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Originally Posted by oshkeoto
Do you honestly think that the Circle Line is going to be some magic bullet that suddenly makes it sensible to travel from the far North Side to the far Northwest Side, or an equivalent trip on the South Side, on the El? Am I really going to take the time and effort to switch to a *third* train to save four or five stops? If I live in the West Loop, am I really going to be *that* excited about this, unless one of the three new stations is located right outside my doorstep? I really don't understand this; if the Circle Line were some massive project that would significantly change the nature of the system, I'd say we have to do it before anything else. But it won't. It'll make a few kinds of trips a little bit more convenient. The Red Line extension will provide trains to whole neighborhoods that previously lacked access.
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Once again I've gotta piggyback on whay you're saying. This to me is one of the most important points in trying to speak from the perspective of your average South Side L rider. Certainly speaking for myself. Say I'm going to, for example, North/Damen/Milwaukee to party, or better still for my point, to see some buddies who live off the California stop on the O'Hare branch. Why am I going to want to take the Red Line to Chinatown, then hop the Circle Line which'll take me all that way back down to 31st and Ashland before turning back up to go to the Division stop, where I'd have to get off and either wait for the O'Hare train or (in the Wicker Park case) probably end up walking? Seriously, I know you North Siders get such fantasitc service comparatively, but y'all are acting like it's ideal even up there. Naw, man riding the L can be a stressful thing anywhere the way the CTA runs it.
So, that's THREE trains, TWO transfers. Nah, Red to Jackson, Blue to Damen or Cali works just fine in its imperfection. I mean, hell. It's bad enough waiting for the one transfer--especially since the CTA loves to make it so that you JUST miss a train when you do transfer. Circle Line's gonna be great for the system, sure. But not for me. There may be times I'll have a use for it but not many. For example, it MAY be a prudent route to get to Midway, but again we got the variables of train frequencies and synchronicity between lines. Same for many others in my side of town--especially those who don't have an L nearby to begin with. I don't have a survey on me, but feel free to conduct one scientifically or informally.
Listen, I ain't trying to change minds here. Just expand them without use of certain substances.