Carfree Life #1: Transit of the Damned

by Carl Boyd

It's been over a year now that I haven't owned a car, and the anxiety of not having a private cargo shuttle in my possession all times has nearly subsided. I haven't even bothered using a carshare vehicle in a couple months.

Since the construction on the Brown and Red train lines have mostly ceased, I have seen my commute from my northern Chicago neighborhood to downtown shrink from upwards of 90 minutes to less than 25 minutes on some days.

Where the real trials lie, is in Chicago's consistently inconsistent bus service, or as a former boss once called it: the Transit of the Damned.

Over Summer, I had learned the wonders of what I dubbed the 'Magic Bus' - the 145 - which started in my hood, cruised over to Lakeview where several of my friends and preferred shops were, and then jumped on Lake Shore Drive and zipped non-stop to downtown where I work. It covered most of my life in one route.

This bus was moderately reliable, and frequent during the day, like most of the busses in town. But in the evening it became a fiasco. Several times when visiting friends in Lakeview, I tried catching the 145 around 7 pm (it runs well past 8), and each time, I waited, watching my breath freeze, as no bus showed, or if one arrived, it promptly retired to the garage. Each time I gave up and got a cab, which cost five times the bus fare.

I've begun using my bike for more and more trips that I can't do by train, just because numerous bus routes have left me standing in frigid weather for too long, too many times. Even during the rebuilding of the Brown line, service was still better than most of the busses. For longer routes or colder days, I try to catch a bus, intending to stow my bike on the front rack, so if the bus is a no-show, at least I have my bike, and I will burn some extra calories and save the $2 fare. But in -10 windchill, it's a bitter consolation, one that reminds me why I chose the places that I work and live based on proximity to a train, and not a bus.

Photo Credit: carbonrally.com