It’s been a rough week for the CTA, and riders have a lot to say about it

It’s been a rough week for the CTA.

A gas leak at the Jackson Blue Line station that forced commuters to evacuate late Friday morning marked the end cap to a week of reroutes, delays or other service interruptions suffered by the Chicago transit system, including a collision between two trains.

The disruption that impacted the most lines was caused by a bomb threat Wednesday afternoon, halting Orange, Green, Purple, Blue, Brown and Pink Line trains at Clark/Lake. After evacuating trains and causing a major headache for evening commuters, the threat was determined to be unfounded.

The day before, Purple and Brown Line trains collided at Sedgwick station in Old Town, causing delays that morning. Fourteen people were taken to hospitals in good condition. A CTA spokesperson said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

As if Tuesday’s train collision wasn’t enough, authorities got a call about a “chemical odor” that same morning at Grand station on the Red Line, and a hazmat team was sent to the scene, evacuating and shutting down the station for a few minutes. A sergeant was taken to the hospital over concerns that he may have inhaled a chemical.

On Monday, a person was on the tracks near 47th Street Station on the Red Line. Trains stopped in both directions in the afternoon and resumed with residual delays nearly half an hour later.

Plenty of riders were inconvenienced by the many delays, reroutes and stops, and they had no problem complaining about it.

One even asked for his money back.

But other riders had encouraging words for their preferred method of transportation, and wished the CTA well.

The CTA did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.

One thing we can all agree on: the Skokie Swift line is looking pretty good this week.