Some commuters were inconvenienced, but predictions of widespread chaos in Chicago Transit Authority service failed to come true Monday despite the CTA`s reduced schedule of trains and buses on the first national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Commuters arriving downtown at Union Station had to wait 10 to 12 minutes for CTA shuttle buses to arrive at the height of the morning rush hour, up from about 5 minutes normally, said Christopher Knapton, a spokesman for Metra, the commuter rail system. He estimated that at 7:15 a.m., 1,000 people were waiting in lines for buses, twice the normal total.
But there were no major problems, Knapton said.
”Considering the situation, that we`re operating a `Sunday` schedule, we are doing pretty well,” said a CTA supervisor, who was helping riders board shuttle buses outside the station.
Heavy crowds and waits of 5 or 10 minutes longer than normal, but also no major difficulties, were reported outside North Western Station.
”We have done a magnificent job,” a CTA worker outside the station boasted. ”We don`t seem to have anybody who is overly upset.”
The CTA`s controversial decision to scale back service was criticized by business leaders after surveys indicated that about 90 percent of the Chicago area`s offices, businesses and stores would be open.
Under a holiday schedule, the CTA operates one-third the normal weekday level of service, but extra workers attracted by offers of overtime pay brought service levels up to 65 percent, CTA spokesman Donald Yabush said.
Ridership appeared to be heaviest on the North Side where ”moderate to heavy” boarding took place during the morning rush, Yabush said.
”There were no delays that I know of related to heavy loading except on the North Side–the 156 LaSalles, the 36 Broadways and 22 Clarks were very heavy,” he said.
Elsewhere in the city, loads were reported to be ”low to moderate.”
”I had expected it to be extremely crowded,” said bus driver Tommie Liddell, who had just finished a run on the South Side`s 103d Street route. But ”everything seems to be pretty normal so far.”
Evanston Express rail service was canceled under the holiday schedule, but regulars didn`t seem to mind the 10-minute wait between four-car shuttles to Howard Street, where they transferred to Loop-bound Englewood-Jackson Park trains.
”There`s no crisis, really,” said Grace Huff, ticket agent at Noyes Street on the Evanston line. She said boardings were down by about 20 percent, which helped explain why crowds on the station platform were normal in size all morning, even during the 7:30-8 a.m. peak.
”The strongest language I heard all morning was `Oh, no!` when they found out the express wasn`t running,” she said.
A passenger who rode the CTA`s Congress rapid transit line downtown from Oak Park said ”it was just awful. I must have waited 30 minutes for a train, and when I got on, there must have been 300 people on it.”
But Janice Pickens, who had the day off and took the CTA`s Jackson Park-Howard line from her South Side home to shop downtown, said service was better than usual. Though she usually must wait five minutes for a train, there was no wait Monday, she said.
At the 95th Street terminal on the Dan Ryan rapid transit line, the busiest CTA rapid transit station, crowds were noticably light.
Nearby on the Dan Ryan Expressway, where traffic usually is jammed in the morning rush, cars and trucks whizzed by.
The story was much the same on the Chicago area`s other expressways, said Patrick Pesole, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
”It was just as light as can be, just like a weekend,” Pesole said.
CTA employees who worked Monday are to receive regular pay for eight hours, plus time-and-a-half. That translates into $270 for senior workers who earn the top hourly rate of $13.50.
CTA officials had expressed confidence that enough buses and trains would be operating to handle the demand. CTA Chairman Michael Cardilli cited the fact that schools and many government offices were closed.
