babbling blue

CTA. The Chicago Transit Authority. “Hate” is not a strong enough word.

I loathe, detest, despise and abhor you. Fuck you, CTA, with a broken beer bottle. My time is too valuable to waste waiting for your perpetually late and overcrowded trains and buses. You have the collective organizational skills of a kindergartener and your people have the customer service aptitude of a South American dictator.

This morning was my 7th commute of the week, and the 4th that was delayed by more than a few minutes; the longest was over an hour! Today I had to wait 22 minutes for a train during morning rush hour. This was at a time when the trains, according to the CTA, run “every 5 minutes or less”. Of course the train was already crowded, and the driver tried to assure everyone there were “2 or 3 trains” following us, so people should just wait if they couldn’t get on. At that point most people were probably thinking what I was thinking: “I’m getting on that fucking train!” And I did. (And I did so without pushing and shoving; my fellow passengers were in the same situation as I, and the delay was certainly not their fault.)

Someone (I forget who) once remarked, “Rush hour seems to catch the CTA by surprise every day.” I think of that often, because it seems so true. Incompetence reigns supreme there.

I detest the CTA with such vehemence, that I have declared them my arch-nemesis and created a new subcategory on this blog just for them. If nothing else, the venting is good for my blood pressure. I try very hard not to get angry at transit delays, because it doesn’t accomplish anything. But goddamn, it’s so fucking hard not to. So this is part of my self-imposed therapy.

In conclusion: CTA, you are steaming pile of parasite-infested shit. That is all.