I ride the L most days, and mostly think it's great, but the systems are not really comparable. The subway has over 10x the ridership and is vastly more importa

I ride the L most days, and mostly think it's great, but the systems are not really comparable. The subway has over 10x the ridership and is vastly more important to New York's economy than the L is to Chicago's. The "hard" decisions CTA made to shut down whole branches for months at a time to do rehab would be politically impossible in New York.