Mr. Shiffer wrote that my "statement that the proposed changes would inconvenience 54th/Cermak Branch customers destined for downtown is incorrect." He might have proven that he is 97% right when he stated "3 percent (1,300 customers) may have less direct service". Mr. Shiffer does not explain who the people are and what exactly is the service they will be losing, although I suggested a partial answer to both questions in my previous letter.

Mr. Shiffer wrote "This comes as part of an ongoing process that has included nine community workshops, a tri-lingual origin-destination survey, analysis of nearly 2 million individual rail farecard transactions, outreach to various stakeholders including elected officials and three community open houses."

I must have missed the nine workshops and three community open houses. When and where did they take place? How was I supposed to have found out? I do seem to remember filling out an origin-destination survey. At any rate, I have visited the official CTA website. Yet, I still don't know where the 54/Cermak Branch trains navigating the elevated Paulina Connector tracks are going to end up after they "link up with the Green Line at Ashland " and are "heading Downtown". According to CTA's own map online, "Downtown" stretches between Halsted in the west, Division in the north, Lake Shore Drive in the east, and 14th Street in the south. My rerouted train could be heading in any of those directions as far as I can tell.

I could use some help trying to find out where the information about the upcoming changes is posted at www.transitchicago.com. It certainly isn't advertised there. If it weren't for my reading the Forest Park Review, I wouldn't know the little that I do know. The Life Newspapers servicing Cicero and Berwyn carried no information that changes are coming and what they will be. It is ironic that the former name of the 54/Cermak Branch is Cicero/Berwyn.

Mr. Shiffer wrote "doubling service on the 54th/Cermak Branch while rerouting every other train would deny improvements in service frequency to the more than 26,000 customers who currently board at Forest Park Branch stations". In other words, the 54/Cermak trains coming from the elevated Polk Street station down to Racine are in the way of the preferred Forest Park branch trains. That brings three questions to mind: 1) Isn't the rerouting of virtually all 54/Cermak trains going to impact the Green Line service frequency in the same way? 2) Will 54/Cermak riders have to change the train to get to O'Hare? 3) Is the common branch going through the Loop unable to handle the increased traffic on both branches? (Based on how "logistically challenged" CTA is at the 54/Cermak end-of-the-line station I don't necessarily believe that such a limitation is due to physical equipment.)

The original article I responded to did not mention that "the proposed plan calls for service on the 54th/Cermak Branch to be approximately doubled." That is good news for 54/Cermak Branch and not so good news for the Green Line west of Ashland.

The bad news is I still don't know where the trains will be taking me. But I know that with the exception of the trains running every half hour during rush hour, at least 1,300 people riding the 54/Cermak line will lose their current easy access to Racine (Whitney Young), Halsted (U of I), Clinton (Greyhound, Union Station), LaSalle (the banking district), Jackson (Federal Courts, Social Security, Immigration & Naturalization Services, Harold Washington Library, etc.), and points beyond in the Loop.

According to Mr. Shiffer  "46,400 daily customers ... will be affected by the change". If 26,000 of them board at Forest Park Branch stations doesn't it mean that 20,400 board at 54/Cermak Branch? Are we weighing their being inconvenienced against the Forest Park Branch users having their service frequency increased and the Green Line users experiencing their bottlenecks instead?

Lastly, Mr. Shiffer tries to prop up the soundness of the decision by mentioning the Forest Park line's "many others who would be attracted to the increased service." What he does not mention are the many others on the 54/Cermak line who stopped riding it over the past 10 years due to lack of service.

I doubt CTA could treat the Forest Park Branch riders as shabbily as it has treated the 54/Cermak Branch riders. For one, we were holding our breath when the weekend service was suspended for a few years. Many were afraid the branch would be shut down altogether since it had become dilapidated. 

Ridership, which seems to be the stated underlying cause of the upcoming changes, is a two way street. Mr. Shiffer understands that. That is why he used the potential Forest Park Branch riders to prop up his argument. Would he care to explain why the ridership on the 54/Cermak Branch actually decreased after the renovation? Has it recovered since then?There are many potential riders on the 54/Cermak Branch as well if the CTA would care to lure them. But ridership is just one piece of the puzzle anyhow.

-- Sincerely,
Zenny K. Sadlon

5) The track switch from hell: For over thirty years I have had the misfortune of having my time eaten by the last switch before the end-of-the-line at 54th Avenue. Before the renovation my train coming from the city had to invariably wait for a train, not quite ready yet, to leave the station for the city. "For safety purposes" I was told. Nothing remains of the old station, or the Danly Corporation adjacent to the switch. But the switch from hell is fine and well. Nowadays the situation is like this: My train comes from the city on the norht track. On the south track there are two trains heading for the city, one east and one west of the switch from hell. On the north track, heading for the city, is a fourth train, facing mine. I'm almost home, but, "toot toot, we're experiencing a delay. We are waiting for signals ahead ... blah, blah, blah..." Preschoolers are on computers, elementary school pupils on the internet, teenage entrepreneurs doing busines in cyberspace, but CTA cannot figure the logistics of four trains on two tracks around one switch. GIMME A BREAK!