CTA Extends Purple Line Evanston in Pilot Program

The CTA has approved a six-week pilot program to test an additional evening round-trip Purple Line Express train between Davis Street and the Loop. The train would leave Davis (southbound) at 8:07 pm. The program is currently set to begin in June 1 through July 10^th.

For the service to continue past the pilot program, the CTA would require at least 468 people on the train, or 39 people per car on a 6-car train.

Pilot Schedule:    

Linden                    8:00 p.m.
Davis                      8:07 p.m.
Howard                  8:14 p.m.
Belmont                  8:31 p.m.
Fullerton                 8:36 p.m.
Clark/Lake              8:50 p.m.
Adams/Wabash       8:56 p.m.
Washington/Wells   9:02 p.m.
Fullerton                9:17 p.m.
Belmont                 9:22 p.m.
Howard                  9:39 p.m.
Davis                     9:46 p.m.Linden                   9:52 p.m.

Look out for exciting events planned in Evanston to keep you in town until the last train leaves for the Loop at 8:07 p.m. from Davis Street! 

CTA Holiday Train in Evanston

About the train

The Chicago Transit Authority is getting into the holiday spirit with our popular Holiday Train! Santa and his elves will ride the train passing out candy canes and season's greetings.

The spectacular train is an amazing sight - during the daytime and at night. The outside of the six-car train is adorned with holiday seasonal images. Thousands of twinkling lights outline the shape of the train and windows, with even more lights running across the tops of the cars.

Interiors of the cars are decked out with thousands of multi-colored lights, red bows, garland, and red and green overhead lighting. The hand poles are wrapped to look like candy canes.

As the train pulls into each station, Santa waves to the boarding passengers from his sleigh on an open-air flatcar carrying his reindeer and decorated holiday trees.

Schedule

The Holiday Train will travel all CTA rail lines in November and December as part of regular rail service. Normal CTA fares apply.

The train generally operates from about 1pm to 8pm on weekends and 3pm to 7pm on select weekdays (schedules for each rail line will vary), and will make stops at all stations along the respective routes.

12/18 - Wed

12/20 - Fri

12/21 - Sat

Commuting News: No more CTA, two hours a day!

When we moved to Evanston in 2011, I didn't work for six months and joked that I finally took my maternity leave(s). With baby #1 I went back to work in 7 days and with baby #2, I was back at work in 10 days. Staying home with a newborn was much less appealing than working and I had a wonderful husband who was willing to stay with the babies until preschool. So when we moved from El Paso to Chicago, I cashed in my maternity leave with the Universe and my family and didn't work for six months! That is a crazy long time for me to not work and I did nothing productive - AT ALL! Mostly I just made friends in our new city and learned where things like schools, grocery stores and post offices were. Okay, I was partially productive, but I didn't hike the Pacific Coast Trail or write a book during the six month break.

After six months being a lazy bum, I found a job on the southside of the Chicago in Bronzeville, either a 45 minute drive (with no traffic) or a one hour and ten minute CTA train ride. Several locals tried to tell me that the commute would kill me, but I took the job with the intention to stay five years to build my Chicago resume. I lasted 18 months and granted the commute wasn't the only reason I left, it was 80% of it.

In addition to not wanting a commute (at all) I wanted to be able to walk to work or ride a bike in under 30 minutes. Why couldn't my life be 100% walkable? Lots of people lived in Evanston and walked to Northwestern? Why couldn't that be my life too? I wanted a job in Evanston and was very determined to find one. After lots of lunches, meetings and networking, I found a job with a great company less than one mile from my house. I can walk in under 13 minutes, and I'm confident the bike ride will be about 7 minutes. Many of my new friends think I am magic for landing the job, but I know I am laser focused and annoying when it comes to getting what I want.

My last week on the CTA commuting to work, I savored every single minute. I took lots of shoes photos, which I had been doing all year (I'll post a slide show soon). I finished a fantastic book, Wild by Cheryl Strayed. And I said "goodbye" to every single booth worker and conductor. In fact, I managed to get the booth worker to take a photo with me on my last morning commute. We both hadn't done our makeup yet and had very little interest in taking a photo, but I convinced her it was commemorative and wouldn't go anywhere too public.

Goodbye commute on the CTA, hello walk to work! Stay tuned for lots of photos of my walk, who knows what I'll find.

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Thank you for reading my blog Evanston Newbie, a blog dedicated to helping you too fall in love with the City of Evanston, just like I did. If you have any questions or need to get in touch with me about this blog, Evanston, or anything else you can email me at thelisadshow@gmail.com. Also feel free to send me announcements about upcoming Evanston events and I will promote them here!

CTA Holiday Train Stops at Dempster Today!

Holiday Train Schedule
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Purple Line (Shuttle & Express)
The CTA Holiday Train will operate on the Purple Line from about 3:40pm to about 6:30pm.

The train will make one shuttle trip from Howard to Linden

The train will make one express trip from Linden to the Loop, and back

The train will make one shutle trip from Linden to Howard

See Purple Line Route Guide for more on regular service and route information.

Click here for the times.

One of my favorite things about Evanston: the Sunrise

By far one of my favorite things about Evanston is sunrise over Lake Michigan. I didn't realize the sunrise was going to be so dramatic and wonderful but the early morning light that comes across the lake is a wonderful gift each day.

This photo was taken from the Dempster CTA stop and even on the coldest of mornings, I wait for my train with the sunrise in my face! Lucky me.

Happy Valentine's Day from Evanston Newbie!

I drew this heart in the snow this morning while waiting for my train at the Dempster stop. Happy Valentine's Day Evanston!

Updated: I love riding public transportation!

And now that the days are longer, I get a little sunset action on my ride home.

Editor's (Lisa's) note @ 9:15 p.m.

Sorry for the inconsequential blog post about loving public transportation but I was testing my new Blogger App on my Android to see if I could blog while commuting. Looks I can and thank you for understanding.

Get There: The Purple line to Linden

Check out our youngest child riding the Purple line to Linden. And why is this worthy of a blog post? My children are totally new to the concept of riding on buses and trains and walking everywhere. They've both done an excellent job transitioning to this new means of transportation and so far are patient when waiting for trains, calm when mom puts them on the wrong train and occupied with reading material while taking a long ride.

We recently took the Metra Downtown to the Field Museum and the El home. The Metra was faster in that it only makes one stop before getting to the Ogilvey Station in Downtown, but then we had to take a bus to get to our destination, which added about 20 minutes to our trip and an extra $5. We took the El home and because the CTA shares fares, you can transfer from a bus to the El within 2.5 hours and pay a portion of the fare. The El is much closer to the Field Museum but takes more than 45 to get you to Evanston unless you can grab the Purple line, which we couldn't do because it was off hours. Do I have this right? And when is the CTA going to start running the Purple line express on the weekends, giving Evanstonians the option to get to Downtown Chicago quickly?

This critique cannot possibly be new and I'm very curious to learn more transportation tricks. What is the fastest way to get to Downtown Chicago from Dempster? What passes get you the best deals and where do you buy them? Maybe you can help me figure this all out by emailing me at thelisadshow@gmail.com.

Lastly I have to give a shout out to the conductors, ticket takers, bus drivers out there in Chicagoland - you are the BEST. I have never met such friendly public transportation workers in an American city. On one recent bus ride we were actually reminded gently that our stop had come up and that we should get off the bus. Very classy indeed. Good job Chicago.

For your next trip, visit the CTA website at http://www.transitchicago.com/.

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Thank you for reading my new blog "Evanston Newbie", a recent project that I am using to chronicle my new life in Evanston. Do you have favorite Evanston bakeries, bike shops, events that you can recommend? Send me an email at thelisadshow@gmail.com and I will post my review on this blog. -Lisa Degliantoni