Being a commuter to college is hard enough as it is, not even mentioning the extenuating circumstances that might befall you, catching you half-asleep in your early morning stupor, completely unawares.
I was on a train recently, and had an experience that was actually quite different from the precedent set by trusty Metra’s usually pristine repartee. Trains have schedules, and tend to stick to them quite regimentally. When a train schedule says train 406 is set to arrive at a specific time, it usually does. And the judicious Metra staff is extremely wont to ensure this occurs, and the trains arrive at the same time each day. But today, something happened that was quite unexpected.
The train was late.
And not just a few minutes late.
Almost an hour and a half late.
A train ride that should have lasted forty minutes took just over two hours.
In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess.
So what caused this unprecedented turn of events?
Several things, probably.
Mechanical failure, causing our train to go precisely three stops until it failed entirely. Another train ended up tied to ours in a kind of mocking tow truck fashion, but only after we had been idly sitting unmoving for the better part of an hour. Then we were forced to make double (that’s right, double) stops that caused us to be even later, other trains to pass us by, and loads of other unforeseen effects.
Some very unhappy Monday morning commuters, for one.
We eventually rolled into the station, bleary-eyed and now irreparably late, but wait! The train we were tied to had to be unattached. We had to actually back up and slide onto another track.
Finally at the station, many now fuming passengers (some actually sprinting much faster than I ever had on the mile run test in high school) arrived at the indoor station to pick up late passes to show to equally disgruntled teachers or bosses. I queued up, but, alas, as another step in the misfortune of Monday morning, they had run out.
So, now thoroughly amused at such a ridiculous sequence of events, I walked to school in a quick ten minutes, only to find out that class had already concluded.
Thankfully, I have a good buddy in the Graphic Arts major who managed to Photoshop my face into a picture (we had a trip that day, and were supposed to check in via social media) as evidence that I had indeed attended class.
Score one for me.
And I didn’t even have to go to Literature that day.
The second, slightly less inconvenient train ride occurred not one week later.
On the regular and trusty 2:55 p.m. train we made it barely one stop before mechanical failure. The very grouchy passengers, wide-eyed in terror as the lights flickered and shut off like in a low-budget horror film, were now thoroughly disconcerted. This train made about two more stops before it gave out completely. We had to wait idly on the tracks for another train to rescue us, while the on schedule trains zoomed past us, almost as if in mockery. This train, scheduled to arrive at a convenient 3:38 p.m. to my station in comforting Tinley Park arrived no earlier than 5:00 p.m.. Tired but alive, we traipsed home after a much longer day than expected (Not late to anything, however). I do feel really terrible for the poor people who got off at Joliet, the very last stop.
Though I must lament these two occurrences as a complete waste of my time, they were in fact extremely rare. The Metra trains are by far the most convenient way to get around for a commuter student, and are usually speedy and punctual. The conductors were kind and kept us posted on the goings-on.
For any student contemplating taking the Metra to school, or any suburbanite needing to get downtown for jobs or whatnot, I highly recommend the Metra trains. They are efficient and prompt (most of the time).
Advice from one commuter to another, though: Bring some reading material, a charger, and some snacks.
Just in case.
