Posted June 23 at 12:01 p.m.

Forgive me a little CTA self-indulgence, but I must speak out about a ridiculous Red Line commute this morning.  The story starts out smoothly enough with a promptly arriving No.35-35th Street bus, which I knew was coming courtesy of the bus tracker.  (Thanks bus tracker!)  But once I got to the 35th Street Red Line stop, the commute hit a kink-- a serious one.

Despite the notion that trains should arrive in timely intervals...I waited not 10, not 20, but 30 minutes for a train headed to the Loop.  This was worsened by the fact that two fake-out trains ( a training train and an express) whizzed past with no regard to the quite evidently infuriated riders on the platform.

Three southbound trains went by until finally, some slovenly northbound train arrived. 

So a trip that could have taken about 30 minutes from the bus to the Grand stop, where I disembark, turned into about a 55-minute nightmare.  So much for rapid transit, huh?

Believe me, I know this is a tired tale by now, and other riders have it 100 times worse, but I just had to share. (Taking deep, cleansing breath) I'm OK now, I promise. 

Your turn.  Share your most recent, annoying run-in with the rails. 

While the CTA is certainly in need of improvement, some Chicagoans are the most spoiled and whiny transit riders in the country. You have no idea how good you have it here, and the constant stream of complaints is a vulgar display of that ignorance.

"GOING PUBLIC" SAYS: Hmmm, guessing that is aimed right at me, so I will say that I also write about positive aspects of public transit. But since I am paying for a service, I don't consider myself -- nor other riders -- whiny for expressing their opinions about issues they'd like to see improved. CTA President Ron Huberman himself has complained about the state of certain stations and general litter/dirt along the system, so it doesn't seem that such discussions should be considered out-of-bounds by regular, everyday riders. But point taken.

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