Miserable Commute Stories

Ha!

How did you guys find out all this stuff about Craven? Has TTH been on the loose again?

Here is our trolley at the main train station. Pretty nice, eh?

Too many commuter horror stories to think of just one. Frostbite, pickpockets, molesters, everyday was an adventure.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=796237&highlight=#796237

this is what it looks like in a bus gus.



we have trams in our city too. I like trams.

Thanks for the link, littlek!

Dadpad, that bus looks a lot nicer than the ones I was riding on! So does the trolley that CJ posted!

Oh, for a trolley!

You're not kidding. I was on google looking for a shot of one of those old pissy Chicago buses I rode in the 60's/70's/80's. Couldn't find any interior shots. No wonder.

I know what you mean, eoe. They're hardly worthy of the word "bus." And that's saying a lot!

They didn't have much in the way of shock absorption either. Anytime the driver went over a larger-than-average pothole, we'd all be practically thrown out of our seats!

Sheesh!

Part of the SF Bay area BART system is subway...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit

and LA has been getting a subway going for a while now (mostly since I've left town...).

So I guess not all Caly residents are afraid of the earthquake thing, then?

Right after college, T and I were a little strapped.

We lived out north of Austin in Pflugerville. My job was south of Austin. (Out by Onion Creek, for the Austinites.) 50 minute drive in the morning, 1 1/2 hour drive back home after work.

The worst part was that the A/C went out in my car. The morning drive wasn't too bad, but coming home in 98 degree weather at 90% humidity....

I was soaked in sweat every day.

My normal commute goes like this--walk 8 blocks to the Red Line, ride twenty minutes to the Belmont stop, transfer to the Brown Line, ride another twenty minutes to the Loop.

So it's great when my hour commute is made longer by mechanical failure or suicide.

One morning my first train slowed to a stop, and we sat waiting for several mintues, nothing atypical for an institution as shitty as the Chicago Transit Authority. Several minutes turned into forty-five, during which the conductor repeatedly shouted there was a medical emergency at the next stop.

I had a hunch this was a euphemism for suicide. Which wasn't so bad, because I respect anyone who would dare such a gruesome method. Like what if the train only half-shredded you, and so there you are, slowly cooking on the third rail, cursing God?

All passengers had to move to the front car, where we were guided onto the tracks by a CTA employee. We marched along a narrow pathway between rails, high above Lincoln Park intersections, like weird urban refugees. We boarded a train on a track normally reserved for Northbound commutes, and it went in reverse.

The next day I learned a woman had indeed jumped in front of the train. What's strange is she had shopping bags with her. Was it just an impulse? Bystanders saw her at one moment, and the next saw only her bags blowing in the wind. Professional trauma people had to show up and talk some folks back into their wits.

It took more than two hours to get to work.

Wow! That reminds me of the time some guy threatened to commit suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge (which connects New Jersey to New York).

I think most suicide attempts are a cry for help. But when your "cry for help" involves screwing up rush hour traffic in a major city, you're probably not going to get much sympathy.

Oh, the humanity!

Well, let's look at this relatively. It took suicide-lady maybe a few seconds (let's hope) to obliterate her reality, and either enter a profound new consciousness or evaporate into nothingness. I was just trying to get to work.

Two hours!

A trolley in my wife's hometown



I really liked these old ones - and driving through that narrow tunnel was an adventure :wink:

Yeah, that tunnel looks cool, Walter.

Drew Dad wrote:



That's another interesting phenomenon. I've noticed that in any commute that involves a long drive, traffic is always much worse either going to or coming from.....even if you're driving the same route!

Where do all the people come from that weren't there in the morning? (or vice versa)

i guess i've been missing out on a lot of fun since coming to canada 50 years ago .
the first seven years we had a small apatrment right downtown and it was less than a ten minute walk to get to work .
in 1963 we moved into the "suburbs" and it was less than a ten minute drive to work - even had my own parking spot
since we always had a one-hour lunchbreak , i usually went home for lunch - could even catch "40 winks" when i felt like it

about 15 years ago some of the surrounding townships were "amalgamated" into the city , so now we are again living in "downtown" , even though we didn't move !

it was a little different in hamburg were i had to take the ferry across the elbe river to get to work - but the whole trip was not much more than 35 minutes : walk to ferry 5 min - ferry ride 20 min - walk to office 10 min or i'd take the bike to work - about 45 minutes . i guess i don't know what i've missed all these years .
hbg

taking the ferry to go to school or go to work - and coming back in the afternoon - was always a bit of an adventure - always something new to see .
hbg

btw the ferry is the slightly smaller ship in the centre