People-watching, listening to music or texting friends and family — all proven ways to pass the time on public transit, right?
Well, for some riders, their time on the “L,” buses — or both — is so long that they regularly run out of ideas for onboard activities. In fact, with commutes ranging from 11/2 to 2 hours each way, it’s a wonder they haven’t lost hold of their CTA sanity.
Paper hats on public transit
Justin Hardesty, 27, said he typically gets to work in about 11/2 hours, but a chain of missed trains and lagging buses in the evenings often makes it hard for him to get home in less than two hours.
Hardesty, who lives in Edgewater, said he takes the No.22-Clark bus, a Red Line train, a Purple Line train to Linden, and then switches over to a Pace bus to reach work in Wilmette. The ride goes in reverse at about 5:30 p.m., Hardesty said, and doesn’t end until about 7:45 p.m.
“To pass the time, I instant message on my phone, play sudoku on my phone, read the RedEye …” Hardesty wrote in an e-mail to “Going Public.” He added that he also plays a “paper hat” game, in which he fashions two hats out of a newspaper, wears one and then bestows the extra upon the next commuter to meet his gaze and smile.
“It usually works better on trains than it does on buses,” said Hardesty, who called the game a great diversion when his mp3 player’s batteries die an untimely death.
Are you there, God? It’s me Gail
Lakeview rider Gail Ball said she has a long ride on a CTA bus, Red Line and then Pink Line train before switching over to Pace for the final leg of a daily journey to Broadview. Ball, 49, said she kills two hours of time in the morning and approximately 21/2 to 3 hours in the evening by listening to music, people-watching and, sometimes, praying.
It’s bad now, Ball said, but it’ll be even worse this winter.
“The going is brutal when it’s real cold,” Ball wrote in an e-mail to “Going Public.” “On 54th and Cermak, there really is nowhere to stand to wait for the bus except outside. The inside station is further away, and you really don’t want to miss the Pace bus in winter. … So just bundle up and get used to it; you do what you have to do.”
Southern (Dis)Comfort
Ravenswood rider Christopher Straughn said he has a rough ride to the South Side’s University of Chicago, where he is a grad student and part of the school’s library staff. The 25-year-old takes the Brown Line from Damen to the Library stop, where he boards the No. 6-Jackson Park Express, and then walks a mile to the university in Hyde Park.
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In the evenings, he has a slightly different reverse route of the No. 55-Garfield to the Green Line, back to the Brown Line again. No matter how he slices it, Straughn said, it’s nearly 11/2 hours each way, stretching out to two hours on bad days. There are quite a few of those, Straughn said.
“This commute is a hassle,” Straughn wrote in an e-mail to “Going Public.” “But I love living in Ravenswood, love my job and am not about to quit going to school.”
Bravo, Straughn, that’s one positive public transit attitude in the face of one extreme commute.
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goingpublic&tribune.com