2. When exactly is it time to switch from a transit system that identifies lines by color to one that uses letters or numbers? Since the Silver Line is somehow unacceptable, the CTA is running a contest for a new line color. Given that Blue, Green, Red, Purple, Yellow, Orange and Brown are already taken, the choices are fairly slim. Pink? Black? Clear? If they ever build that Circle Line, It'll have to be some sort of holographic sparkly gold if they don't switch to letters or numbers.
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rj3 | 7:18 PM |
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mmmmm.... holographic sparkly gold.
The unspoken aim is to establish service on the connector, kind of like planting your flag on an undiscovered country, as an incremental first step in the CTA's long-term plan to build a Circle Line. The Circle Line plan would include new and existing subway and elevated track track to operate a service with the Paulina connector as the western leg, the Loop subway as the eastern leg, and northern and southern legs generally in the areas of North/Clybourn and Roosevelt or Ashland/Archer.
The idea is that once you implement "new" rail service (or in this case, start 50-year-old rail service up again), it's hard to eliminate. So now CTA can start planning for other legs of the Circle Line. This is not the overtly spoken plan of the CTA, but it is easily pieced together from Circle Line documents released by the CTA that have been discussed in detail over the past couple of years over at chicago-l.org.
That although this new service actually kind of screws some existing Cermak riders but the CTA doesn't seem to care, well that's just pure Frank Kruesi, who has shown time and again that he has no respect for actual transit riders. Why they haven't fired him yet is beyond me.
As for colors, cartographic theory holds that people can only easily distinguish between eight colors on the same map. So with the silver line or whatever it ends up being called (and why on earth won't they let the actual transit planners and map-makers choosing an appropriately readable color?), the CTA will be at the eight-color limit.
Expect plaid next.
Montreal has colours and numbers (some people are colour blind, others can't count).
On my blog, check out the funny video under "Next time take the bus".
How is this "screwing" the 54 Cermak riders? They can still get downtown with ease, they can get to O'Hare faster, and will be the first to benfeit from the next phase of the Circle Line. The only people that are truly affected are those headed to the last few stops on the bottom of the Blue Line. They can easily transfer at Clark/Lake and head back down, or just take the bus-- like the rest of us.
Colors? Why not resurrect the old pre-Grouping names? The current Blue is the old Metropolitan, through-routed in the Dearborn subway rather than stubbing at Wells Terminal. The current Brown and Purple are the old Northwestern (one word.) The Green is Lake-South Side. As the proposed Douglas change runs from the Metropolitan to the Lake and loops on the Loop, one could call it the Union and Loop.
