Hey CTA, heat costs money

Daniel Rey wrote to "Going Public" about broken heaters at the Western stop on the Forest Park branch. "GP" visited the Western stop on Saturday, when the temperature was 66 degrees. Five out of six of the heaters, which each radiate 3200 watts, were in use.

Typically there is a switch to control heat, which is available Nov. 1 to March 31. But on the platform for the train to Forest Park, there was no switch. Rey's letter is below. "GP" pictures are after the jump.

Rey wrote: "The switch that controls the heaters at the Western Blue Line stop (the one between Kedzie and the Illinois Medical District) has been broken for over a year now...

...the heat is on all the time!

Each heater radiates 3.2 kiloWatts and given the energy rates, last winter the CTA spent about:

$0.14 / kiloWatt hour * 3.2 kiloWatts / heater * 24 hours / day * 30 days / month * [5] months =

$1,612.80 per heater!!!

They have six heaters at the Western stop... So much for going green."