Art Peterson softcover
All of us who have an interest in and appreciation of
transportation, transit and railroads have a fondness for Chicago.
Chicago's variety of modes and carriers, as well as the sheer size of
the operations, offers something of interest to everyone.
Through 170 photographs and accompanying narrative,
Dispatch 15 covers over a century of Chicago's surface transit systems
(including streetcar, motor bus, trolley bus, work equipment and
facilities coverage). Dispatch 15 continues the tour and descriptions of
Chicago's neighborhoods that have been included in Shore Line's four
prior CSL Dispatches. Chicago's 77 neighborhoods with their individual
cultural and ethnic backgrounds have always made and continue to make
Chicago a very vibrant city.
Art Peterson grew up with an inside view of transit in
Chicago. His uncle, George Krambles, a career Chicago transit system
employee, retired in 1980 as CTA's Executive Director. With his own
career focused on transit and transportation, Art shares his knowledge
and experience with us.
In 1919 Chicago Surface Lines, the world's largest
streetcar systems, carried 744 million passengers. Fast forward to 2022
(most-recent complete year data available), CTA provided 243.5 million
passenger trips, only 32% of a century ago. This clearly defines the
challenges of providing urban transportation in the current
automobile-centric, city-suburban environment.
Dispatch 15 is a must-read to understand what has
happened to urban mass transit over the past century. It includes not
only actions that the transit system took over that period, but also
economic and social considerations that impacted key transit
lines/corridors in Chicago.
