Just in the Nick of Time

I have a love/hate/really hate relationship with public transportation. I love the idea of someone else getting me to where I need to be but I hate being tied to a schedule. I really hate trying to time when I need to leave my house to catch the bus, subway, or train. I know, I know, that is why they publish schedules. But as any frequenter of public trans has discovered, schedules, like rules, are made to be broken.

 Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a habit of running late. Maybe it's because I think it takes only 10 minutes to get anywhere in the city (20 minutes to get anywhere else in the world). Maybe it's because I sometimes get sidetracked (like when I decided caulk my tub 10 minutes before leaving for the airport).  Whatever the reason, I tend to cut it close. A couple of years ago the CTA created bus and train trackers that lets me estimate down to the minute when my bus or train will be arriving.  This allows me to minimize the time waiting for said bus or train and maximize the time I have to do things that invariably take way more time than I have.  Perfect! The only problem? I take Metra a whole lot more than I take the CTA.

Metra, for those of you who aren't from the Chicagoland area is the commuter train, and I live minutes from one of the stations. You might think living so close would mean that I never miss the train, but alas you would be wrong. I miss trains all the time. On more than one occasion I have actually missed consecutive trains. Sometimes this happens because of my afore mentioned habit of running late. Sometimes, however, it happens because I am waiting and waiting for the train, not knowing that it is delayed, and I give up only to have the train arrive when I am just far enough away to not be able to run and catch it.

Today, as I waited for a delayed train, a friend, who was meeting me on the train sent me the following series of texts:

A Metra train tracker?!? Awesome! The train tracker estimate was spot on with my train arriving exactly at 3:15. Thanks to this great new tool I will never miss a train again! Well...I'll never need to run for a train I have absolutely no hope of catching again. Hey that's still pretty good, Metra!

So now I have a love/ mostly love especially when I remember to consult the tracker times relationship with public transportation!