can't travel anywhere

oh, cta. you've really gone and done it this time. announcing the closure of the dan ryan branch of the red line (from cermak/chinatown to 95th street) for five months, presumably in the name of saving money & time. 

my initial reaction to today's news was shock. i didn't play the racism card, although there's definitely a strong case to be made there, seeing as how the ridership south of chinatown to 95th is predominantly black. but that's not the case i want to make right now.

people who know me relatively well know that i am a huge fan of the cta. i come by it honestly, seeing as how both daddy and james worked for the chicago transit authority for more than 20 years before they retired. i've always said that cta helped get me through northwestern, thanks to daddy's pension plan. the occasional trips home from evanston didn't hurt, either.

people who know me relatively well also know that i've been attending 1st c. off and on since i was 6 years old. in those 25+ years (holy crap i am old), i have never missed 5 months of sunday service. not when i was in college. not when i was balancing 2 part-time jobs, an internship, and grad school. not even during my current suburban sojourn. 5 weeks, maybe, but not 5 months. 

for those of you who weren't at the urbantherapy wedding or at james' funeral: 1st c. is on the far south side. like 111th street far. as in i take the red line to 95th and then hop on a bus to get to 1st c. this pending closure pretty much means that i'll be fully embracing my heathen status for those 5 months. that also means that i'll be losing a part of my community for 5 months. oh, yeah, and there's that whole "the only time i usually hang with my family is at church" thing, which will go by the wayside for 5 months.

i'm writing this while riding the metra back to the 'burbs and i haven't been online since lunchtime, so i don't know if any major players have made a statement about this cta plan. i'd love to know what the white sox think of having their primary station closed…but i'm willing to guess that having a green line station and a metra station nearby takes some of the sting out of it. i'd presume the same for the university of chicago, esp. since the green line is technically closer to campus and there's also metra access nearby. same goes for iit.

[eta: the tribune article has been updated w/comments from the white sox, who do indeed refer to the nearby green line and metra stations as game day alternatives.]

i wonder what metra has to say. are they planning to boost capacity and/or adjust schedules on their southern routes during these station closures? has cta mentioned anything about changes to their bus lines/schedules, particularly in the areas affected by these closures?

did anyone at cta give voice to the fact that the "shuttles to the green line" option only works for people who aren't south of 63rd street? or that it's entirely possible that some riders may find it cost-prohibitive to switch to metra for those months? or that it's just not a convenient option to get to/from a metra station, or a bus stop, for that matter?

granted, we have a whole year to gear ourselves up for this, but right now? it just doesn't sit well with me. hopefully i can make it to one of the town-hall meetings to see exactly how this is supposed to play out.