Chicago: The Struggle of the Poor to Get to Work and Public Transit (Schaumburg: 2013, home)

[Atlanta_BD]

I just listened to this story on NPR this morning. It talks about how people who can't afford cars can't get to work and used Chicago as the example. It highlights the struggles of one low-income woman who lives on the south side to get to work every day. It was said in the story that it takes her two hours to travel 15 miles to work on CTA (from her south side home to her part-time job on the north side).

Epic Commutes Face Those Caught In Public Transit Puzzle : NPR

Now I understand that using transit can be tough. Going from the south side to the north side is quite a ways, especially when you don't drive but I'm trying to understand where in the world she lives that it takes her 2 hours to go 15 miles on CTA and she takes the L. The story says she walks to the bus, to get to the train and it takes her 2 hours.

I used to take CTA from my home in Beverly to downtown every day. The distance was around 15 miles, and it took 40 minutes or so. When I rode CTA this past summer while the tracks were out, it took me 30 minutes to get from downtown to Beverly using the L and the shuttle bus. I spent many days going from Beverly to Rogers Park on CTA, which is nearly 25 miles and it took me under 2 hours to get there.

Getting to work without a car is definitely a challenge--one that I deal with living here in Atlanta (never had problems getting to work without a car in Chicago), but Chicago?! Even if she did own a car, depending on where her job is located with her income being low, she probably couldn't afford parking if her job doesn't provide or it may be just an inconvenience to drive to work. Chicago is a such place that owing a car may not even be worth it--at least when getting to work.

I think Chicago was a poor example to use in re this particular topic. It's never taken me two hours to get anywhere from the south side going north unless I was going all the way to Evanston, and even then, I still don't think it was quite two hours. And I've never had to leave my home at 4 am to get to work on time no matter where I worked as the person in this story says she has to. Traveling 15 miles on CTA never took me even an hour, much less two.

In my experience CTA is not nearly as bad as this story is making it out to be. Of course I'm not her and can't say what she's going through. Does anyone else here feel CTA is this inconvenient? Am I missing something somewhere? Has service been cut drastically or something? I notice no changes in the service whenever I ride CTA when visiting Chicago; and I usually get where I need to go in 40 minutes or less when traveling up to 15 miles. I have lived all over Chicagoland and it's never taken me 2 hours to go 15 miles except when I lived in the burbs and had to connect from Pace and I missed the bus and had to wait another hour. But the commutes themselves never took me that long.

[Maintainschaos]

I guess I'm sort of confused with the story and wonder how good of an example it is.

First, I know waiting sucks, but it sounds like she has three public transit options that will, in fact, get her to work. Perhaps there needs to be better timing to make sure one gets to the bus/train stop at the right time? When I lived in Madison, all we had was a semi-decent bus system (which didn't run 24/7), and even then there's no way I would go out to the bus stop and without checking the progress of the bus, since they didn't come very frequently. Most people only had one option and one bus line on which they could rely to get to work. Similar could be said when I lived in Boston and commuted on the green line (which also didn't run 24/7), although there was one night-owl bus in my neihborhood.

Second, I'm curious to where she's commuting. For how many people does a 15-mile trek actually represent a 2-hour commute? Is she commuting from 95th to Howard? If so, how would that only be 20 minutes in a car?

I just wonder how often this example is representative of people using the CTA to commute. The longest commute via transit that my friends and family have taken was from eastern Lakeview out to Schaumburg, which was just about 2 hrs on public transit, but it was definitely a poor choice on their part to choose to live in Lakeview without considering how they would make it to work.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

I guess I'm sort of confused with the story and wonder how good of an example it is.

First, I know waiting sucks, but it sounds like she has three public transit options that will, in fact, get her to work. Perhaps there needs to be better timing to make sure one gets to the bus/train stop at the right time? When I lived in Madison, all we had was a semi-decent bus system (which didn't run 24/7), and even then there's no way I would go out to the bus stop and without checking the progress of the bus, since they didn't come very frequently. Most people only had one option and one bus line on which they could rely to get to work. Similar could be said when I lived in Boston and commuted on the green line (which also didn't run 24/7), although there was one night-owl bus in my neihborhood.

Second, I'm curious to where she's commuting. For how many people does a 15-mile trek actually represent a 2-hour commute? Is she commuting from 95th to Howard? If so, how would that only be 20 minutes in a car?

I just wonder how often this example is representative of people using the CTA to commute. The longest commute via transit that my friends and family have taken was from eastern Lakeview out to Schaumburg, which was just about 2 hrs on public transit, but it was definitely a poor choice on their part to choose to live in Lakeview without considering how they would make it to work.

The story says she's taking one bus and one train. While I understand that there have been cuts to CTA since I've moved away, something just isn't adding up. And bus stops are only a few blocks away. Surely once she gets on the train, it's not a one hour ride, given that she's already cut the distance to work down since she had to walk or take the bus to get to the train.

Something just doesn't add up here because I've traveled further distances, from the suburbs to get to work in the city or traveled from the city to go to school in the suburbs (over 20 miles) using Pace to connect to CTA and my commutes never took that long and Pace only runs once an hour.

I think you are right. It sound to me like she's not timing it or she's not reading the schedules.

[ChicagoMeO]

Thats why she should check the bus/train schedule so that she catches the bus when it comes , not have to wait 20 minutes for it. You can go to the CTA website and do a travel schedule which tells you the best way to travel - either walking less or speedier trip.

[Atlanta_BD]

Where I currently live, I use transit and I have to take two buses, two trains AND a taxi one way to get to work. My job is 20 miles away and it takes me about two hours. It takes three hours if I walk instead of using the taxi. It just sounds like something is missing from her story. I just find it hard to believe it's taking her two hours if she's using only one bus and one train, unless her bus takes an hour or longer to get to the L.

[jman07]

People who make these stories lie and use extreme examples to try to make it better and support their agenda. It's an example of liberals trying to pain poor as victims and make excuses for them rather than tell the truth and hold them responsible for their own lives. NPR is notoriously liberal. Oh. And "15 miles" from the south to north side and it takes all that time. I think the author blatantly lied. I'm sure of it!

It reminds me of when people say poor people are obeses because they don't have healthy food options close. We'll they can drive to the health food options! Why can't they exercise? Or poor people don't have jobs because they need jobs "in their communities." Why do you need jobs in your community? Drive! BTW. My commute is 1.25 hours back home and I don't complain.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by jman07

People who make these stories lie and use extreme examples to try to make it better and support their agenda. It's an example of liberals trying to pain poor as victims and make excuses for them rather than tell the truth and hold them responsible for their own lives. NPR is notoriously liberal.

It reminds me of when people say poor people are obeses because they don't have healthy food options close. We'll they can drive to the health food options! Why can't they exercise? Or poor people don't have jobs because they need jobs "in their communities." Why do you need jobs in your community? Drive! BTW. My commute is 1.25 hours back home and I don't complain.

I'm a liberal who loves NPR but I do feel like the story is trying to paint this picture that all poor people who use transit all over America are struggling to get to work. Trust and believe when I say I'd rather be poor and riding CTA and poor and riding MARTA (Atlanta's transit) because metro Atlanta's transit doesn't serve a lot of areas, especially the burbs. Most of Atlanta metro's poor live in the burbs where they don't have transit or even sidewalks in most areas. Atlanta was rated as the city for the worst upward mobility for the poor, citing its terrible transit and sprawl as the main culprits. You pretty much can't get to interviews or jobs here without a car or it would be very difficult.

To try to paint this picture that Chicago is the same for the poor using its transit is beyond ridiculous. Chicago has great public transportation.

I only bring up Atlanta because having ridden CTA and having ridden transit in a city where it's not nearly as expansive is Chicago's, this story is straight-up BS! I've ridden 15 miles or more on CTA and it just doesn't take that long. Based on personal experience, I'm trying to understand why my 15 mile trips only took 40 minutes on CTA and hers is taking 2 hours.

This story would've been more believable to me if they highlighted MARTA or some other city in the south or out west with crappy transit.

[jdiddy]

Yeah, I call bull****. She has a smartphone, bus and train tracking apps are readily available.

Judging by the few details the article provides, she is likely going from Hyde Park to Lakeview. And if she decides to change her mind on which of the multiple routes to take via public transit, perhaps it could take that long. Or she could just see when the next bus, train, or metra is coming and get there on time.

[jman07]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

Yeah, I call bull****. She has a smartphone, bus and train tracking apps are readily available.

Judging by the few details the article provides, she is likely going from Hyde Park to Lakeview. And if she decides to change her mind on which of the multiple routes to take via public transit, perhaps it could take that long. Or she could just see when the next bus, train, or metra is coming and get there on time.

My question is who is holding these authors accountable? Are we really in a state of journalism that is this bad that you can make up or exaggerate stories and not be held accountable? 60 minutes even just got caught doing it! I almost want to email the author and find out exactly where she was coming from and going to and get her contact info.

[Vlajos]

They should now write an article about the 100s of 1,000s that have a short and simple commute on the CTA.