Meet George Jetson!

Well, ok, it’s not exactly the future like in the Jetsons but that’s the first thing that popped into my head (including theme song and futuristic sound effects) when I read an article on msnbc.com about the Chicago Transit Authority rolling out some new test cars on the Red Line.  Supposedly the new rail cars boast a “smoother” ride (whatever that means) by way of an under car support system…I can’t erase the uproariously amusing image of monster truck shock absorbers underneath my seat or the thought of some Jetsons-like hovercraft engines suspending passengers midair while the train rattles down the tracks at 50mph from station to station.  Of all the trains I’ve ridden, the Red Line definitely takes the cake when it comes to a brutally bumpy ride – it’s not far from being at Six Flags on the Iron Wolf.  But I guess I have to just take their word for it until I experience the ride for myself.

Apparently some passengers who rode the new cars felt they were smaller and had less seating available than the current un-pimped-out cars.  To compensate though, upgrades like more poles and new handstraps for upright riders were worked into the new design.  I have to say though, that given the way I’ve seen people use handstraps on busses, I doubt they’d be very helpful on the train. They may end up even being dangerous.  I still have to giggle at people who don’t anchor themselves while gripping handstraps and then end up dangling from them, holding on for dear life, and to whatever dignity they had left…LOL…

But back to the point, other spiffy features include networked security cameras (about time!) and nifty door sensors to detect obstructions (curious to see if this will come in handy when crazy people hold the doors open for a friend who’s running behind them to catch the train, even though they heard the ding-dong indicating doors were closing and the conductor announced the train’s about to pull away).

I visited every car on my train today and didn’t observe any of the newbies, but I'll certainly be paying more attention to see if CTA can match the 'Smooth Operator' quality of the D.C. metrorail - now you could rock a baby to sleep on those trains.

Interesting side note: these new cars were first tested on the Yellow and Purple lines, both of which are patronized by more white passengers than Black or Latino ones.  Not sure what the logic is there but I’m in the mood to give CTA the benefit of the doubt that they chose those lines first because the overall ridership is a lot lower than most of the other lines, and therefore not as much of an inconvenience if it turned out to be bad design…..