John McCarron never fails to disappoint me in his knee-jerk reactions to political affairs and to life in general.
His Dec. 8 Op-Ed column on the CTA was typical. He leveled a barrage of criticism against the Red Line, concentrating on the fact that the motorman must now also operate the doors, that at the Loyola stop two conductors assisted in making sure that all doors were clear before the train left the station and that a conductor boarded the train at Fullerton and would get off at Cermak. He also mentioned that he had heard uncorroborated stories of thugs on the Dan Ryan line.
Mr. McCarron did not say whether he reached his destination in a timely fashion, if he arrived safely, if the $2.25 ($3 if his daughter is 12 or older) he spent for a ride of several miles was a good price, if the Loop stop was a block from his destination.
No, Mr. McCarron is so sure that things will go wrong that he feels it is his civic duty to try to chase even more people away from the CTA.
Let me tell my story about the Red Line. Recently I took my family to Medinah Temple to see “A Prairie Home Companion.” We walked from our home about five minutes to the Granville stop, waited about five minutes for the train to come, traveled about 20 minutes to the Grand Avenue stop, walked about five minutes to Medinah Temple. Everything in reverse after the show. No winos, no thieves, no delays.
