Young suh Lim
My Freedom Taken
People
around the world have been changing their mind to take trains instead of
driving to avoid traffic jams. I am also a part of this new trend taking of
trains. Therefore, public transportation is better than taking a train because people can see how others live by observing each other on the
train. Unlike a train, driving is private a place that people can only look at
either ninety degrees or straight ahead. As the development of transportation
technology, most trains have become more comfortable, convenient, faster and
safer. However, Chicago Transit Authority (C.T.A) has not perfected its system compared
to the system in Korea. Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) has more developed
aspects than the C.T.A because the trains are cleaner and faster. The undeveloped
Chicago systems make me miss the comfortable transportation of my home country,
Korea.
The C.T.A is already disappointing
me. However, there is another annoying aspect as well, which is the
atmospheres. First, the C.T.A trains and buses are truly dirty. Seats are very
uncomfortable and hard also usually cluttered due to food or urine. The smell
is hard to take. It is like a garbage can. Moreover, The environment of stations
makes me listless. Most light bulbs are yellow, so they made me more tired mentally
and physically. On the other hand, it is hard to find any litter or something
nasty in Korean transportation because cleaning technology cannot be compared
with the C.T.A. Korail has cleaning robots that do the sweeping and mopping.
Furthermore, they make the floor shiny. In addition, they use L.E.D light
bulbs, which make me feel comfortable and safe. Since I live in Chicago, I have
to take trains and buses, yet the above mentioned problems make me want to go
back to Korea.
The most significant reason that I
miss Korea is that The C.T.A service quality is lower than Korail. Some people
who live in Chicago do not recommend going outside around midnight. However, as
I am Korean, I really enjoy drinking until midnight or coming back home with
the morning sun, as I did when I was in Korea. The reason why I could stay out
until morning was because railroad police officers were at every station in
order to prevent crimes. They also woke people up who were sleeping on the
train. The police either took their home or brought them the nearest police
office and let them sleep. However, The C.T.A employees seem like they are not
aware of crime because they do not move from their office, and if someone presses on assistant button, the C.T.A employees act as if they do not want to help. It
is not all employees, but I have seen someone react like that. In Korea in
contrast, Korail employees are very polite and friendly. Also, they are public
servants, so they always try to offer good service doing their best and they
have a mission statement that focuses on services, but the C.T.A employees seem
like having low responsibility for their job compared to Korail.
As a result, I felt I lost a big
part of my life because I am not able to travel by train, which means I lost my
favorite hobby. Also, I have to ride the depressing and smelly trains and buses.
Furthermore, I feel I am exposed to crime. Compared to Korea, the C.T.A needs
to accept new technologies and learn what service is from Korail. Even though I
do not think that it could change in a few years, I wish the C.T.A would become
better and better as time goes on, so all customers can be more comfortable and
feel safer than now.
I like to travel by train when I live in my country. The train in my country is safe and clean, so I have the same feeling as you. Maybe I would like to travel to south Karen for the convenient public transportation.
ReplyDeletethe cta in chicago is always bad. especially the red line. it's very terrible.
ReplyDeleteYong, I think you need to try the orange line of the trains. It is very slow. Every time I go to school by the train on the orange line. It used 30 mins from Hosted to Lake. It almost makes crazy.
ReplyDeleteMy sister went to korea and she told me when she used the train the people from over there was very quiet, and here is completely different because most of the people likes to talk. When i use the train to go to the school i always bring a book but i can't concentrate well. ;/
ReplyDeletesame feeling. i have seen the red line, and its pretty neat, orange line is crazy. but pretty much yeah.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that how wonderful trains in your country when I read your essay. I hope I have chance to try it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is really very different between your country and Chicago. The train in Chicago is really very bad. The smell and atmosphere really make me sick.
ReplyDelete