I hear a lot of people complaining about the CTA because there are delays almost on a daily basis. My complaints are very different. My complaints are with the people that ride the CTA.
There are times when the el is packed. As you would expect, those times are in the morning between 7-9 and in the evening between 5-7. Mostly when the cars are full, the conductor will get on the speaker and announce that there is another train about 2 minuted behind. I don't know if people don't hear this information, they don't care, or they are so rushed that 2 minutes will make them late. If you're scheduling your commute so that 2 minutes is going to drastically affect things, you need to get up earlier. People are bitching and moaning that there isn't enough room or that people won't squeeze in tighter while the conductor is announcing this. I want to scream at these people "DO YOU NOT HEAR WHAT THE CONDUCTOR JUST SAID, WAIT 2 MINUTES!!!!!"
If you are a claustrophobic person, not only should you not be taking public transportation, maybe you should consider moving to the suburbs, where there are less people. In my first week riding the blue line to and from work, there was a major delay. Apparently someone was hit at the Jackson station. At the time, all we knew was that there was a delay because of a medical emergency. After spending a good amount of time sitting at various stations, and being told the train was only going so far and then turning around and coming back, people starting getting off the train and taking buses to their destination. Mind you, there are a lot of commuters on the el in the morning as it is, but this just made it worse. I got off and walked to Milwaukee and hopped on a bus. A lady who was on my train with me, was sitting on the phone complaining about how many people there were on the bus and that she was going to be sick or something.
This morning when I rode in to work, the el was packed, as expected. I am carrying 2 bags. Most people, by the way, carry at least one bag. I'm standing. The train slows down quickly and I almost fell. I apologized to the person I almost fell on and then this guy sitting tells me that my bag hit his arm. Are you fucking kidding me? Do you really expect that no one or nothing is going to touch you? A little bit later I was far away from that guy, but the train was even more full, and I have to do a back bend in order to fit more people in. At the same time, someone always leans against my bag, which makes it feel like they are sitting on my bag and pulling my shoulder down to the floor. Did I tap that person and let them know they were touching me? No. Because I know what to expect when I get on the CTA.
