Why didn’t I try this before?
That was what I kept asking myself during my hour-long commute on Metra’s Rock Island line into Chicago last week.
As a lifelong driving commuter, I’ve always clung to my car keys and a belief I should take getting to work each day into my own hands, and rely on mass transit with its strict schedule only as a last resort, like if my car needed repairs.
It’s a belief I have no more.
Last week when the noise from my failing driver’s side wheel bearing grew too loud to bear, I decided to take the car in, try the train and pony up the $13 fare. It ended up being the two most stress-free trips I can remember.
I’m calling it my Metra-wakening.
After two round-trips on the Rock Island I’m convinced I was being stubborn for no reason other than pride and a tendency to be tardy. Taking the train to work actually reinforced two intentions I had all but forgotten since declaring them as New Year’s resolutions a little more than nine months ago.
So what did my change of commute do? It made me more punctual, to the train station at 80th Avenue in Tinley Park, and to work. As most off-peak riders know, if you miss the minute-or-so window the train allows to board, you can be out of luck.
More Top Picks Best Camping Cots
It also pushed me to get exercise and use sidewalks and sneakers for the final leg of my trek from Orland Park to LaSalle Street Station to Tribune Tower. Walking the last 1.5 miles offered views of artwork I forgot existed, like the 53-foot Flamingo in Federal Plaza and the Greek goddess sculptures standing guard outside the Chicago Board of Trade Building.
What was most interesting — and this sounds a bit strange — was it took being a mass transit commuter and using the train to slow down and reconnect with Chicago. I got a close-up look at some details behind the blur outside the driver’s side window during my daily trips up and down I-57 and the Dan Ryan Expressway.
I saw creativity in artwork spray-painted on anything that was stationary along the railway. I saw excitement in a young passenger’s face, energized to be headed downtown for the day. I saw reminders of deteriorating industry and income inequality.
It was a Metra-wakening all right, and a trip I’ll be making a habit of going forward. A few other observations from my time on the Rock Island line:
* The new stations in Tinley Park and Oak Forest are bigger, more modern and more convenient that I thought, although I learned the hard way the ticket window at 80th Avenue closes up after the morning rush. It’s almost hard to remember how nondescript the station was less than a decade ago.
* Being the early bird definitely has its benefits in south suburban parking lots. They fill up fast. Some even have a waiting list. By midday each one looks like Paul McCartney is back in town to perform on the platform.
* There are outlets and USB ports on train cars if you select the right seats on the lower levels. It’s free and a godsend for someone whose battery is often flirting with single digits — someone like me.
* If you time it right, say after 2 p.m. on a weekday, you can catch a frenzied feeding in an outdoor pen at 4 Paws Playhouse, boarding and dog daycare facility just below the bridge over Cicero Avenue northeast of the Oak Forest station.
* Only one graffiti curse word — of the four-letter variety — was viewable during daylight hours. Not a bad ratio considering how much artwork decorated concrete overpasses and unattached tanker cars.
* The traffic backups when passing through Blue Island, Robbins and Beverly were more disruptive than I thought and brought on pangs of guilt as the train cars I rode shuffled past. It subsided quickly however.
* The announcement of the Lou Jones stop at 35th Street outside Sox Park is by far the best on the line. The recorded male voice calls out the approaching stop with the cadence of a sports announcer with a short subtle pause to stretch and accentuate the vowels in L-o-u. No other stop has that flair.
Now if only Metra would team up with the White Sox to ignite the stadium’s exploding scoreboard on each pass by. I’ll bet that might entice more commuters to give up the drive and get on board.
Steve Zimmerman is a copy editor/designer for the baiduhai who writes an occasional column for the Daily Southtown. His email address is [email protected]