Thursday, August 7, 2008
News / Chicagoland At least their subway runs on time?
Posted by Whet Moser on 08.07.08 at 07:01 PM
The Mayor is over in China and is super-excited about the Beijing subway; in response, some of his constituents are at least grudgingly encouraged that something's got him interested in the El, even if he had to fly across the world on a wild-goose chase. He does go to DC here and there, right?
Anyway, aside from the absurdity of the Olympics being the trip to the ice cream stand we get for cleaning our room, after reading about the riches and wonders of totalitarian transit I had a couple questions (not addressed in the article, of course):
How late does it run? Until midnight. Naturally. The CTA, alternately: "one of the few mass-transit systems offering 24 hour service in the U.S" (not all lines, of course, but the two busiest).
How well does it serve the city? Well, Beijing has about 17.5 million people, compared a bit less than 3 million for Chicago (about 10 million in all of the metropolitan area). And Beijing has eight lines running on about 200km of track, compared to eight lines running on about 175km of track in Chicago. Is that a problem? Yes, and they're scrambling to catch up.
The El is dumpy, busted, and slow, all of which are problems of various importance. But it's worth remembering that nicer systems often come at a price; it's a lot easier and cheaper to keep a line clean and efficient when you shut it down for several hours every night (as is also the case on the comparably nice DC Metro). Depending on which sacrifices you make, you get deeper into questions about what constituencies you're serving and issues of safety. Or you can have it all and pay for it; I don't have an answer for you.
But this...
"How did Chicago's system compare? What was missing? To name a few things familiar to Chicagoans: Dank station platforms with condensation dripping from the ceiling; graffiti; foul smells; and the cacophony of screeching wheels and beeping electronic systems often heard on the CTA."
...while true, still makes me crazy, because the Trib reporter seems more impressed with the Beijing subway's aesthetics than interested in it as a transit system. Seen as such, it's a little less impressive on balance.
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
Yes, I wondered as well about the sadly uninquiring tone of that Trib article. Of course, if you want to make a system with no graffiti, dank stations etc., well it helps it your system is BRAND NEW. Granted, I can see why Daley has such affection for China's authoritarian style, but I don't think that will quite get rid of the fact of age and station location. Also-yes, it's great that the train cars are twice as wide and hold 400 people. But does anyone think we could plop double-wides on the system without umm, perhaps reconstructing all of the tracks? Would that actually be a good idea? My hope is that Daley actually takes an interest in the El itself, as opposed to yet another Olympian vision to be imposed on a not-quite-willing city. Last thing we need is another Block 37...
like
dislike
