This blog was borne out of the frustration many riders feel over the fundamental deficiencies built into the buses bought by the City of Valparaiso and the subsequent shoulder shrug we've received when we try to discuss these issues with the City. No one should have to sit in discomfort for the long ride between Valparaiso and Chicago. Yet that's what we now have to do every day. Do City officials really care about the quality of the services they provide or is it just talk?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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?"
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?"
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