CTA Tattler

Reminder: Don't e-mail the dying

Overheard by a friend:

A guy is yammering away on his cell phone on the Brown line, heading into Belmont:

"You know those exercise units? They're six grand and I sold 13 of them already. ... Yeah. Hey, have you visited my dying mother yet? (Pause).

"No, you can't e-mail her. She won't reply to e-mail. She's *dying.*"

Wider aisles coming to buses

First it was the train cars with aisle-facing seat. Now it's buses.

The Sun-Times reports today that the CTA is testing the wider aisles on some downtown bus rides.

"Chicago Transit Authority boss Frank Kruesi says the new seating arrangement and wider aisles make passenger boarding easier, providing more room for luggage, baby carriages and wheelchairs.

"It's used in many major bus systems around the world to carry more people during rush hour and make for easier loading and unloading for faster service," Kruesi said."

The story also reminds us that the CTA has "ordered 700 L train cars with similar seating arrangements complete with hand straps. Kruesi said he was surprised that test train surveys found more positive than negative reaction to the seating change."

I'm surprised too! I sat on one of the test cars last summer, and didn't like the fact that you are seated in a long row, cheek-by-jowl, with people of all sizes. At least in double seats, you can lean out into the aisle if your seatmate is on the large size.

Thanks to Gapersblock for the tip.

Don't dictate his ice cream choices

This Reader Tattler Tale comes from Ataralas. Thanks!

Last week, I was waiting for a bus at State & Jackson. I had a duffel bag with me, as I was returning from a trip.

I had been standing in the shelter for about 5 minutes after having come up from the Subway, when a man came into the shelter and sat down on one of the seats. He looked at me and said, "Hey man, why you take that 7-day CTA pass out of my pocket over there?"

I replied that I haven't been anywhere near him. He said that he saw me do it.

I told him that I just came out of the Subway. By now, I'm getting a bit nervous, as we're alone at the stop and he's got about four inches and 50 lbs. on me.

Then he stood up and shouted "Take you and your f***ing bag and get out of my f***ing shelter!"

I, being tired and sick of being harassed, just stood there and glared at him.

When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to move, he stuck his finger in my face and screamed, "I'll remember your face, yes I will, and DON'T f***ing tell ME what ice cream I can or can't eat NEITHER!"

I've seen a lot of crazy people on the CTA, but the sheer absurdity of that one boggled my mind.

Fire shuts Green Line; service now restored

A fire on a train shut down the Green Line south of Roosevelt for about 90 minutes today, the Tribune reports.

The fire was reported at about 9:30 this morning around 37th and State streets. No injuries were reported, though fire competely engulfed the fourth car of the six-car train.

Service was restored by 11 a.m.

UPDATE: The Sun-Times has a more complete report, including the fact that passengers had to be evacuated at two different stations.

Of course, the CTA Web site has its usual terse, cryptic message: "Green line trains are operating normally in both directions."

Depression alternative?

You've probably seen the train ad, trying to interest depressed CTA riders in participating in transcranial magnetic stimulation.

One rider had a two-word answer for that ad, scrawled in balck marker at the top of the ad:

TRY VARIETY

Huh?

Search for killers turns to CTA riders

Friends and relatives of a high-profile murder victim are asking CTA riders for information leading to the conviction of the assailants -- and they are backing up their request with a $15,000 reward.

On May 24, 2003, 27-year-old Barry Cunnane, a part-time Irish actor, was shot in the head by two people passing by him on a Ravenswood sidewalk. The killers have never been found.

If you have any information, call the police at 312-744-8261.

Mirrored nappers

Two young woman, both about the same age in their 20s, and who looked alike, were seated side-by-side in the aisle-facing seats by the doors.

They both were napping. And each of their heads were tilted at the same angle in the same direction. Both looked eerily serene.

They were mirror images.

"Sandbagged" Blue Line reopens

The CTA's Blue Line reopened this afternoon after underground work forced its closing around 1 p.m. today.

A contractor not working for the CTA doing soil boring near Division and Milwaukee opened a 5-inch-hole, allowing sand and water to pour onto the tracks.

Read the Chicago Tribune report.

CTA bus driver finds missing toddler

We have reported here in the past about the rudeness and lack of informative communication from CTA conductors. We don't often report about the good conductors and drivers.

So today my hat is off to CTA bus driver Denise Williamson, who on Friday spotted a missing 3-year-old girl sleeping with her aunt on her No. 9 Ashland bus near Addison.

The girl had been missing since Tuesday. The aunt reportedly was "disoriented" and won't face charges, police said.

"Situation in the subway"

This morning on the Red Line, we were in the station at Fullerton at about 8:15 when suddenly the train lost power. My first reaction was "now what," thinking back to last week's suicide that gummed up the system for hours.

Shortly, the conductor announced that a "situation in the subway" had prompted the CTA to cut off the power. We were advised to leave the train and find our own way downtown.

What "situation"?

When I look at the customer alert page on the CTA Web site, I can read about bus reroutings, but not train problems.

Anyone have any clue?

We've all lamented here that the CTA needs to do a better job of getting information to its customers.