Tag: publictransportation

Amtrak Travels

The thing that I always forget when I take Amtrak to Ann Arbor is that there is one big reason for delays – a single track for a very long stretch. Because of that, if a train traveling in the opposite direction is delayed, your train will have to wait for a very long time. This time, on our onward journey, we waited for a record one hour and forty minutes and then were delayed a little bit more for the crew switch. In addition, the air conditioning was brutal, and Boris and I were completely frozen. The only thing that saved us was the dining car, which was open.

This announcement came as a pleasant surprise because it was the first time after the pandemic that I encountered an operating dining car. On the way back, I already planned on that and then had to listen to announcements about how they were quickly running out of things.

Stayin in the line in the dining car, I heard that they were out of burgers and then – out of breakfast sandwiches, and then they said they are “out of food,” although I overheard that they mentioned “veggie boxes.” When my turn came, I asked whether they still had veggie boxes with hummus. They said – yes, and they also had fruit cups, but “they were out of food.” 😀

CTA Accident

Just found out that I didn’t publish this post on Sunday when I wrote it (and was wondering why everybody reacted to my lost nail, and nobody reacted on this one). Anyway, publishing it now.

Today, we went to the matinee performance of West Side Story in the Lyric Opera. “Us” included me, my mom, and my neighbor. I chose a matinee performance for this show a long time ago because I thought that that was the show that my mom would enjoy.

She did; she liked it to the extent that she didn’t make any negative comments. But I wanted to share something else about this outing.

Most of the time, I try to take Uber when I take mom out; however, the last couple of days were impossible with all the road construction and Taylor Swift concerts, so after consulting with my neighbor, I decided that we would take the Red line and then a bus to Lyric opera. 

We started way in advance, and the train was on time. However, as it often happens on the Red line, a person asking for “some change” appeared. I give to people on the streets most time, but I never give on the CTA, because that’s a violation, and there are many other places where people can ask for money.

I ignored the requests. Requests turned into hysterical crying (Anybody! Anybody! Any change!!!) Since this is not an unusual scene, and since I had mom with me, I didn’t pay much attention to the development of the event, and the next thing I realized (after the fact) was that this woman tried to commit suicide and managed to almost completely open the doors while the train was running.

The CTA crew stopped the train, then they came and escorted this woman to the front of the train and called for police assistance. We were very close to Sheridan station, but we could not move until the train crew received confirmation that the police arrived and were ready to take this person into custody.

We sat there for 25 minutes with the train engine off (and consequently the A/C off). I was afraid that we would be late (my neighbor was waiting for us by the Lyric entrance), but also, this whole situation was so horrible and hopeless…

Rail Cars Reception

On Thursday, Igor and I attended the Annual Rail Car Reception organized by Historic Pullman Foundation. It was a benefit event, and since neither Igor nor I had time to go to Pullman Days this year, I thought I could support Pullman financially and see cool cars simultaneously. So I got two tickets for both of us.

I thought that there would be some programming, but it was literally a reception held in the old cars. It was nice because you could go through three different cars from the late 40s and 50s, but I hoped for more words :).

Also, for some reason, we were almost constantly passed on food (it was mostly finger food, and waiters were walking back and forth with the trays passing us:).

Igor spent a lot of time taking good pictures, but he still didn’t sort them and didn’t share with me, so I will only post the pictures I took

The coolest part was that we could enter all the cabins, and touch everything, and even touch the silverware and menus!

I am not sure I will do it again next year, but it was a very interesting experience!

Uber Crisis

Recently, I often have had trouble getting an Uber ride right away. I first noticed it after the late evening concerts, and I learned that I have to wait or start walking away from the venue or both. But last Friday, I could not get Uber to go to the airport for more than 20 minutes, and then we hit the rush hour!

I had a very interesting conversation with the driver. He told me that the share Uber pays to the drivers is relatively small and does not reflect what the passenger pays. That’s why, he continued, drivers no longer want to pick the airport rides. He said that he is considering becoming a CTA bus driver. He mentioned that the bus driver’s pay used to be very low, but now they are paid $40/hour and have insurance and other benefits. I asked him whether Lift or any cab service would be better, but his advice about getting to the airport was to use the train!
I need to think about it 🙂

Today In The City

(Just realized that my yesterday’s post was left unpublished, so there will be three today :))

I saw on Instagram that the previous two weeks of escorting were brutal. My fellow escorts told me they saw up to fifty antis altogether (in shifts). The clinic requested police presents, but honestly, it was a farce.

Today was relatively quiet; there was only one group of four antis with an amplifier. The shocking part was that the police seemed to protect them, not us.

When a guy on a scooter shouted something in the direction of the amplifier, a police officer gestured for him to stop. When antis were done and packed their equipment, they shook hands with both police officers, and right after this group was gone, police left as well.
But at least it was quiet today, so I can’t complain.

Also, it turned out that today was the 75th anniversary of the CTA celebration, and if I had known in advance, I would plan on taking a ride in the 1920s train car. Unfortunately, I was already on a tight schedule, but I hope it was not the last time in my life.

… and the bridge opening

Pre-Holiday Traffic

As I already said, Friday went completely wrong. Skipping all that was wrong in the morning, I will start at 3 PM.
When I had the exterminator on August 21, he said that he would check the situation with the trap on September 2 (initially, he said – in two weeks, but I told him that I would be unavailable then, so we agreed on September 2).
On August 31, I decided to call and check whether my inspection is scheduled, and it turned out that it was not and that there were no more openings. By then, I knew a mouse was in the trap, and it started to disintegrate.
Finally, after checking all the possible options and redirecting me three times, they told me they could schedule an inspector to come between 3 and 5. I told them that I would need to leave at four at the latest, so could they please make sure that the inspector would come before that?
When nobody showed up by 3-40, I called the company, and they said that the inspector was stuck in pre-holiday traffic and won’t be there till five!
I was desperate – there was no way I could find somebody to wait for an inspector, and I had no time left before the train. Frantically, I called Igor, and he agreed to come to my house after five, although I had already tasked him with three things that had to be accomplished on the same day.
Then I called Uber and was shocked to find out that the usual 30-35 min trip to Union Station is projected to be an hour long, and the wait was about 10-12 min. When the app finally responded that the driver would be there in 4 minutes, I rushed downstairs with such a speed that my Apple watch asked – did you fall?
The train departure time was 5-08, and all along the ride, the projected arrival time was something like 5-04 to 5-06. I called Anna saying I am missing the train; there was one more train three hours later, and Anna suggested I exchange the ticket until it was not too late, but I decided I would give it a chance. The driver was awesome; he used each opportunity to advance in the traffic, at the same time not doing anything risky. We arrived at an unbelievable 5-02, which allowed me not only to make the train but also not to be the last person who jumped in!

And the exterminator came to my apartment at about 5-20, just when Igor arrived. Because I didn’t instruct Igor properly, he didn’t ask about the hole, so the question of what hole to patch remains open.

CTA

You know what? They really wait for people! I first noticed it when Boris and I were walking with Nadia to the Jarvis station. I was sure that we would miss the train, but it was still waiting for us when we got up on the platform. I attributed it to the fact that we had a small child with us, and it was Saturday when the trains run less frequently, but I was wrong.

On multiple occasions, the train waited for me when I was close enough to the station so that the train operator could see me from above.. Each time it surprises me and makes me feel very grateful :). Today, there was a train running in the opposite direction, standing at our stop and blocking the view of the street. Granted, the folks on the train could not see me, and they took off just when I was almost on the platform!

More From Pullman

Yesterday, I forgot to add Igor’s pictures which he shared with me, and he made much better ones. Besides, he had a chance to see the cars (this one accidental ticket I got from a person who didn’t need it)

Continue reading “More From Pullman” →

***

Boris flew in on Friday, and it took him almost two hours to get through the immigration. He said there were just two agents for several hundred people. Then, we made a mistake. Or rather, I let this mistake happen.

Since we moved to the city, Boris said that now we do not need to take Uber to the airport because we can take L. I told him it would be a very long trip because you need to get into the city and get out again. Last time, I called Uber because we were fixing things until the last minute.

Now he mentioned it again, and I said – let’s.

Because the inner airport train is still not operating, it took us 30 minutes to get Terminal 5 to Terminal 2. And then – another two hours with all the waits! I told him – at least, it was on the way from the airport, not the other way 🙂

I hope that one experiment was enough 🙂

On The CTA

Life both without the car and attachment to the Metra train schedule is so liberating! Especially since I live the house early enough to hit the rush hour schedule with not-so-crowded trains.

June is the first month when I ordered the CTA monthly instead of Metra monthly (and the first time I have CTA monthly). Since I already had one CTA pay-as-you-go pass on my app, I wondered how they will live together and whether there would be any confusion. I thought I would examine the situation o May 31.
However, it turned out that the monthly pass showed up on May 26 (since I didn’t have a previous monthly). I did not know about that and thought I still have my pay-as-you-go in use and was using it for Anna. it turned out that the app was applying my monthly for the first passenger and then deducting the pay-as-you-go for the subsequent ones. That was a pleasant surprise, and it solves the problem of how I will be taking my out-of-town guests around 🙂