Just a 3.5 hour public transit commute to work
I don't just want to write about Car-Free Day. I want to live it. I want to hug trees, reduce my carbon footprint and be one with nature.
That's why this Thursday, I waited eagerly for Pace Bus 834 to whisk me to downtown Downers Grove en route to work in Arlington Heights.
More than three hours, one train and five buses later, I've never been so glad to see our office complex.
The reason for my madness is Car-Free Day, sponsored by the Active Transportation Alliance, the RTA, CTA, Pace and Metra. The event was Sept. 22, but better late than never.
The RTA's Goroo website gave me an itinerary indicating the trip would take a mere 2½ hours. But fate had other plans.
I grabbed Pace Bus 834 around 8:30 a.m., which deposited me at the DG Metra in time to hop on the eastbound train to the Harlem stop in Berwyn. Cost so far, $1.75 for Pace, $3.65 for Metra with my 10-ride pass.
My big worry was that I had a 3-minute window to catch Pace Bus 307, the second of five buses on this odyssey. The train was a couple minutes late but so was the bus, fortunately.
We rumbled along north on Harlem more or less on time for my next rendezvous Bus 319 in Elmwood Park. My happy frame of mind crumbled when a freight train blocked Harlem for several minutes ruining all chances of meeting Bus 319 at 9:50 a.m.
The next bus wasn't for an hour so I enjoyed the delights of bucolic Elmwood Park for the next 60 minutes.
Finally 319 showed up, at which time my transfer had expired, costing another $1.75. Then followed a scenic cruise west on Grand Avenue to Franklin Park for a fourth bus the 325.
Bus 325 chugged along to the Rosemont CTA stop without incident, allowing me to board my final bus of the morning 606.
I arrived at work around noon a trip of 3½ hours costing $7.15, 3½ hours of my life I'll never get back.
By car it's usually 30 minutes to 45 minutes depending on construction traffic these days.
Interestingly, 30 minutes to 45 minutes is about what it takes to reach Chicago in rush hour by transit if I catch the express train.
Which underscores the fact the suburb-to-suburb commute by transit is dysfunctional at best. It's a black hole that needs attention or the vast majority will opt for cars, not trains and buses.
Flotsam and jetsam
Ÿ Does anyone other than my father read In Transit? I occasionally wonder. Judging from the response I had to a piece on the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway, quite a few people do all more cartographically skilled than I. So to clarify last week's column, the Illinois portion of the route known as I-110 is about 325 miles. The entire distance is around 536 miles, if you can believe Google maps.
Ÿ Former Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Steve Schlickman has a new post as director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, pending official confirmation.
Ÿ It's not often you get a government news release about sex and death. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources reminds drivers that deer-mating season is upon us, so watch out for frisky Bambies on the road. And should you be so unlucky as to end a budding romance by colliding with a deer, there's a new road kill policy. To claim a road-kill deer, report it within 24 hours to the IDNR through the Web site dnr.state.il.us/law3/images/Road_kill.pdf or call (217) 782-6431. But if you live out of state or are late in child-care payments no deer for you.