Travel Note: The O'Hare Subway Link

I'm a big fan of public transport, especially subways, especially airport-downtown links. I’ve never spent much time in Chicago (except O’Hare) so yesterday was my first chance to try the O’Hare downtown Chicago link.

Big disappointment. The cars are old and grey and rumbly and it takes forever. Yes, I know it’s quite a distance, but that doesn’t account for all the unexplained or semi-explained delays. “Attention passengers, we are stopping here for an undetermined amount of time for no reason in particular. Thank you for your patience.” New York’s Kennedy Link puts this one to shame.

And the ticket machine—it doesn’t take credit cards, and it doesn’t make change. But apparently they pay a security guard to stand there and tell you it doesn’t make change.

The fare is $2 and I say cheap at half the price. But the fare may be part of the problem: at a price like that, I assume nobody in the system loves it, and wants to promote it. Better to raise the fare to $8 or $10 and get an up to date fare machine.

Another economy note: the two day pass at $9 seems like a “bargain,” if you like this sort of thing. And that machine does take credit cards, can’t remember whether it takes change.

Surprise Chicago note: perfect weather. Temperatures in then 70s day and evening, almost no wind. How often does that happen?

Update: Oh, so it's track repairs. They listened to me, and they are trying to improve, especially between 9 pm and 5 am. Well, I guess it's all right, then. But I still wish they would do something about getting a changer.