I recently moved from Chicago's cushy Lincoln Park to the more "hip" Wicker Park neighborhood. It used to take me about 20 minutes to get to work (door-to-door) traveling 17 blocks. Now, traveling 15 blocks, it takes me about 45 minutes. Some of this can be attributed to heavier traffic on Division Street, but it's the time spent waiting for the bus that is taking me longer. For instance, this morning I spent 20 minutes waiting for the bus. I left my house 5 minutes later than normal, and I got to work a half-hour late. At first I thought it was my imagination since there was only one bus-route running on my new commute and there are four different routes that stopped at my old bus stop, so I actually saw more busses over there. And there were more people waiting at the old bus stop with me, maybe being the only person at my new bus stop made the wait feel longer.
Then I was brought to the question: Is the CTA biased? There is no disputing that the bus routes that run north and south along Lake Shore Drive carry more upper-class, white-collar (mostly white) people. The routes running east-west carry mostly - lets face it – lower-class minority. The east-west routes run less often and usually less efficiently – I cant tell you how many times I have waited what felt like forever, seeing 4 or 5 busses come in the other direction, and when mine comes, there are two more right behind it. It's not just the Division route, though. A couple of years ago I dated a guy who lived on North Avenue in Wicker Park, and I always had the same experience when commuting from his place.
I couldn't help but think this morning, that most of the people on the Division bus with me probably worked at hourly jobs where it matters if they are late, and since you can't rely on the CTA to be there at the same time every day, you get to work at different times every day, making them look unreliable. The bus driver even said something to me this morning about all the people on the bus trying to get to work, school or just want to get home.
So, does the CTA strive to serve its upper-class customers while neglecting the western customers? Maybe it's all in my head and I'm just pissed that my commute is longer than before (or maybe I shouldn't bitch about having to take public transit). There are surely a greater number of people traveling along the lake during rush-hour creating the need for all those routes (and for them to run on time). Honestly, I think its just that the CTA sucks in general. I could go on with a laundry-list of reasons why, but just ask any Chicagoian and I'm sure they will give you their two-cents (more likely twenty dollars) worth.
