babbling blue

Holy shit! My arch-nemesis, the CTA, is about to escalate our little war by going nuclear (aka nukular).

Travel times are expected to as much as double when one out of the four tracks used by the Red, Brown and Purple/Evanston Express Lines between the Armitage and Addison stations will be taken out of service from about April 2 through the end of 2009, transit officials said Wednesday.

Capacity will be reduced by 16 trains, or about 8,640 passengers, on southbound runs between 6 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., the CTA said.
…
Northbound between 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., there will be 31 fewer trains–reducing passenger capacity by 17,460 passengers–because the Red, Brown and Purple Line trains will temporarily share one track at the Fullerton and Belmont stations.

Also from this same article, in case anyone thinks my bitching about the CTA has been unwarranted:

The rail system has been plagued in recent months by a series of fires, derailments and track-switching problems that have snarled operations and delayed commuters, who are becoming increasingly impatient with the transit agency.

(Source: Chicago Tribune)
Commutes that are already painful are about to get unbearable.

The CTA is hoping we find “alternative travel choices”. Let’s see, my alternatives are: 1) Move downtown so I can walk to work. 2) Move to an area served by the Blue, Orange (yuck) or Green (yuck) Lines. 3) Take a bus the whole way, through the throngs of downtown traffic which may be getting even worse. 4) Buy a car and drive through the throngs of traffic. 5) Stay home. Hey, I have a lot of choices! Thanks, CTA. Fuckers.