CTA Tattler

PETA propaganda

There's nothing quite like seeing a picture of a nice-looking woman caressing a chicken.

That's what you get with the PETA ad I've been seeing on the CTA trains lately.

"Pigs, cows, chicken and fish are individuals with feelings. They experience love, happiness, loneliness and fear just as dogs, cats and people do. .. And yes animals are crammed by the thousands inside modern factory farms...."

It goes on to tout the "vegetarian starter kit," guaranteed to reduce your chance of heart disease and cancer by 40%.

Hey, some of best friends are vegans, God love 'em, but they don't think fish experience pangs of loneliness.

Chic chapeaus

Over the last month or so, I've been keeping notes on the different kinds of hats CTA riders are wearing these days. Here's a preliminary report:

• A 30-ish woman sporting a wonderful red velvet brimmed hat with copious small gold balls glued around the top of it.
• Earliest sighting of the red Santa hat: Dec. 3.
• A guy wearing a white leather hat. White?
• A lime-green knit cap worn by a 60-ish man.
• A tall, "normal-looking" (whatever that means) guy in a black tossle cap, featuring skulls and cross-bones in white stitching and three red roses.
• A 50-ish guy wearing a gray knit cap emblazoned with the city of Chicago log.
• And my favorite, a 30-ish Pittsburgh-looking woman (you had to grow up there like me to know what that means exactly) proudly wearing a black cap with the distinctive Steelers logo.

Go Steelers!

CTA worst case scenario

Over at gapersblock.com, you'll find a thoughtful essay about the worst case scenario of CTA budget cuts.

Chicago musician Tim Requarth opines: "When it comes down to it, service cuts are exactly that: mere inconveniences. What we should be complaining about are a tight budget's attendant changes in CTA's management of its employees. No amount of technological wizardry can prevent a tired, underpaid employee from making a mistake. And sometimes those mistakes are far more than inconveniences -- they are disasters."

In his piece he covers various CTA accidents that occurred due to human error by employees.

Scary shit, indeed.

To CTA parkers: Boo-frickety-hoo

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the folks who are crying about the CTA raising the parking rates at some of their garages.

In some cases, the fee are doubling: from $1.50 to a whopping $3!

Hellooooo!!! Don't you know what it costs to park downtown? Anywhere from $10 to $25, if you're lucky.

So reaching into your pocket for another buck-fifty isn't gonna kill ya. Especially with the CTA facing $55 million budget deficits.

Overheard on the Tube and New York subway

In my Internet travels, I've run across a couple of Web sites with overheard conversation and things observed from both sides of the Pond.

Tube Gossip has some unusual and succinct overheard sentences, including: "He was hospitalized for falling up a flight of stairs... it's unusual, at least." And: "She's not going to believe you. I don't believe you and I was there."

Not to be outdone, New Yorkers have their own site, Overheard in New York. Many of the stories are from the subways, but some are not. It's still worth a look for converstation snatches such as this:

"Ghetto chick: She went by and shoved me and was like "Ex-cuse me!", but not like "excuse me", you know? So she had this long hair? Well, I grabbed her by the hair, flung her down the stairs, and started kicking her ass. I'll fight anybody." Hear on the D train.

Let's count off - one skin ...

The same group of friends from yesterday weren't done fooling around.

One guys yells, "Hey, let's count off. One skin...."

Next guy: "Two skin."

Next gal: "Three skin."

Next gal: "Four skin."

They guys start cracking up, practically rolling in the aisles.

"Is that a bad word or something?" the female foreskin utterer asked innocently.

Construction for Wilson Yards project set for spring

Construction on the long-awaited, much-debated Wilson Yards development should start this spring, according to a Tribune report Sunday.

The development, which was vetted through a long community process, includes a new Aldi's store at the north end near Wilson, two nine-story apartment buildings at the south, and a seven-story commercial building in the middle, anchored by a Target and a 12-screen movie theater complex.

Open mouth, insert ...

A group of seven 20-something friends (four girls, three guys) were grouped together in seats around the doors.

Soon they start egging on the pretty blonde (obviously not the woman pictured) to do her "famous trick." She agrees, but two friends says, "Wait, I have to get my camera."

Finally, with a digital camera and camera phone at the ready, she calmly inserts her entire fist into her mouth. Flashes go off, and they have some pix to send home to Mom about life at college.

Or not.

Train service in DC

Sara recently wrote this about her experience on the DC Metro (hmmm... something for the CTA to aspire to?):

I was recently in Washington DC and rode the Metro (their version of the CTA). I have to say that I was impressed.

The employees were nice and the motorman was pleasant as he announced the stops. The trains were clean and pretty quiet as they rolled along the tracks on their rubber wheels. The connections to other lines were smooth and the signs were easy to follow.

People here are complaining about the possible rate hikes. There, depending on what time you ride or where you go, you can pay up to $4 for your ride! The fees are higher the farther you go and higher if you ride during the morning or evening rush.

I think we get a great service for the fees we pay. The only problem I had was that I could not pass back my fare card to my friend, they had to get their own.

The Pink Lady always sits alone

This great Reader Tattler Tale comes from James. Thanks, James. Submit your own tale for publication here under Comment, or email me.

I had finished my office hours at De Paul University and had stopped off for a few groceries before taking the Red Line South at Fullerton.

With my two small bags of store goods, I sat down at one of the sideways seat on the EL. Sitting in the next seat was this thin young twenties brunet with a matching cloth pink peat coat and hat. Within 30 seconds of my sitting down, she jumped up and moved to another seat.