Route 96. Lunt. To Bryn Mawr. Red line.

New bus!
Originally uploaded by bryenz.

Now that we live in the (relative) wilderness of West Rogers Park, my commute to downtown is a bit more complex than before. Any decent way for me to get between here and there generally involves at least one, and usually two, transfers between buses and trains.

I've been taking the Lunt bus for a while now because it's usually the quickest way to work and doesn't involve a long slog on the California bus into Evanston (go three miles north to go south? Only on CTA)

Well, Lunt is the red-headed stepchild of CTA. It runs only during the week, ends at 7pm or something similarly early, and usually gets equipment that looks as if it was salvaged from the Glorious Socialist People's Transit System Of Moscow, circa 1986. Needless to say, these buses break down a lot and don't run on time.. so there have been countless mornings standing at California and Lunt waiting on a transfer that's not going to arrive.. blackberry messages to the office saying "guess what? bus is late again!" - that sort of thing. It's like The Little Bus Line That Could, but actually can't.

This is one of those cases where CTA is deferring maintenance on their equipment, because the state doesn't fund them.. and this is the kind of crap that happens, which makes riders want to use cars instead, meaning ridership goes down, fare collections go down, etc etc, vicious cycle, and so on.

Well, look at this. CTA put a new bus on the Lunt line the past couple of mornings! It even has straps for people that have to stand! It runs! On time! And doesn't break down!

Too bad I'm not going back downtown until next Wednesday again (travel) so by then they'll get the Moscow buses back, no doubt.