CTA Loop Passengers: When did this happen?? (Washington, Madison: transfer, train)

[Drover]

So I don't often ride on any of the Loop trains, what with both my primary commute destinations being a block from the Blue Line. But today I rode a train part-way around the Loop and I noticed that they have the Brown and Purple Line trains traveling in the same direction. When did they switch the direction of the Purple Line train? I figure it has something to do with adding the Pink Line to the Loop, but I swear I remember when they first did that they still had the Purple Line going in the opposite direction as the Brown Line; I swear I remember thinking to myself how exceedingly dumb it was to have 3 lines going clockwise around the loop and only one line going counterclockwise. Has it always been like that since they started running the Pink Line, or did it take them a while to figure out there was a traffic imbalance on the Loop?

What I don't get is why they have the Brown and Purple line traveling in the same direction. Now if a North Side commuter wants to get off at the Madison stop, before they could take the Purple Line instead of the Brown Line so that they only had to travel 1/4th of the way around the Loop. Now they either have to travel 3/4ths of the way around, or get off at Washington and catch an Orange Line transfer going the other direction, or get off at Madison and hoof it. They could have resolved the imbalance by having the Pink Line travel in the opposite direction it currently does without changing anyone else's commute pattern. If I weren't so cynical about the CTA, I would assume they have a good reason for not doing it that way. But since I am cynical about the CTA, my first instinct is to guess that they made their decision without much thought...

[Drover]

Well, I found the answer to my own question today on a different Loop platform: a yellow notice flyer that this just started this month. So it turns out I was right -- only after they overloaded one side of the loop (and left it that way for MONTHS) did they figure out that maybe this would cause a crowding problem. And of course the took the least sensible approach to the problem.

[j33]

Least sensible? The CTA? I'm shocked! (rolls eyes)

[Drover]

Come to think of it, I guess I understand why they have the Pink Line going counterclockwise -- so that it connects with the Red and Blue Line transfer stations without having to go half way around the Loop first. In that case, I still think it would have made more sense to reverse the direction of the Orange Line instead of the Purple Line.