By Jon Hilkevitch, Contributor, Chicago Sun-Times; April 23, 2020
In a very different time only a decade ago, safeguarding public health wasn’t a major consideration when the Chicago Transit Authority removed all the seats on two cars of some rush-hour L trains in order to stuff more riders, cheek by jowl, aboard its cattle cars.
After that experiment to boost passenger capacity failed to sit well with commuters, the CTA introduced new rail cars outfitted mostly with center-facing seats to accommodate the crush-loading of cars to as many as 120 people. Such close contact was well above the goal of a later “de-crowding’’ initiative aimed at reducing human freight to 70 to 75 people per car on average.