The Bottom Line: The Chicago Transit Authority

I’m a Virgo so I’m a list girl. So let’s go through a list of the most ridiculous things about this clusterfuck that is the CTA situation in this city.

- This sentence in my "get ready for next week" email. We are asking all of our customers to avoid the rush hour whenever possible by leaving early or late.

This burns me because I fucking hate when people assume that perhaps because they can do something, others can too. I’m lucky enough where I can do this if I wind up needing to. My bosses generally don’t care if I’m here at 7 a.m. or 10 a.m., as long as I get my shit done. But the majority of people in this city, I don’t believe, have bosses that say, "hey, get here whenever ya can, okay?" Most people can’t just stroll into work later in the morning because it would be easier on their commute. Lots of things could make commutes easier for employees but most employers don’t give a shit about that. For those of us with employers who do, we’re really fucking lucky.

- The fact that everyone is blaming Springfield. Personally, I think Springfield does tend to fuck over the city whenever they can because they know they can, which blows. But I don’t necessarily believe it’s Springfield’s responsibility to fund our transportation system. I think they should play a major part, sure. But it’s not "their fault." If Douchebag Daley wasn’t busy putting cameras on every other corner and having parties at his plaza when the Cubs win a game that’s like 6 games removed from actually getting them to the World Series and bending over for any and everyone with any say about where the Olympics will be held, perhaps we wouldn’t be having this problem, hmm? If anybody who was anywhere near the top of the chain of command here had their fucking priorities straight, this wouldn’t be such a serious issue for so many people.

- The bus routes they’re cutting. Are they the bus routes that connect the burbs to the city? No. Are they the bus routes that connect north side neighborhoods to downtown? Not really. Are they bus routes that connect southsiders to downtown and connect areas of downtown and the Loop to each other? Mostly, yes. When shit like this happens, it almost always has the greatest effect on people who are the least capable of managing it and who have the fewest resources available to them in order to help try and manage it.

- The idea of charging more during rush hour. This seems like a fairly obvious and easy decision but to me, really just screams, "you may be going to work so you can live the American dream (which we encourage, go USA!) but we’re going to make that a little harder on you because we can’t work a fucking budget." Thanks to my handy-dandy DVR, I watched a documentary the other day about Wal-Mart and its effect on society and the economy and one woman who worked there basically worked her 20 hours a week to get a paycheck and then turned around and gave it right back to Wal-Mart so she could buy shampoo for $.25 and socks for $.10. I don’t believe people should have things handed to them. I believe in hard work and I believe in taking some sense of pride in whatever work it is you do. But it only gets harder and harder for people to give a shit about what they do for a living when at every turn, someone is trying to take a little more money out of you or telling you to work just a little bit harder for a bit fewer perks.
I’m bitching and moaning about it and the whole thing is going to have a fairly minimal effect on me. The #22 bus (one of the very last routes I think they would cut) and the #145 bus (which could possibly be cut in January) are pretty much right outside my door. I could also walk under a mile to one of two Brown Line stops and be dropped off right across the river from where I work. So if I have to change it up from my usual #22 bus ride, I can. Although I’d rather not, I am, fortunately, one of the people who can change up her work hours too. Hell, come January, I’ll probably avoid much of rush hour anyway since I work in a field where from January to April, I may as well have a tattoo on my ass that reads "Property of the IRS." I also can afford to use the Chicago Card and have it reload to a credit card when it needs to, as opposed to paying more with cash or a transit card, which saves me a few cents.

So really, others will suffer much more than I will but hell, it still pisses me right off. I hate to think of the people whose bus routes will be cut entirely and for those whom tacking on $.50 or a $1.00 to their commute will have a serious affect on their finances.

The Bottom Line: Get your priorities straight. Figure out that in order to support your city, the people who live in it need to work. And in order to work, they need to get there. You’re a major city, for god’s sake. Get your shit together.