What the El?

Photo: AP Photo/Brian Kersey

Endless delays. Fires. Signal problems. Three buses arriving bumper-to-bumper after you’ve been waiting for 30 minutes. It’s been a rough year for the CTA and, in turn, a frustrating time for riders. But as much as we bitch about it, we admit we’re pretty lucky to have the CTA: It gets us where we need to go without having to own a car, and it’s the great equalizer, bringing together all sorts of Chicagoans—at least for 30 minutes or so a day. In the following pages, we go for a ride and check out the wonders and blunders of our transit system.

Read on:


• If we ran the CTA: a wishlist

• What's up with that? The all-CTA edition

• Top 5 reasons why we love the CTA: For all of its flaws, the CTA is still lovable, possibly huggable.

• We aren't the world: The CTA isn't the best thing on three rails—but how do we compare to other cities?

• The rail deal: A CTA train operator reveals what's really going on Extended online interview

• Making tracks: The latest on current and upcoming expansion projects.

• The CTA on the web: Get your facts (and your rants) straight from our favorite websites and blogs.

• Numbers game: The statistical lowdown on our system.