We need to talk about the CTA Red Line. Today was the first time I’ve ridden it since pre-pandemic times. I used to ride to almost daily for my commute back around 2016 or so. It had its moments, and sometimes you had to move cars due to someone or something causing a problem, but it was mostly just fine.
Riding it twice today was gross. The cars all had a linger odor of smoke and urine. Multiple people smoking. Some tourists looked absolutely shell shocked while running the subway portion in River North. This is not how public transit should be. If the city wasn’t to recover post-pandemic for tourism and getting people back downtown they will absolutely need to fix the CTA. Get more trains running, actually police anti-social behavior that will drive casual riders away.
The alternative is watching city traffic get worse and worse as people opt to take Ubers instead or drive themselves.