Throwdown: Metro vs. CTA

Quevedo: my hood!

About a month in to my residence in Madrid, I'm feeling really comfortable exploring my neighborhood and navigating the city. There's still plenty on my to-do list, and the public transportation makes it all so easy! The concept isn't new to me, having lived in Chicago for several years, but now that I don't have the option of getting in my car and my income eschews frequent taxi usage, public transportation is crucial. I figured that with my experience of living in Chicago and relying on public transportation and the fun I had navigating New York City's subways on my visits in the last few years, my brain was primed to learn Madrid's system. I was right. ;) There's a lot to love about Madrid's Metro - but of course I had to compare to Chicago's CTA...

• Cleanliness. I have yet to see a dirty Metro car or experience a ride that was unbearably stinky. Despite not offering trash receptacles in the train car, they are generally spotlessly clean - as are the stations themselves. 
• Win: Metro. Sorry, CTA, you know you dirty.

• Stairs. Good goo, man. You can get a helluva workout transferring from one line to the other. The eight total flights I'd have to climb on my Metra/CTA commute the Merchandise Mart some mornings was a light intro to warm-up compared to this cardio-glute test. At least in Chicago I was taking them two flights at a time! Granted, almost every station is accessible with elevators, escalators are a given, and you can even find some moving walkway ramps. But sheesh...when a gal's in a hurry, the line to get on the escalator sometimes seems unreasonably long. And then you see this:

7.5 flights climbing out of La Latina station



do you see this?! you can't even see the top!

• Win: CTA. Excuse me, Metro, why are we six stories below sea level right now?!

• Convenience. I never have to wonder when the next Metro train is coming. Every platform is equipped with digital signs that tell you when the next train will arrive. In addition, each station has signs at the entrance recapping the arrivals of all coming trains for each line, helping you to determine what level of haul-assing you need to use. Additionally, Metro offers various options for leaning on the platform and in the train - which you'll need after rushing up 4 flights of stairs and three escalators.

haul-ass level 3 in effect!

no stress!

• Win: Metro. The Redeye tracker app could only do so much, CTA. System-wide digital tracking is what's up. And butt rails for all!

two heights of rails - suitable for all bootay

the hell is this? does this even qualify as a map?!

• Fares. Fares in Madrid have different costs depending on where you're traveling. If you live in the city center, you pay one price to go anywhere in the center. If you live a little outside, you pay more to cover the entire area. It's kind of confusing and it seems kind of silly - does it cost more to operate the train a mile further out? I don't know the answer to that question, but seriously, how do you read this map!? One ride in Zone A costs...well, crap...I'm not really sure. There is a complicated table of prices on the Metro site anywhere from 1.50-6.00E. CTA ranges $2-5, with both systems charging a ridiculous fee for going to the airport.
• Win: CTA. A simpler fare schedule that is easier to pay for and will ultimately get you more for your money.

• Transfers. Every single transfer within the Metro is free as long as you don't exit the station. From any line, any time. You may be in for a long walk, but a quick consultation of your map will allow you to navigate from any corner of the city...as long as you stay in your zone. I live in the city center, so I don't have much need for going to the 'burbs, but I don't dig the fact that I'd have to pay more to get to the far corners of Madrid. 
• Win: CTA. This is a borderline toss-up. However, because a CTA pass is a CTA pass and the city of Chicago has much more sprawl than the Madridland area (to use Chi-town nomenclature), the CTA pass goes much further (litchrally) than a Metro abono, which is tied to a specific zone. Even though all of CTA's transfers aren't free, and some are time-based discounts, I still think the Metro is just trying to trick me into thinking it's a fair system.

• PDA. Why do I need a distraction on the Metro, you ask? The constant, aggressive, over-the-top, in-your-face, attacking-all-your-senses makeout sessions that take place all over train cars and platforms. Now I'm not 100% anti-PDA, but this is incessant and inescapable. It's bad enough when the offending couple strategically locates itself in your direct line of sight, but when you can still hear the lip smacking after moving 10 feet away and angling 60 degrees, it is too. damn. much. 
• Win: CTA. For the simple fact that I've never witnessed the groping, straddling and exposed tongues on the CTA that I've had to suffer through here. 

• Underground/above ground trains. All of the Metro is underground - as I mentioned, deep, deeeeep under Madrid. Though the all indoor, all subterranean system offers protection from the elements, it's alos a bummer to not see the beautiful city on daily commutes. As I'm getting more comfortable with my route, I'll start riding the bus a bit more, I think.
• Win: CTA. The "L" offers some stunning views of the loop and the Chicago River that on a crummy day at work can remind you why you live in the Windy City.

• Climate. Granted, I arrived in Madrid when daily highs were still in the 90s, and I know that I am a natural born sweater. It's pretty much a given that I will have developed a "glow" by the time I reach my train in damn near any city. However, from what I can tell, the Metro offers some level of climate control in the station itself, but the train cars themselves are often stuffy, gamey hotboxes. Every now and then I'll catch a mercifully air-conditioned car, but it's been a less-often-than-so (is that the opposite of "more often than not"? (Deep thoughts.)) treat.
• Win: CTA: Oh, you'll suffer on the platform, but once you're en route, the CTA will get you good and comfy most of the time. (Let me know if I'm having rosy-colored memories, though).

• Education. At some Metro stations, you can go to a bibliometro - a mini-library - and borrow a book - for the free. It does seem like a slight hassle to get a borrower card, but then again, any card you could possibly want in Spain comes with its own set of hoops through which you get to jump and scramble. I digress. This is a perfect place for taking out books, since I am always in need of some distraction on the train. 



Opera station education

• Win: Metro. Points to CTA for having a station at the library, but unless a librarian is meeting me on the platform, almost doesn't count.

• Cultural sight-seeing. The Metro has friggin' museums. In a punny English translation twist, they are called suburban museums. Get it? "Suburban"? Sub? Urban? Ha. The Carpetana station houses paleontological remains and the Opera station houses archaeological remains of canals from the 16th and 17th Century. 

Caños del Peral Fountain irrigation

• Win: Metro. Step your game up, CTA.

• Hours of operation. The Metro closes. Like, all the way. Despite the fact that many young Spaniards may not be rolling out of the house until around that time to hit the clubs, the Metro has its last run before 2am. Granted, peeps hitting the club at that time are probably planning to stay out until the Metro re-opens in the morning, but the reverse rush-hour crush around 1:30am is...hmmm... "entertaining." 
• Win: CTA. Metro, don't act like you never needed a train at 4am.

The overall winner? Bah, doesn't matter! Not like they can swap cities anyhoo. Love thy public transportation! But for the record, I'd draft Metra first. :)

Cristóbal Colón & Brotherly Love

This weekend, Spain celebrated a national holiday. Bummer that it was on Saturday - that would never fly in the US, amiright? My coworkers tipped me off that there would be a big parade, so I hopped on Google to find out where it was going down and how I could join. Each year on October 12, Spain celebrates Día de la Hispanidad or Fiesta Nacional de España. Hmm...the name doesn't say much...but I found a site that seemed pretty official, 12octubre.es, and within about three seconds determined that I'd be sitting out the festivities:

"discovery of America"... oh word?

It's Columbus Day. Womp. Disappointing that a shared Spain/USA national holiday is so wack. First of all, how can a man claim to discover a land where many, many people already live? Just like a man. It just suddenly became a good idea now that you said it, huh? Second, the actions of Christopher Columbus and his supporting home country <cough>SPAIN<cough> spread disease and initiated genocide. Boy, BYE.

Since this "holiday" is one I'm not willing to celebrate, I stood in silent protest while my students enjoyed a performance by the Madrid police band Friday morning.

Banda de Policia Madrid...they were aight

Well, not protesting for real, for real, but instead of paying rapt attention, I decided to document the lovefest happening between two of my students who (I think) are brothers. This is what happened the entire hour:

It was all very sweet. At school in the States, my understanding is that kids are forbidden from touching or generally messing with other kids (for some good, precedence-based reasons that I don't knock), but it's the norm here in Spain for kids to be falling all over each other and behaving in all types of physically loving (and because they're kids, sometimes menacing, ways) - and it continues as folks (yes, dudes) get older! This has zippo to do with ol' Cristóbal Colón, but it made my Friday happy! :)