're just ladies who often ride the same buses as me) and said, "Well, either way, I'm sure going to miss it come January."
You see, due to idiocy at practically every level of government going up from the city level that's supposed to fund it's damned public transportation, in January we have yet another huge Doomsday planned. They'll be cutting service for over sixty different bus lines. Our #44 is slated for death. And that's when the idea struck me:
How profitable would it be to buy an old CTA bus and run it along one of the deceased routes?
I haven't had time to sit down and do any math yet, so figures will all be estimated and probably way off. But the office is quiet, I'm not yet on the clock, and I'm interested in figuring this out.
Let's say that a reasonable estimated figure to purchase an old bus is $25,000. I'm guessing that new ones are upwards of $70,000 - but these are old, probably outdated models that clunk and have over 150,000 miles or so on them. And yes, I'd pick one that at least runs.
So I pick one of the routes that got shut down and was populated enough to guarantee at least 3/4 capacity at all times (especially with all the people waiting since I run maybe once an hour or so with one damned bus all by myself for the entire route). I can only charge cash, since CTA cards would do me no good, but I'd keep things at the $2/ride mark - even if Doomsday would increase cash fares to like $3. The discount is because it would encourage riders and apologize for not being able to give transfers to the real CTA.
So let's say the average bus can hold, also on average, 40 people (when not crammed in like sardines).
So waiting at the start point, I get between 50-75% capacity before pulling out. That's about 25 people, which is $50. Let's also give a lowball estimate of how many stops are on the route - I'll go with about 40, since I'd pick a small route to start - and assume that a minimum of 2 people on average get on at each stop. I'm guessing most stops would be much more than 2, but with empty stops in-between let's go with 2 for now as an average. That's $4 per stop, which is $80 for the route by the end. Everyone's cleared out, raise back to 50-75% again, and repeat.
To go through all 40 stops would be about 35 minutes, plus another 10 minutes to wait and fill up before the reverse side. Altogether each run in one direction nets $130 for 45 minutes, or about $175/hr. Run the bus for an 8-hour day and that's $1,400 a day. I don't know how much gasoline would cost for a bus, but with a higher quality of gas or the larger tank capacity, let's assume it's about $200/day. That's still $1,200 profit every day.
At $1,200 profit a day, it would take 3 weeks to have made back the seed money.
Give it another 3 weeks and that's enough profit to purchase a second bus and hire another driver, which would probably result in only 2 weeks combined (considering a salary is now being paid) to make the profits to purchase another bus. And so on.
In theory, with estimated and probably-wrong numbers, I'm turning a profit in less than a month just by purchasing an old bus and doing what the CTA is supposed to do - transport the citizens of Chicago with authority.
Go ahead and tell me which of my numbers are wrong - it won't make much difference to me. The whole thing is just a mildly-irrational idea anyway.
After all, it's not like I know how to drive - let alone drive a bus. I just thought that the point needed to be made.
Read more!
And yes, it was a #44 bus. Which meant waiting for the next one with the five other people who just got fooled the same way. We all started chatting about how annoying it is when the bus gets ready to leave, pulls into the different area to pick someone else up, and fools everyone else who wants to rush and get on before it leaves but can't find it because it's in the wrong spot.
Another one pulled up about two minutes later, and of course then sat there at the station for ten minutes or so. Luckily, an odd train of thought entered my head when I was talking to one of my regular Bus Ladies (I don't know their names, they're just ladies who often ride the same buses as me) and said, "Well, either way, I'm sure going to miss it come January."
You see, due to idiocy at practically every level of government going up from the city level that's supposed to fund it's damned public transportation, in January we have yet another huge Doomsday planned. They'll be cutting service for over sixty different bus lines. Our #44 is slated for death. And that's when the idea struck me:
How profitable would it be to buy an old CTA bus and run it along one of the deceased routes?
I haven't had time to sit down and do any math yet, so figures will all be estimated and probably way off. But the office is quiet, I'm not yet on the clock, and I'm interested in figuring this out.
Let's say that a reasonable estimated figure to purchase an old bus is $25,000. I'm guessing that new ones are upwards of $70,000 - but these are old, probably outdated models that clunk and have over 150,000 miles or so on them. And yes, I'd pick one that at least runs.
So I pick one of the routes that got shut down and was populated enough to guarantee at least 3/4 capacity at all times (especially with all the people waiting since I run maybe once an hour or so with one damned bus all by myself for the entire route). I can only charge cash, since CTA cards would do me no good, but I'd keep things at the $2/ride mark - even if Doomsday would increase cash fares to like $3. The discount is because it would encourage riders and apologize for not being able to give transfers to the real CTA.
So let's say the average bus can hold, also on average, 40 people (when not crammed in like sardines).
So waiting at the start point, I get between 50-75% capacity before pulling out. That's about 25 people, which is $50. Let's also give a lowball estimate of how many stops are on the route - I'll go with about 40, since I'd pick a small route to start - and assume that a minimum of 2 people on average get on at each stop. I'm guessing most stops would be much more than 2, but with empty stops in-between let's go with 2 for now as an average. That's $4 per stop, which is $80 for the route by the end. Everyone's cleared out, raise back to 50-75% again, and repeat.
To go through all 40 stops would be about 35 minutes, plus another 10 minutes to wait and fill up before the reverse side. Altogether each run in one direction nets $130 for 45 minutes, or about $175/hr. Run the bus for an 8-hour day and that's $1,400 a day. I don't know how much gasoline would cost for a bus, but with a higher quality of gas or the larger tank capacity, let's assume it's about $200/day. That's still $1,200 profit every day.
At $1,200 profit a day, it would take 3 weeks to have made back the seed money.
Give it another 3 weeks and that's enough profit to purchase a second bus and hire another driver, which would probably result in only 2 weeks combined (considering a salary is now being paid) to make the profits to purchase another bus. And so on.
In theory, with estimated and probably-wrong numbers, I'm turning a profit in less than a month just by purchasing an old bus and doing what the CTA is supposed to do - transport the citizens of Chicago with authority.
Go ahead and tell me which of my numbers are wrong - it won't make much difference to me. The whole thing is just a mildly-irrational idea anyway.
After all, it's not like I know how to drive - let alone drive a bus. I just thought that the point needed to be made.
Read more!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Letter to RedEye: Double Dose!
It's been a while since I wrote anything to the RedEye, and longer still since they've published anything I've sent. So this morning, after a large bit of network trouble here at the office, I managed to shoot them a double-dose of ranting. The first letter is in response to an article about the Boomerang Generation being the new wave - students returning home from college to mooch off their parents.
Boomerang Generation: New Ways to Fail
The whole notion of the Boomerang Generation is just another brick in the wall of coddling children separating them from the real world to which they should be properly contributing. I read in a study that humans are the most immature animals on the planet - in the sense that it takes our young nineteen years on average until they are able to contribute enough back to the society that has been supporting it through childhood. Think about that for a second - on average, it takes our children nineteen years until they can give back more to society than they are taking and become full-fledged adults.
And now we're letting them stay sheltered even more? Where is the outcry of older generations to put these whippersnappers in their place with stories of how far they'd advanced "by your age" and been married with a job and supporting two kids of their own and whatnot? "Five miles uphill both ways in the snow" and so forth! I'm all for the notion of letting children be children, but at some point, you have to cut the umbilical cord - and keep it cut. Maybe this isn't about children being a boomerang generation, but about parents not coping with their Empty Nest Syndrome.
My parents had the right idea, strangely enough. Two days after I moved to college, before I'd even finished unpacking my things, my parents threw out my bed back home. The message was clear: "The cord is cut. You're in the real world now." I love them for doing that, because I have my own place, my own job, my own bills and maybe someday my own family as well.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport
This second letter is in response to their article about how people really can't trust the CTA, who just got bailed out yet again, meaning no Doomsday Plan needs to be enacted until . . . oh, a few more weeks. And the Doomsday Scare will resume anew. So here's my response, which I've been thinking about for WEEKS.
Lack of Trust for the CTA
My problem with the CTA isn't about the constant whining for more financial support and then further whining upon receiving "not enough" financial support. My problem is about the lack of follow-through. Here's a random analogy that may or may not shed light on my concerns:
A pie shop sells apple pies. But they realize their apple stock is running low and they won't be getting any deliveries in for a while. Frantically, they start discussing pears. They invest money on methods to quickly obtain pears, debate over the price difference, research recipes for pear pies, perform taste tests and do market research to see if people can handle pear pies, advertising new pear pies due to lack of apples, and after an entire month of this nonsense - a truckload of apples comes in and apple piemaking resumes and nobody does anything about pears until a few weeks later when the apples are running low again.
I'd just like to know how much money went into purchasing ad space to warn people about the Doomsday plan, how much went into planning the Doomsday plan out in the first place, how much was spent on wages for people handing out fliers about Doomsday or putting up notices in stations and on buses instead of their regular jobs and how much was spent on all of the pamphlets and fliers and signs themselves. The worst part is that even though they got their money, that means all of the money spent warning about Doomsday was a waste because the plan was never used and the money just creates a further drain that speeds up the next Doomsday when it all repeats.
At some point, you just have to DEMAND that they have a little follow-through, so maybe they can finally fix the problem and stop wasting all this extra money in the meantime. I hate the thought of paying extra money, but I hate the thought of WASTING money a whole lot more.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport
Actually, I just got an e-mail back from Kyla at Going Public in response to my CTA letter!
Hi Aaron:
Good points, and spoken like someone with a true business mind. Good analogy. I will try and get this into reader letters, but we may have to trim a bit for space. Thanks so much, and have a great rest of the week!
Best,
Kyra
So it's not only shocking to get a reply TEN MINUTES after I sent these off, but such a positive one at that! I was flabbergasted to read "Good analogy." Seriously. I chuckled at the notion that I have a true business mind. Strange how everyone mistakes "common sense" for a "good business mind".
Well, if they print anything, I'll let you know (and make it bold here)! Read more!
Boomerang Generation: New Ways to Fail
The whole notion of the Boomerang Generation is just another brick in the wall of coddling children separating them from the real world to which they should be properly contributing. I read in a study that humans are the most immature animals on the planet - in the sense that it takes our young nineteen years on average until they are able to contribute enough back to the society that has been supporting it through childhood. Think about that for a second - on average, it takes our children nineteen years until they can give back more to society than they are taking and become full-fledged adults.
And now we're letting them stay sheltered even more? Where is the outcry of older generations to put these whippersnappers in their place with stories of how far they'd advanced "by your age" and been married with a job and supporting two kids of their own and whatnot? "Five miles uphill both ways in the snow" and so forth! I'm all for the notion of letting children be children, but at some point, you have to cut the umbilical cord - and keep it cut. Maybe this isn't about children being a boomerang generation, but about parents not coping with their Empty Nest Syndrome.
My parents had the right idea, strangely enough. Two days after I moved to college, before I'd even finished unpacking my things, my parents threw out my bed back home. The message was clear: "The cord is cut. You're in the real world now." I love them for doing that, because I have my own place, my own job, my own bills and maybe someday my own family as well.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport
This second letter is in response to their article about how people really can't trust the CTA, who just got bailed out yet again, meaning no Doomsday Plan needs to be enacted until . . . oh, a few more weeks. And the Doomsday Scare will resume anew. So here's my response, which I've been thinking about for WEEKS.
Lack of Trust for the CTA
My problem with the CTA isn't about the constant whining for more financial support and then further whining upon receiving "not enough" financial support. My problem is about the lack of follow-through. Here's a random analogy that may or may not shed light on my concerns:
A pie shop sells apple pies. But they realize their apple stock is running low and they won't be getting any deliveries in for a while. Frantically, they start discussing pears. They invest money on methods to quickly obtain pears, debate over the price difference, research recipes for pear pies, perform taste tests and do market research to see if people can handle pear pies, advertising new pear pies due to lack of apples, and after an entire month of this nonsense - a truckload of apples comes in and apple piemaking resumes and nobody does anything about pears until a few weeks later when the apples are running low again.
I'd just like to know how much money went into purchasing ad space to warn people about the Doomsday plan, how much went into planning the Doomsday plan out in the first place, how much was spent on wages for people handing out fliers about Doomsday or putting up notices in stations and on buses instead of their regular jobs and how much was spent on all of the pamphlets and fliers and signs themselves. The worst part is that even though they got their money, that means all of the money spent warning about Doomsday was a waste because the plan was never used and the money just creates a further drain that speeds up the next Doomsday when it all repeats.
At some point, you just have to DEMAND that they have a little follow-through, so maybe they can finally fix the problem and stop wasting all this extra money in the meantime. I hate the thought of paying extra money, but I hate the thought of WASTING money a whole lot more.
Aaron Samuels, 24, Bridgeport
Actually, I just got an e-mail back from Kyla at Going Public in response to my CTA letter!
Hi Aaron:
Good points, and spoken like someone with a true business mind. Good analogy. I will try and get this into reader letters, but we may have to trim a bit for space. Thanks so much, and have a great rest of the week!
Best,
Kyra
So it's not only shocking to get a reply TEN MINUTES after I sent these off, but such a positive one at that! I was flabbergasted to read "Good analogy." Seriously. I chuckled at the notion that I have a true business mind. Strange how everyone mistakes "common sense" for a "good business mind".
Well, if they print anything, I'll let you know (and make it bold here)! Read more!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Letter to RedEye: CTA Suggestions
Recently, the RedEye's Going Public column opened the floor to hear suggestions for the CTA so they could improve service and reliability and all the other things we want the CTA to provide because it doesn't.
I came up with a few ideas. Here's my letter. We'll see if any of it gets printed, since I didn't see that they did today.
Since the RedEye is calling for suggestions for the CTA, I can't resist drafting my own list of suggestions:
1) Bus tires.
I don't know what is wrong with the tires on every single bus I get on, but there seems to be a near-constant, squealing, screeching noise coming from the wheel areas. It almost sounds as if some of the wheels on my bus aren't going 'round and 'round - but are literally being dragged along the ground all the time. If this is the case, I'm sure it's affecting the gas mileage of the bus, and fixing this problem would lead to better gas efficiency, better speed and handling, and IT WOULD STOP THE SQUEALING NOISE!
2) "Approximately one minute."
I'm getting a little sick of the "Attention customers: an ___BOUND train, ___ the Loop, will be arriving in approximately one minute" messages. Okay, some stations just have an "arriving shortly" message, but the whole system is a moot point. By the time these messages are playing and being displayed, the train is IN SIGHT. I like the suggestion I read about replacing it with just a sign that flashes with the direction of the train (inbound/outbound) that would do the same thing, quicker and easier, but I'm taking it one step forward. If we have some ridiculous trigger or sensor that alerts the sign to scroll some text and play that dumb message, why can't we move it back farther, maybe to the previous station, and have a countdown of the minutes we'll be waiting for the next train? This would alleviate rubberneckers who lean INTO THE TRACK AREA to fight over catching the first glimpse of an incoming train - which always happens BEFORE any message plays. Just give us a countdown so people can just relax and wait, rather than endanger themselves because we never have a clue when a train is REALLY coming in this whole system until we actually SEE it.
3) Leaks and puddles.
Dear CTA: You know where the roof is leaking. You know it's causing puddles. Spend $5 and get a freaking TARP for the leak to divert the puddle AWAY from customers. The end.
4) Bus-bunching research.
Here's how you can PROBABLY solve the entire bus-bunching phenomenon for about $100 per bus route (though we all know I'm talking about the #8 Halsted, because if THAT could be fixed, anything could be fixed four times as easily). Buy twenty one-day passes. Give them to twenty college students who have nothing better to do than spend a day fixing the CTA. Tell their professors to give them extra credit if they're civil engineers or something. Have them board the bus route at one end, one per bus, so you've now got twenty researchers on twenty buses in a row, all with a watch, notepad and pen. Have them record the time as they get to each stop, and take notes on anything significant that's delaying the bus, whether it's unruly passengers, traffic accidents, or the bus is just going REALLY SLOWLY. When they get to the end of the route, have them get off and board going the opposite way, and repeat. In one day, you'll have enough data to plot the movement of the buses, make all kinds of graphs and charts, and I'm sure you'll have a thousand times more information about the bus-bunching phenomenon than you ever did before. All for a lousy $100. You're welcome!
5) Enforcing the rules.
At every level, from the CTA to the federal government, it winds up with the fact that we have too many laws and not enough enforcement. I read the entire debate over whether or not there are CTA rules about strollers on buses and trains, but where's the debate over actual-factual rules that simply aren't being enforced? We all love to argue over the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the buses and trains, but when was the last time you saw anyone being fined or punished for eating/drinking on the CTA? The signs and loudspeakers make it clear that there IS a rule, but nobody enforces it. And the soliciting! My goodness, it's like I can't take one ride on a train without being harassed for change, asked to buy something that was probably stolen, or hit up for money by children and their fundraisers. No soliciting means NO SOLICITING! One of these days, I'm going to snap - grab the solicitor by the scruff of the neck, threaten to drag them off the train and to the nearest police officer or security person, and fine them to the full extent of the law. That is, of course, unless they pay me some hush money. The irony alone of hitting up solicitors for money as a threat is delicious enough to make it worth trying at least once.
6) More buses, more trains.
As long as they're all borderline-functional, why not drag out the rest of the monstrocities hiding in storage or CTA garages? If what they've got on display now is the cream of the crop, how far down could their B-team of vehicles really be? Get more trains and buses out there, especially during rush hour, and this will alleviate a huge portion of the crammed-full trains and all of the problems it brings to commuters. It does no good being in a seat if three stops later, every pathway is stuffed to capacity with people blocking any chance of exit, and you're literally SHOVING people out of the way because they don't understand that this is your stop and they CAN step out of the train momentarily to clear a path and then GET BACK ON! Between 4:45pm and 5:45pm, there should be a non-stop flow of trains rotating around the Loop. Believe me, even if the duration between trains were the two minutes for it to pull out, have the other line's train pull in and pull out, then have the next train pull in - by the time they left the Loop, they would be 3/4 full. And 3/4 full allows for room to wiggle your way out of the train with few problems, unlike sardine-stuffed trains.
These are just a sampling of the numerous suggestions one could make on improving the CTA. Feel free to print any/all of them - the faster they can reach Ron Huberman, the better!
Aaron Samuels, 23, Bridgeport
Like I said, I submitted this yesterday, and nothing in today's paper. Maybe tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see, but I thought I'd at least throw it out there for you readers, just in case.
Read more!
I came up with a few ideas. Here's my letter. We'll see if any of it gets printed, since I didn't see that they did today.
Since the RedEye is calling for suggestions for the CTA, I can't resist drafting my own list of suggestions:
1) Bus tires.
I don't know what is wrong with the tires on every single bus I get on, but there seems to be a near-constant, squealing, screeching noise coming from the wheel areas. It almost sounds as if some of the wheels on my bus aren't going 'round and 'round - but are literally being dragged along the ground all the time. If this is the case, I'm sure it's affecting the gas mileage of the bus, and fixing this problem would lead to better gas efficiency, better speed and handling, and IT WOULD STOP THE SQUEALING NOISE!
2) "Approximately one minute."
I'm getting a little sick of the "Attention customers: an ___BOUND train, ___ the Loop, will be arriving in approximately one minute" messages. Okay, some stations just have an "arriving shortly" message, but the whole system is a moot point. By the time these messages are playing and being displayed, the train is IN SIGHT. I like the suggestion I read about replacing it with just a sign that flashes with the direction of the train (inbound/outbound) that would do the same thing, quicker and easier, but I'm taking it one step forward. If we have some ridiculous trigger or sensor that alerts the sign to scroll some text and play that dumb message, why can't we move it back farther, maybe to the previous station, and have a countdown of the minutes we'll be waiting for the next train? This would alleviate rubberneckers who lean INTO THE TRACK AREA to fight over catching the first glimpse of an incoming train - which always happens BEFORE any message plays. Just give us a countdown so people can just relax and wait, rather than endanger themselves because we never have a clue when a train is REALLY coming in this whole system until we actually SEE it.
3) Leaks and puddles.
Dear CTA: You know where the roof is leaking. You know it's causing puddles. Spend $5 and get a freaking TARP for the leak to divert the puddle AWAY from customers. The end.
4) Bus-bunching research.
Here's how you can PROBABLY solve the entire bus-bunching phenomenon for about $100 per bus route (though we all know I'm talking about the #8 Halsted, because if THAT could be fixed, anything could be fixed four times as easily). Buy twenty one-day passes. Give them to twenty college students who have nothing better to do than spend a day fixing the CTA. Tell their professors to give them extra credit if they're civil engineers or something. Have them board the bus route at one end, one per bus, so you've now got twenty researchers on twenty buses in a row, all with a watch, notepad and pen. Have them record the time as they get to each stop, and take notes on anything significant that's delaying the bus, whether it's unruly passengers, traffic accidents, or the bus is just going REALLY SLOWLY. When they get to the end of the route, have them get off and board going the opposite way, and repeat. In one day, you'll have enough data to plot the movement of the buses, make all kinds of graphs and charts, and I'm sure you'll have a thousand times more information about the bus-bunching phenomenon than you ever did before. All for a lousy $100. You're welcome!
5) Enforcing the rules.
At every level, from the CTA to the federal government, it winds up with the fact that we have too many laws and not enough enforcement. I read the entire debate over whether or not there are CTA rules about strollers on buses and trains, but where's the debate over actual-factual rules that simply aren't being enforced? We all love to argue over the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the buses and trains, but when was the last time you saw anyone being fined or punished for eating/drinking on the CTA? The signs and loudspeakers make it clear that there IS a rule, but nobody enforces it. And the soliciting! My goodness, it's like I can't take one ride on a train without being harassed for change, asked to buy something that was probably stolen, or hit up for money by children and their fundraisers. No soliciting means NO SOLICITING! One of these days, I'm going to snap - grab the solicitor by the scruff of the neck, threaten to drag them off the train and to the nearest police officer or security person, and fine them to the full extent of the law. That is, of course, unless they pay me some hush money. The irony alone of hitting up solicitors for money as a threat is delicious enough to make it worth trying at least once.
6) More buses, more trains.
As long as they're all borderline-functional, why not drag out the rest of the monstrocities hiding in storage or CTA garages? If what they've got on display now is the cream of the crop, how far down could their B-team of vehicles really be? Get more trains and buses out there, especially during rush hour, and this will alleviate a huge portion of the crammed-full trains and all of the problems it brings to commuters. It does no good being in a seat if three stops later, every pathway is stuffed to capacity with people blocking any chance of exit, and you're literally SHOVING people out of the way because they don't understand that this is your stop and they CAN step out of the train momentarily to clear a path and then GET BACK ON! Between 4:45pm and 5:45pm, there should be a non-stop flow of trains rotating around the Loop. Believe me, even if the duration between trains were the two minutes for it to pull out, have the other line's train pull in and pull out, then have the next train pull in - by the time they left the Loop, they would be 3/4 full. And 3/4 full allows for room to wiggle your way out of the train with few problems, unlike sardine-stuffed trains.
These are just a sampling of the numerous suggestions one could make on improving the CTA. Feel free to print any/all of them - the faster they can reach Ron Huberman, the better!
Aaron Samuels, 23, Bridgeport
Like I said, I submitted this yesterday, and nothing in today's paper. Maybe tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see, but I thought I'd at least throw it out there for you readers, just in case.
Read more!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Chicago Traffic: 2nd-Worst in the Nation
I am not a driver.
I just had to get that out of the way, so you know that the rest of this post is going to be only pure facts from the article I read, or pure opinion that should be taken with a grain of salt. Last time I was behind the wheel of a car was 2001, and that was just getting some practice hours in before thinking about going for my driver's license, which I obviously never bothered to get. Of course, that's because I moved here to Chicago, under the impression that I would never need a car here - thanks to the public transportation system.
In retrospect, maybe it wasn't all that horrible of a decision. For all the guff my friends give me about not owning a car or being able to drive, and how crappy the CTA runs here in the city - I can at least rub their noses back in the fact that in comparison, I think the vehicular congestion and waste of resources is a much crappier system to be a part of. Plus, I moved here to Chicago from the city of Los Angeles - so I technically upgraded. While Chicago is #2 or #3 worst in a lot of these categories of horrible driving conditions, at least L.A. stays put at #1, though not by a huge margin.
According to the study results that were done on traffic conditions and congestion and delays and whatnot - every year, the average Chicago motorist loses 46 hours of time stuck in traffic during peak hours. Back in 1995, they only lost 33 hours per year, so you can see that the incline keeps going. Every year, more than an entire average WORKWEEK is lost just because of peak-hour traffic, per driver. The amount of fuel that adds up to, per driver, is 32 gallons. The total cost is $906, just due to traffic alone. When you account for the fact that there are millions of drivers out there, it's a total of over 203 million hours lost and costs over $4 billion annually.
The 203 million hours lost puts Chicago smack dab in 3rd place, with New York losing 384 million hours a year and Los Angeles taking the cake with 491 million hours lost. But the real shame brought to Chicago is that it is #2 in the category of Time Indexes. A Time Index is how to calculate how much time you should prepare in advance to make a trip due to delays. Chicago has a Time Index of 1.47, which means that for every 20-minute drive you take, it's going to really take 29.4 minutes. Only Los Angeles has a higher Time Index, and it's only higher by .03 - meaning it'll take a full 30 minutes for that 20-minute trip in the City of Angels.
Of course, I don't put much stock in the Time Index system, after taking a look at it. I mean, it's a great idea in theory, but it's that base-time calculation that befuddles me. Were these trips timed at 20 minutes based simply on drives taken during non-peak hours? Is that 9pm? Midnight? 3am on a Sunday? There's no way to get a "lab test" or any real scientific control done on a commute, so it's very difficult to predict what your base time for any drive would be, meaning that any calculation using a Time Index is going to be rather fruitless.
Here's something that I thought interesting: judging by the numbers, the study shows that the city of Chicago has over 4.4 million drivers on the road. That's the number they used to multiply the 46 hours and $906 lost annually per driver to get those astronomical numbers for the city itself. So what about the third number that they calculated? If every driver is wasting 32 gallons of gasoline per year, then that means that every year over 142 million gallons of gas are being wasted.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill only lost about 11 million gallons of crude oil. Every year, Chicago is wasting more gasoline than almost 13 Exxon Valdez spills.
And people still give me grief about taking city transportation? I'd rather deal with "slow zones" than this mess. Losing $906 a year, on top of whatever it costs to run and maintain a car and keep it filled with gas, let alone parking in the city? No thanks. $906 could buy more than twelve 30-day CTA passes, so I could pay for a year's worth of transportation with the EXTRA WASTED money that a Chicago driver loses in that year.
Every now and then, with all of the muck and mire that the CTA gets dragged through, there are still things that make me appreciate it just enough to keep following and using it. Aside from the colorful cast of characters you meet on buses and trains, there are a few nice things about using public transportation - even if it means relying on the frequently-unreliable. And there's the financial benefit. Something tells me that buses aren't going to fare anywhere near cars when you consider the traffic and time-loss implications (they're in the same traffic, plus making stops along the way) - but the trains make up for it all, even when you take into consideration all of the "slow zones" that commuters seem bogged down with.
Maybe it really is faster than driving. It's certainly cheaper, for now. But then again, I guess you get what you pay for.
(A version of the article printed in the RedEye)
(A pretty graph of some of these numbers)
Read more!
I just had to get that out of the way, so you know that the rest of this post is going to be only pure facts from the article I read, or pure opinion that should be taken with a grain of salt. Last time I was behind the wheel of a car was 2001, and that was just getting some practice hours in before thinking about going for my driver's license, which I obviously never bothered to get. Of course, that's because I moved here to Chicago, under the impression that I would never need a car here - thanks to the public transportation system.
In retrospect, maybe it wasn't all that horrible of a decision. For all the guff my friends give me about not owning a car or being able to drive, and how crappy the CTA runs here in the city - I can at least rub their noses back in the fact that in comparison, I think the vehicular congestion and waste of resources is a much crappier system to be a part of. Plus, I moved here to Chicago from the city of Los Angeles - so I technically upgraded. While Chicago is #2 or #3 worst in a lot of these categories of horrible driving conditions, at least L.A. stays put at #1, though not by a huge margin.
According to the study results that were done on traffic conditions and congestion and delays and whatnot - every year, the average Chicago motorist loses 46 hours of time stuck in traffic during peak hours. Back in 1995, they only lost 33 hours per year, so you can see that the incline keeps going. Every year, more than an entire average WORKWEEK is lost just because of peak-hour traffic, per driver. The amount of fuel that adds up to, per driver, is 32 gallons. The total cost is $906, just due to traffic alone. When you account for the fact that there are millions of drivers out there, it's a total of over 203 million hours lost and costs over $4 billion annually.
The 203 million hours lost puts Chicago smack dab in 3rd place, with New York losing 384 million hours a year and Los Angeles taking the cake with 491 million hours lost. But the real shame brought to Chicago is that it is #2 in the category of Time Indexes. A Time Index is how to calculate how much time you should prepare in advance to make a trip due to delays. Chicago has a Time Index of 1.47, which means that for every 20-minute drive you take, it's going to really take 29.4 minutes. Only Los Angeles has a higher Time Index, and it's only higher by .03 - meaning it'll take a full 30 minutes for that 20-minute trip in the City of Angels.
Of course, I don't put much stock in the Time Index system, after taking a look at it. I mean, it's a great idea in theory, but it's that base-time calculation that befuddles me. Were these trips timed at 20 minutes based simply on drives taken during non-peak hours? Is that 9pm? Midnight? 3am on a Sunday? There's no way to get a "lab test" or any real scientific control done on a commute, so it's very difficult to predict what your base time for any drive would be, meaning that any calculation using a Time Index is going to be rather fruitless.
Here's something that I thought interesting: judging by the numbers, the study shows that the city of Chicago has over 4.4 million drivers on the road. That's the number they used to multiply the 46 hours and $906 lost annually per driver to get those astronomical numbers for the city itself. So what about the third number that they calculated? If every driver is wasting 32 gallons of gasoline per year, then that means that every year over 142 million gallons of gas are being wasted.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill only lost about 11 million gallons of crude oil. Every year, Chicago is wasting more gasoline than almost 13 Exxon Valdez spills.
And people still give me grief about taking city transportation? I'd rather deal with "slow zones" than this mess. Losing $906 a year, on top of whatever it costs to run and maintain a car and keep it filled with gas, let alone parking in the city? No thanks. $906 could buy more than twelve 30-day CTA passes, so I could pay for a year's worth of transportation with the EXTRA WASTED money that a Chicago driver loses in that year.
Every now and then, with all of the muck and mire that the CTA gets dragged through, there are still things that make me appreciate it just enough to keep following and using it. Aside from the colorful cast of characters you meet on buses and trains, there are a few nice things about using public transportation - even if it means relying on the frequently-unreliable. And there's the financial benefit. Something tells me that buses aren't going to fare anywhere near cars when you consider the traffic and time-loss implications (they're in the same traffic, plus making stops along the way) - but the trains make up for it all, even when you take into consideration all of the "slow zones" that commuters seem bogged down with.
Maybe it really is faster than driving. It's certainly cheaper, for now. But then again, I guess you get what you pay for.
(A version of the article printed in the RedEye)
(A pretty graph of some of these numbers)
Read more!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Letter to RedEye: CTA Rate Hike
I got printed again in the RedEye! Here's the letter I sent them - the italics are the portion that they decided to print. Sad, really - they kept the part where I complain, but left out the part where I suggest how to make things better.
To RedEye:
Okay, so to make up for this lack of funding, they not only want to raise the fares based on which method you pay with but magically what time you're having to make your trip? Unfortunately, I don't GET to change my game plan. My game plan involves having to ride the CTA between 6:30am and 9:30am and then again between 4:00pm and 7:00pm.
It's called a JOB. I don't get to call in to work and say, "Sorry, boss, but to save money I'm going to have to come in at 10am because they charge extra on the CTA to get to work when I'm supposed to."
With that kind of flawed logic, they should get it over with and charge us double the fare - punishment for having a job and contributing to society, I'm sure.
How about if THEY step up and start FIXING things as a game plan?
If they're already threatening to cancel 40-something bus routes, why not be SMART about it? Why not just threaten to cut 50-something routes, but use the EXTRA buses and drivers from those extra cancelled routes and improve service on the EXISTING routes?
Put 3/4 of the workforce from the extra cut routes into extra buses and drivers so riders can USE the buses. That extra 1/4 of the workforce? Put that money towards hiring some HELP to figure out why buses keep bunching and how to eliminate the problem! I can think of SEVERAL research methods to figure it out - I'm sure they could come up with ONE and put that extra money towards implementing it and making our public transportation system at least tolerable.
Because tolerance is currently running thin. And we'd rather have our money working FOR us, rather than flushing it down a failing system like we currently are.
Aaron Samuels, 23
Bridgeport Read more!
To RedEye:
Okay, so to make up for this lack of funding, they not only want to raise the fares based on which method you pay with but magically what time you're having to make your trip? Unfortunately, I don't GET to change my game plan. My game plan involves having to ride the CTA between 6:30am and 9:30am and then again between 4:00pm and 7:00pm.
It's called a JOB. I don't get to call in to work and say, "Sorry, boss, but to save money I'm going to have to come in at 10am because they charge extra on the CTA to get to work when I'm supposed to."
With that kind of flawed logic, they should get it over with and charge us double the fare - punishment for having a job and contributing to society, I'm sure.
How about if THEY step up and start FIXING things as a game plan?
If they're already threatening to cancel 40-something bus routes, why not be SMART about it? Why not just threaten to cut 50-something routes, but use the EXTRA buses and drivers from those extra cancelled routes and improve service on the EXISTING routes?
Put 3/4 of the workforce from the extra cut routes into extra buses and drivers so riders can USE the buses. That extra 1/4 of the workforce? Put that money towards hiring some HELP to figure out why buses keep bunching and how to eliminate the problem! I can think of SEVERAL research methods to figure it out - I'm sure they could come up with ONE and put that extra money towards implementing it and making our public transportation system at least tolerable.
Because tolerance is currently running thin. And we'd rather have our money working FOR us, rather than flushing it down a failing system like we currently are.
Aaron Samuels, 23
Bridgeport Read more!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
"Congestion Fee" - Why Alderman Burke Should Resign Immediately
In the Chicago Tribune (and RedEye):
Should motorists pay a toll for the privilege of driving in Chicago's central business district?
Ald. Edward Burke (14th) believes it's a good time to raise the question.
Burke on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for a City Council hearing on the feasibility of levying a "congestion fee" on drivers who set tire downtown.
"Can it reduce pollution? Can it reduce traffic? Can it raise a revenue stream to help out the beleaguered CTA?" Burke asked. "It's certainly a very complicated issue and one that should not be rushed into. But I thought that as long as London is doing it, as long as New York is [proposing] it, perhaps it is an idea that Chicago ought to consider."
How much would be charged, how would tolls be collected and how much money might be generated for the cash-strapped CTA are the types of information the alderman hopes to gather by listening to experts at the hearing.
Mayor Richard Daley said he has an open mind on the congestion-fee concept. But he also has reservations.
With their narrow streets and absence of alleys, London and New York are "completely different" from Chicago, he said.
"Are you going to put [the fee] on all the aldermen who drive every day?" Daley asked. "What about all the trucks coming downtown? What do you do with them?"
"Let's not rush to that and scare everybody off," the mayor declared. "We are trying to keep businesses here and ... move businesses into the city."
There's never a good time to raise a question that foolish.
What Burke is proposing is seemingly the most backwards proposal that my rage-filled brain can remember ever having heard. I don't even know where to begin ranting about this atrocity – other than publicly calling for the Alderman's immediate removal from office on the grounds of sheer stupidity alone.
"Can it reduce pollution? Can it reduce traffic?" It wouldn't take the mental capacity of an 8-year-old to realize that tolls get paid at tollbooths, tollbooths cause lines of cars waiting to pay the toll, and huge lines of cars are the definition of 'increased traffic' that is all the while creating 'increased pollution' by having to linger and create exhaust in concentrated areas. "Can it raise a revenue stream to help out the beleaguered CTA?" It takes a twisted mind to propose charging people to NOT use your product. The idea of charging people money for driving instead of using the CTA just to raise money for the CTA is just absurd. I hope that Burke never works for Microsoft, or we all might have to pay a fee to use a non-Windows operating system!
As if city motorists don't have it hard enough already with congestion that kills fuel efficiency and loads of time as well as the exorbitant fees to park in any parking garage (unless you want to risk meters and outrageous parking tickets) – now this elected official is suggesting we charge them to have to suffer through all this?
This complicated issue that "should not be rushed into" is one that should not have been rushed going from the alderman's brain to his mouth, because it went straight from his mouth to our ears.
This is the most ridiculous idea I can recall coming from the city aldermen since the insane foie gras ban that passed unanimously (meaning that not a single alderman saw how foolish and wrong it was and they should all be ashamed). This "congestion fee" is foolish enough to warrant kicking Burke out of office immediately. The city needs more aldermen who are smart enough to not only come up with some good ideas for a change, but also know when to keep their mouths shut to avoid the bad ideas from ever getting out.
Just remember, folks. AARON SAMUELS FOR CITY COUNCIL ALDERMAN IN 2011! Time for someone with a shred of sanity and logic to help rule the city! Read more!
Should motorists pay a toll for the privilege of driving in Chicago's central business district?
Ald. Edward Burke (14th) believes it's a good time to raise the question.
Burke on Wednesday introduced a resolution calling for a City Council hearing on the feasibility of levying a "congestion fee" on drivers who set tire downtown.
"Can it reduce pollution? Can it reduce traffic? Can it raise a revenue stream to help out the beleaguered CTA?" Burke asked. "It's certainly a very complicated issue and one that should not be rushed into. But I thought that as long as London is doing it, as long as New York is [proposing] it, perhaps it is an idea that Chicago ought to consider."
How much would be charged, how would tolls be collected and how much money might be generated for the cash-strapped CTA are the types of information the alderman hopes to gather by listening to experts at the hearing.
Mayor Richard Daley said he has an open mind on the congestion-fee concept. But he also has reservations.
With their narrow streets and absence of alleys, London and New York are "completely different" from Chicago, he said.
"Are you going to put [the fee] on all the aldermen who drive every day?" Daley asked. "What about all the trucks coming downtown? What do you do with them?"
"Let's not rush to that and scare everybody off," the mayor declared. "We are trying to keep businesses here and ... move businesses into the city."
There's never a good time to raise a question that foolish.
What Burke is proposing is seemingly the most backwards proposal that my rage-filled brain can remember ever having heard. I don't even know where to begin ranting about this atrocity – other than publicly calling for the Alderman's immediate removal from office on the grounds of sheer stupidity alone.
"Can it reduce pollution? Can it reduce traffic?" It wouldn't take the mental capacity of an 8-year-old to realize that tolls get paid at tollbooths, tollbooths cause lines of cars waiting to pay the toll, and huge lines of cars are the definition of 'increased traffic' that is all the while creating 'increased pollution' by having to linger and create exhaust in concentrated areas. "Can it raise a revenue stream to help out the beleaguered CTA?" It takes a twisted mind to propose charging people to NOT use your product. The idea of charging people money for driving instead of using the CTA just to raise money for the CTA is just absurd. I hope that Burke never works for Microsoft, or we all might have to pay a fee to use a non-Windows operating system!
As if city motorists don't have it hard enough already with congestion that kills fuel efficiency and loads of time as well as the exorbitant fees to park in any parking garage (unless you want to risk meters and outrageous parking tickets) – now this elected official is suggesting we charge them to have to suffer through all this?
This complicated issue that "should not be rushed into" is one that should not have been rushed going from the alderman's brain to his mouth, because it went straight from his mouth to our ears.
This is the most ridiculous idea I can recall coming from the city aldermen since the insane foie gras ban that passed unanimously (meaning that not a single alderman saw how foolish and wrong it was and they should all be ashamed). This "congestion fee" is foolish enough to warrant kicking Burke out of office immediately. The city needs more aldermen who are smart enough to not only come up with some good ideas for a change, but also know when to keep their mouths shut to avoid the bad ideas from ever getting out.
Just remember, folks. AARON SAMUELS FOR CITY COUNCIL ALDERMAN IN 2011! Time for someone with a shred of sanity and logic to help rule the city! Read more!
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