Assuming the CTA gets a flat rate (if any) for it’s electricity use in operating the fleet of L trains (you ever see a usage meter - I haven’t) why do they continue to jam what is an ever growing ridership into 4 car trains when they could be running 8 car trains 24/7? To what depths does this social stupidity sink, and will it ever abate?
norman kaeseberg
I don’t get the thread title.
compensate
cow pens are always crowded affairs
On the assumption that CTA refers to the Chicago Transit Authority, I’m going to move this to Straight Dope Chicago. (Also so I don’t have to try to figure out what the title means.)
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Even if they get the electricity for a flat fee (and I’m not sure why one would assume that), they also only have a limited number of cars. And their goal is to have all of their cars full, anyway: If they were less than full, that’d be a sign that they should be running fewer cars.
8 cars may hang out into another signal block or switch. also slower station time.
at least they don’t have pushers.
And here I was thinking Norman was asking “In which state was the Battle of Cowpens fought?”
But that’s a damn peculiar question to ask about Chicago, I was in some doubt.
I thought this was about some new Thai appetizer: Cow Penis Sate
Your premise is flat out wrong. The CTA does not pay a “flat rate” for electricity regardless of usage.
From the 2012 CTA Budget Book (pdf):
The overhead of running longer trains in the off-peak hours would mean the CTA would be paying electrical costs to haul around a few more tons of steel on each train. In addition, wear-and-tear on the cars and maintenance costs of the cars would increase in proportion to their increased usage. Even daily cleaning costs would increase.
Not just wear and tear on the cars. Consider the wear and tear on the track itself. If you can cut that load in half for half of the work day, you greatly decrease your maintenance costs.