Hell's Commute

Tales from my adventures in Chicago public transportation

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This is the nasty ass view I have right now. This is not your damn living room.

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So far in the station I've seen a man snorting water in the bushes and heard a couple having a very loud fight in Cantonese.

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Touch me again with your nasty ass foot, guy sitting behind me, and you're gonna pull back a stump.

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In a moment of temporary insanity, I did not sit in a single seat, but a double. I have no idea what I was thinking. Anyway, I thought I was going to luck out and be alone, but nope. Last second some yuppie man sits down next to me. Then after a few minutes, he scootched way over to get as far away from me as possible like I'M invading his space or going to steal his wallet. Whatever. However his position now made it way easier to visually eavesdrop on his email. Ooooh, he's calling his lady. Hmmm... Makes all those Instagram private messages seem a little bit suspicious, Bill!

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There is a lady on my train who looks exactly like Jenelle's mom from Teem Mom 2.

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Oh my freaking God. What is it with people and their toxic gas on the train?!!??? Seriously just go to the bathroom before you leave the house!

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Backed all the way to Western Springs from pretty much Hinsdale. First we were going to try and go around the broken down train. Then we were going to hook up to the broken train. Now we all have to get off the train at Highlands and get in another train to take us there rest of the way. OH MY GOD. How is Metra even a thing????

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We are going goddamn backwards!! Is this real life?? What the ever living hell is this ridiculousness???

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"Attention passengers, we are delayed because the train in front of us is having mechanical problems. We have no estimated time that we will start moving again. Metra apologizes for the inconvenience." I knew I should have fought that woman for her burger.

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We have visual confirmation of cheeseburger lady.

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Someone has a cheeseburger on this train. I am going to find out who and fight them for it.

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My morning commute is usually pretty quiet and uneventful. This morning, however, there is a brave soul plucking their eyebrows on the train. How he's not worried about plucking his eye out I have no idea.

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Today's commute is actually like Hell as in it's about 165,000 degrees outside. HOWEVER, A man who looks exactly like Michael Fassbender except with longer hair sat down in front of me. Good thing I look like a sweaty mess! We wouldn't want him overcome with lust in public.

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God bless the quiet car.

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Adults on Razor scooters

Just stop. Seriously.

[techinsider]

What rush hour looks like in the world’s busiest places

[npr]

The workweek got off to a rough start for New Jersey rail commuters recently. A disabled train blocked one of the two rail tunnels under the Hudson River to Penn Station during the Monday morning rush hour.

Thousands of people were left scrambling to find another way into Manhattan.

Frustrations like these are by no means uncommon. The rail tunnels connecting New York City to New Jersey are more than 100 years old, and they’re starting to fall apart. In July, power cable failures in the Hudson River tunnels caused massive delays for days in a row. Commutes that normally take an hour grew to two, even three hours, and high-speed train service between Washington, D.C., and New England slowed to a crawl.

“It’s the bottleneck for the entire Northeast corridor,” says Tom Wright, the president of the Regional Plan Association in New York.

Aging Tunnels Under Hudson River Threaten To Disrupt Transport, Commerce

Photo credit: Chuck Gomez/Amtrak Caption: Amtrak workers install new electrical cable in the north tube of the Hudson River tunnels.