Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

The CTA recently debuted its new el train cars with reduced seating in order to allow more standees on the el trains. The hope is that by taking out the number of seats, more passengers will be able to board each el car, even though they will have to stand.

Having experienced long waits myself to board at el stations closer to downtown during the morning rush and having had a hard time finding a train to get on during evening rush hours, I certainly understand the motive behind the CTA's decision. Long waits and watching full cars pull into your station is the kind of experience which can motivate a rider to decide to abandon the CTA for the convenience, but greater expense, of driving a car into downtown.

There is a safety concern that comes with this change. When there are more people standing and fewer solid handholds, passengers are more likely to fall during an abrupt stop, especially one that does not occur as the train is pulling into the station.

As a common carrier, the CTA has a legal obligation to exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of its passengers. This would extend to not making abrupt stops, especially when the train car is one that has reduced standing. Since the CTA has control over the tracks where the trains run, there should not be any excuse for an abrupt stop.

While the reduced car seating will generally be a boon to ridership, the choice made by the CTA will likely result in some additional injury claims against the CTA at some point down the road.

Labels: Accidents on CTA, el train accidents