Wednesday, July 19, 2006
(7:21 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Fun With the CTA Trip Planner
(I apologize in advance to my readers who are not familiar with Chicago's transit system.)The other day, I wanted to make a trip from Lawrence and Western to Fullerton and Western -- a three-mile trip straight south. Western Ave. has a 24-hour bus, so the route wasn't in question, but I plugged it into the CTA Trip Planner because I wanted to know when I might expect the bus to come. I started getting some very strange results for the third possibility (they always give you three, even if there's only really one option), and I experimented with later and later start times until I started getting absolute monstrosities. Right now I can't get it to duplicate the very worst one, but here's something that's close:
Take CTA BUS # 81 LAWRENCE EASTBOUND
Depart: LAWRENCE & OAKLEY At 12:50 AM
Arrive: LAWRENCE & SHERIDAN At 12:59 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 151 SHERIDAN SOUTHBOUND
Depart: LAWRENCE & SHERIDAN At 01:51 AM
Arrive: CHICAGO & MICHIGAN At 02:15 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 66 CHICAGO WESTBOUND
Depart: CHICAGO & MICHIGAN At 03:20 AM
Arrive: CHICAGO & PULASKI At 03:46 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 53 PULASKI NORTHBOUND
Depart: CHICAGO & PULASKI At 03:52 AM
Arrive: FULLERTON & PULASKI At 03:59 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 74 FULLERTON EASTBOUND
Depart: FULLERTON & PULASKI At 04:14 AM
Arrive: FULLERTON & WESTERN At 04:24 AM
A four-hour, incredibly circuitous trip to get somewhere that in reality only requires one step -- amazing. I don't have the exact times, so I'm basically just copying and pasting the times from the one above, but my very favorite went something like this:
Take CTA BUS # 81 LAWRENCE WASTBOUND
Depart: LAWRENCE & WESTERN At 12:50 AM
Arrive: JEFFERSON PARK CTA At 12:59 AM
Transfer
Take BLUE LINE (TO FOREST PARK)
Depart: JEFFERSON PARK CTA At 01:51 AM
Arrive: WASHINGTON & DEARBORN At 02:15 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 62 ARCHER SOUTHBOUND
Depart: WASHINGTON & STATE At 03:20 AM
Arrive: ARCHER & WESTERN At 03:46 AM
Transfer
Take CTA BUS # 49 WESTERN NORTHBOUND
Depart: ARCHER & WESTERN At 03:52 AM
Arrive: FULLERTON & WESTERN At 03:59 AM
What I like about this route is that you get such a good overview of the city -- first you go to the extreme northwest corner, then go all the way to downtown, then go deep into the southwest side, and finally (in a true triumph of inefficiency), end up taking the Western bus several miles north to reach a destination that was actually south of your departure point.
In all fairness, the two first options were always the obvious one -- it's only the third option that gives you the really baroque routes.
