CTA Tattler

Promenading pigeons on parade

A friend at work was wondering about pigeons. They really seem to like CTA stations. In fact, at the Davis stop on the Purple Line there are razor-sharp points jutting out from nearly every surface where a pigeon might alight.

At the Howard station, there are some similar pigeon prevention tools, but apparently not enough to keep them off the trains.

My work friend says they tend to congregate on the platform near the first Red Line cars on the trains heading south. She has seen pigeons waddle on the train, and personally shooed them off. Other times she has noticed them take off aboard the train. Then what happens.

A motorman told me if someone alerts him via the call button, he'll chase the pigeons off at Jarvis if they can't produce a transit card.

Another friend told me of the time she was waiting behind a person at Morse, waiting for the doors to open on the southbound train. When they did, the person in front of her screamed and ran down to the next car. Waddling around in the car was pigeon. My friend showed him the way off at Morse.

So what's the big deal with loud cellers?

There's a fun little discussion going on in the Comments section on Monday's "Red Line meditation." First some folks wanted to know why I thought it strange that some people can yak on a cell phone and then go into a deep meditation stance. I called it cognitive dissonance. (There's your definitions, cmama.)

Then Jocelyn chimed in (almost literally -- I can almost hear her loud laugh now): "why is talking on the cell phone any more annoying than people talking and having a real time convo? i'm a loud laugher and a loud talker. i can't help it. my voice carries. so, people are bound to be annoyed by my loud voice no matter what. i'm not allowed to talk? but somehow it increases in annoyance, because the person i'm talking to isn't there? i've never understood the principle."

Well Jocelyn, one reason it's so annoying is because we voyeurs can't hear the other side for the conversation. And research proved that, as I blogged back in October.

The other reason is because people don't necessarily want to hear about how your job interview went, nor do they want to even HEAR your job interview. We don't care about your dog taking up two-thirds of your bed, or how your lover likes chicken sandwiches.

But Christine has the best reason yet as to why we don't want to hear your personal cell phone calls. (Just for the record, I'm fine with calling wifey to say you're on the way home and will pick up some bread, or whatever.) Christine reported hearing this conversation:

"A pretty young thing of about 22 sat down next to me on the bus (no seats left & I was trapped) with her cell phone planted on her ear. She was in mid argument with her mother after coming back from her doctor to find out if she was pregnant or not. She would take another pregnancy test in the morning (because it's more accurate in the morning, so her doctor told her) just to be sure. Evidently Mom didn't approve because the rest of the conversation devolved into this young women loudly defending her lifestyle and her sex life with her boyfriend who, BTW, she's been with for four years. Jeez, Mom, it's not like it was in your day, loud huff for effect!

"Point is, I don't need to know all this about some perfect stranger. Neither did anyone else sitting within earshot. I can't begin to imagine having this conversation on the el myself. Cell phones just allow for too much information in too small a space!"

Does that settle it for you, Jocelyn? ;-)

We're not safe yet from fare hike or service cuts

The Sun-Times reports today that the PACE system is licking its chops to get a 20% cut of the $54 million that the legislature made available to subsidize paratransit services in the region. The CTA figured it would get the whole pie. However ....

"We were present in Springfield when the bill was being put together and as we understand it, the money was given to the RTA to distribute for the needs of paratransit in the region," Pace spokesman Michael Bolton said."

The CTA begs to differ.

"CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said CTA boss Frank Kruesi believes the money was "intended to prevent service cuts and fare increases this year." Board chairwoman Carole Brown has said several lawmakers made it clear during legislative deliberations that the state came up with $54 million solely for the CTA."

The saga continues. Stay tuned.

Unwanted serenade

Some friends shared this Red Line tale with me over the weekend. It seems the family of three were on a Red Line outing. The dad was seated a few seats ahead of his wife and daughter, who were in one of the seats facing each other by the door.

A big, homeless-looking guy came on the train, singing a song. When he spied the pretty 15-year-old daughter, he sat across the girl and started singing directly to her, in a flirting manner.

Her dad was not at all pleased by this turn of events. He got up, moved down the aisle and stood between the two of them. Finally, "Frank Sinatra" got the hint, and looked up at him and said, "Are you her Dad?"

The dad sternly said, "Yes I am!"

"Frank" muttered, "Oh jeez, sorry."

Then he turned to the teen's mom sitting beside her and said, "Are you her mother?" She nodded yes.

"Oh man, I'm outta here," he exclaimed and jumped off at the next stop.

My friends are a mixed race couple, and you have to look real closely at their daughter to notice her resemblance to them.

Red Line meditation

A woman in her mid-30s sits quietly amid the Red Line cacophony, in the traditional meditation stance.

Eyes shut, palms upturned with thumb and forefinger joined togther.

Of course, this was after she finished yakking to her girl friend for 10 minutes on her cell phone.

Talk about cognitive dissonance.

Fire shuts down Blue Line subway

Scary stuff: a rubbish fire broke out under a Blue Line train near the Clinton station, forcing the evacuation of 30 passengers through the tunnel at around 3 a.m. on Sunday, the Tribune reports.

That stuff scares the bejeezus outta me.

Track walker still gets to ride awhile

Brian shares this interesting Blue Line story with us. Thanks for sharing, Brian:

I picked up the 8:36 from Forest Park going downtown. At the now defunct Laramie Station, the train stopped and the engineer announced, " Sorry, but there is a woman on the right-of-way I am trying to coax her on the train."

We waited about five minutes,  and the engineer came back to apologize: "We must cut the power as she won't get on."

Eventually he was successful in "coaxing" her on board, and of course she sat right behind me!

They did the security check at Pulaski (I think) where the engineer informed the supervisor and the police that a jumper was on the train.

We then traveled past two stations and then had to wait about 15 minutes for the cops to show up. Soon they dragged her off.

Now what I want to know is this, why did we have to go four stops and 20 minutes with this obviously deranged woman on the train?

More ideas for CTA Platinum Service

Those fun folks at the Trib's Tempo section came up with a fun feature Tuesday. They suggested more perks for Chicago Card users, along the lines of the Go Lanes on select buses and train stations.

The "Tempo Subcommittee on Public Transit Perks" called for Platinum Service such as "admission to a no-Cubs-fan car on the Red Line on game days," and "during winter, standing-room-only tickets for the three spots on the platform under the heat lamp."

So that got me dreaming about bar cars, cell-phone-free zones and the like But then, where would I get all my Tattler Tales?

What Platinum Services would YOU like to see?

Whither the lonely lost die?

I usually make a habit of looking down at the seat before I sit on a CTA train or bus. I forgot to do that yesterday morning. Lucky for me, it could have been worse.

As I sat, I felt a small ridged bump creasing my butt. I jumped up and discovered a single blue die on the seat. And it really made me wonder where it came from.

Had it been used in a CTA scam game? Were kids just shooting dice and lost it, as I had witnessed one night? Was someone practicing his craps skills?

It almost made me wish there was some sort of dice tracking site, as there is for U.S. currency.

Worst nightmare: Smacked in head by CTA train

I've had nightmares about dropping something on a train platform, bending over to pick it up, and then getting hit in the head by an on-rushing train. Ouch!

My nightmare is the harsh reality for a guy who dropped his cell phone last night at Sox/35th Street station and got knocked unconscious by an oncoming train as he bent to retrieve it, reports the Tribune today.

He was expected to be released today after tests at John Stroger Hospital. And, as the Trib wryly noted: "It was not reported if the man got his cell phone back."