CTA Tattler

Status report on CTA wireless alerts at one-month-old

Just about a month ago, my brother Dan and I started the CTA wireless alerts community on upoc.com. Here's a status report.

• The CTA has joined our community and is sending us alerts under the handle of CTA_HQ. This is hugh. It means they recognize the importance of this technology, and in fact are planning to roll out their own email alert system early next year. They joined the day after I testified about our wireless alerts before the CTA board.
• CTA alert community members are getting better and better at giving good, detail information on service outages and long delays.
• We are holding steady at about 350 members. The more members we have the more eyes and ears we have on the roads and rails, so join now.
• Even if you don't have a cell phone that will accept text messages, or don't want to be charged for text messages, you can join using just your email address. Then check the Web site for new trouble spots before you hit the CTA.
• We've learned that there are more train fires than are generally reported that cause delays. None have yet injured anyone though. There were two in one week at the end of August that snarled train traffic on the North Side.
• Folks have asked us to do separate alerts for various train lines. We're not inclined to do that because we feel there is power in the larger community reporting what they see and hear. Plus, problems on one train line generally affect another, especially since  the Red, Brown, Purple, Green and Orange lines share tracks in one way or another.
• And remember, it's easy to turn off alerts when you don't want them. Just remember to turn them back on or check the Web site.

Keep up the great work guys!