It shouldn't be that hard to do....

When the ChicagoDASH service was launched, the folks running the service prominently advertised the free WiFi Internet access that riders would enjoy. This claim has turned out to be another lesson in "you get what you pay for." The WiFi Internet access riders were promised is, for all intents and purposes, useless. City administrators can't seem to get the service provider to fix it so that we can use the service we should be receiving.

It shouldn't be that hard for the Internet service provider to get the service working and if they can't get it working, ChicagoDASH's administrators should either find another provider or get rid of the service.

Is the ChicagoDASH Really Successful?

To hear those who sit in Valparaiso's City Hall tell it, the ChicagoDASH bus service has been wildly successful. Since determining "success" is a subjective matter, this proclamation by City officials screams for a closer look at the yardstick they're using.

It'll be no surprise to regular ChicagoDASH riders that news articles in our local papers showthat officials do little more than count heads and pat themselves on the back when a bus is full. Their logic is t

hat if there was something wrong with the service, people wouldn't use it. This line of thinking is not only myopic and narrow-minded, it also reveals a lack of understanding of markets.

But perhaps most disturbing, this approach shows that ChicagoDASH officials have

no desire to consider rider safety, preferences and general comfort when evaluating their "success." And, by this definition, cramming yet more people into each bus, regardless of riders' comfort, means that the service is even more successful than officials could have imagined.

Unfortunately, it's easy for these officials to fall into this mindset, especially since they don't have to sit on these god awful buses for nearly three hours each day.

Walking the Gauntlet

Cramped Aisles Adds to
Rider Discomfort

As ridership increases, the design flaws of the ChicagoDASH buses are more glaring with every ride.  While we've previously talked about the narrowness of the buses' main aisle, we didn't realize then how this flaw would  contribute to the buses' overall cramped feeling.  Riders now have to cram into the aisle seats and because the seats themselves are wrong-sized, riders seated in the aisle seat have to lean into the main aisle thereby reducing the aisle width further and effectively creating a gauntlet for passengers to pass through as they get on and off.  The result is not enjoyable for either the passengers moving down the aisle or the unfortunate ones seated along the aisle.

It's safe to say that designing buses with 16" aisles is not a good idea.

Notes About This Site

The ChicaGO Dash bus service between Valparaiso and Chicago started on the right foot but then messed up when City officials purchased poorly designed, very uncomfortable buses.  When the ChicaGO Dash service was launched, it advertised "first class" seating.  That may have been a stretch, but the buses that were initially used (owned and operated by Free Enterprise, Inc.) were safe, comfortable and functional.  Unfortunately, the service can't even claim to be comparable to coach seating on the buses Valparaiso purchased.

Ideally, City officials would understand the problems with the buses they purchased and begin addressing them.  And while most regular riders believe that the problems are obvious, they most likely won't be to City officials who either don't ride the bus or certainly don't ride it on a regular basis.  So, the intent of this site is to detail and discuss the problems with the ChicaGO Dash buses in the hope that Valparaiso officials will understand the issues and take the right actions to correct them.

The Sardine Bus

For the first time in a long while, I was able to leave my Chicago office a little earlier than usual yesterday and I caught the first ChicagoDASH bus to Valpo. While our group was waiting, someone mentioned something about the "Sardine Bus."  The phrase captures the feeling you get when you sit on a full ChicagoDASH bus.  And it's on these days when the buses are just three-quarters full that you wonder who would think that these buses (manufactured by MCI Coaches and purchased by the City of Valparaiso) could possibly be comfortable.  Someone at City Hall believed the sales pitch they heard and now we have to endure the results.

ChicagoDASH Seat Discomfort - Talk about a real pain

It seems that each week another dimension of the poorly designed ChicagoDASH seating is revealed.  This poor guy spent the entire ride from Valpo to Chicago being jabbed in the butt by this seatbelt buckle (he couldn't have used the seatbelt if he wanted to, so why was money wasted on them to begin with...oh, that's right...federal regulations).  Talk about adding insult to injury...ChicagoDASH officials:  Does this look comfortable to you?

Just how bad are the ChicagoDASH Seats?

It's 4:30 on a mid-January afternoon.  It's a cold day in Chicago - according to the thermometer on a bank I just passed the temperature is 9 degrees and with the wind chill it's well below zero).  I'm hussling toward the ChicagoDASH's Franklin and Van Buren stop to catch 4:33 bus leaving for Valpo.  As I turn the corner onto Franklin, I see a group of some 15 people at street-side at the stop.  For my usual bus - the  5:55 - a crowd at street-side means that the bus is arriving and since I've got a block and a half left, I pick up my pace.  The bus, however, isn't just around the corner - it's still about five minutes away as I find out.

These are the kinds of conditions that send most people scurrying to find any indoor shelter.  There is a Subway Sandwich shop 20 feet from the bus stop.  Some 5:55 riders wait in there on cold days; others huddle in doorways of stores closed for the evening.  Interestingly, though, all of the 4:33 riders are fully exposed to the wind blowing down Franklin and none are moving from the curb.  I sense that places in line seem to be particularly important, which also isn't the case for the 5:55 riders.  When the bus finally pulls up, embarking riders actually do enforce the queue by stepping in front of late arriving passengers. As I get on the bus, I see why the demeanor the these riders differ so noticeably from that of the later buses:  This bus has just a few empty seats which means one thing - having to sit crammed in an aisle set, knees jammed into the seat in front of you for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

Why recount this?  This incident provides a clear indication based on real behavior of just how painfully uncomfortable the ChicagoDASH buses are.  We've all experienced the pain inflicted by bitter cold temperatures and winds that make conditions border on dangerous.  However, riders of the ChicagoDASH buses would rather endure these pain-inflicting conditions (some riders clearly had gotten to the stop 10 - 15 minutes earlier and as we're boarding the bus, the guy in front of me mentions that he thinks his ears are going to fall off) than sit in an aisle seat on this bus.

We now have a real measure of just how poorly designed and painfully uncomfortable the ChicagoDASH buses are - we can now say that these buses are more painful that sub-zero temperatures.  If that's the case, why won't the Valpo officials running the service do anything to make conditions better for their "customers?"