CTA Tattler

Hey, nice pants!

A tall, good-looking guy about 35-years-old stands by the door of the train car, showing off his brand-new jeans from the Gap, size 38 waist, 32 inseam.

And how do we know those intimate details?

Because the pants still bear the long, thin, clear plastic strip along the back of the right thigh stating the waist and inseam size. 38/32. Printed eight times on the strip.

A most-welcome CTA scent

Most of us have endured assaults to our olfactory glands while riding the CTA -- whether it's the urine pooling at the end of the platform, or another passenger's excess perfume or lack of deodorant.

I think it's safe to say most of those sensory experiences are quite unpleasant.

That's why it's a special treat when, as you climb the stairs at the Grand Avenue Red Line station, the luscious aroma of chocolate-making from Blommer's Chocolate tickles your nose, and then fully caresses the Bowman's gland.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.......

Carole Brown: "We need to do a better job communicating with our customers"

In a posting today on her Ask Carole blog, CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown readily admits "we [the CTA] need to do a better job communicating with our customers, and that's a responsibility that starts at the top."

She applauds myself and many others for "continuing to hold our feet to the fire on improving customer communications during service disruptions. Good for them. "

She goes on to say she's seeing improvements already in communications with passengers -- citing Friday's incident on the Blue line when an unauthorized person on the tracks caused a service disruption.

Of that incident, she says:  "...The CTA internal communications and the instructions to CTA employees gave much more explicit direction in terms of customer communication than I have seen in the past. "  And she welcomes comments from customers who may have been involved in the incident.

So take her up on the offer and comment here. I'll republish any in this space.

And thanks to Carole and the CTA staff, including Greg Longhini, for their attention to this important matter.

CTA response deflects responsibilities of management

On Sunday, I posted the CTA response to my open letter on communication problems during CTA outages, particularly as witnessed Oct. 3 during the morning rush following a work train derailment. This is my response to their reply.

First, it's good to know that my "concern is being taken very seriously," and that "President Kruesi made direct and forceful reference to your letter and the comments on your Web site at last week's meeting of his top staff." The top brass should be listening to us.

Unfortunately, after admitting that communications problems are a big concern in his reply to me, Terry Levin never actually says what steps the CTA is taking to solve the problem. Instead, the CTA's vice president for customer service explains how hard it is to "determine if a delay will be relatively brief or not" and asks us riders to essentially rat out employees we feel aren't doing their job.

OK, fine. We can and should do that.

But in the case of the Oct. 3 derailment, I'm convinced that most employees were trying to do their job (as shown in many of the comments on that post), but they didn't have all the information necessary to serve riders.

And the question for the top brass is WHY?

After all, subscribers to our CTA wireless alerts got a total of five alerts about the situation that day from CTA headquarters.

And it was all excellent, useful information, such as: "No Brown Line trains between Southport and Fullerton. Bus shuttle between stations. Shuttle train Fullerton to Loop" at 4:40 am; and "Due to work equipment derailment, Purple Line trains end at Howard. Transfer to Red Line trains to continue southbound" at 7:10 am.

Makes me wonder: Did CTA workers get that same information communicated to them in the same succinct fashion? Maybe the CTA should equip workers with wireless devices to receive these same messages that we get.

So again I ask you President Kruesi, what steps are you taking to make sure your employees have the information they need to pass on to riders, and to make sure they are communicating that information?

I certainly will acknowledge that the CTA is investing in fiber optic technology to enhance communications systems at rail line stations. 

But all the best technology in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if the communicators don't get the information to be communicated.

CTA responds to post on communications problems during outages

A week ago, I posted an open letter I sent to the CTA chairwoman and president about "Some lessons to be learned on employee, customer communications during service outages." On Saturday, I received a reply from Terry Levin, the CTA's vice president for customer service. It follows:

Dear Mr. O'Neil:

I am writing in response to your open letter to CTA Chairman Carole Brown and President Frank Kruesi about customer communications and announcements.

Just speaking for myself, I can assure you that your concern is being taken very seriously. In fact, President Kruesi made direct and forceful reference to your letter and the comments on your Web site at last week's meeting of his top staff.

The basic feeling at the CTA on this issue is the same as I've seen reflected those posts and in the communications we have received directly from our customers: that the announcements have improved in recent weeks as both Ms. Brown and Mr. Kruesi have made it a top priority, but also that there is still significant room for improvement. You can be assured that everyone here is working on those improvements.

One of the challenges the CTA faces in making announcements is that it can often take some time for us to determine if a delay will be relatively brief or not. One example is when a customer falls ill on a train and paramedics need to be summoned, which happens regularly (but happily not frequently). The response time of the ambulance cannot be predicted in advance and we do not know until the emergency crew arrives if they will immediately remove the stricken person from the train or will decide they must begin medical treatment on the spot, prior to moving the victim. The latter means a significantly longer delay.

It is a similar situation when there is a mechanical problem on a train. Nine times out of 10, it is a minor glitch that the train operator can fix within a couple of minutes. It is only when those efforts fail that we know a situation exists where the delay could be longer and, by that time, it obviously is already in progress.

Another example, very recent, is a situation yesterday (Friday) when a person was on the tracks of the Blue Line's Cermak branch at California. This type of emergency happens all too often on the rail system and requires that we turn off the power until we know no one risks electrocution. In the vast majority of cases, the situation is resolved in very short order when the person is arrested or has run away--too short a time for most people to change their travel plans or for us to need a bus shuttle around the closed section of tracks. Friday, however, developed into a stand-off that lasted much longer than usual and required a major response. It did, however, take time to evolve into that situation.

The popsicle-sucking map protectors

How often do you get popsicle-sucking businessmen, a map-stealing kid, and an inattentive motorman all in one reader Tattler Tale? Thanks to Jacques for sharing this with us:

I was riding the Blue Line in from ORD Monday afternoon, in the last car, sitting in the last pair of seats facing each other. Around Montrose two businessmen in suits get on, eating popsicles, and take the seats with their backs to the conductor area that was closed off. They quickly finish them.

Shortly after we pass Logan Square, a young man entertaining some of his friends pulls the route map off the wall. He takes it back to his seat at the other end of the car and begins to examine it closely. (Why he didn't grab the map closer to him is unknown to me).

He then starts to roll it up, presumably to put it in his rucksack. One of the businessmen decides that this isn't cool, and goes to tell the guy to put it back. The guy says "I was going to put it back", and the businessman sits back down. Of course, the kid makes no such move to put it back.

We get past Damen, and the businessman presses the intercom button. The light goes green, and then nothing, no voice or anything. He presses it again after about 30 seconds. Nothing. He starts poking his head out after each stop to flag down a CTA staffperson or CPD. Nothing. I got off at Clark, and the guy had no luck finding anyone.

Glad to know that the CTA keeps up the "state of readiness" they had after the London bombings.

Bus passengers get Chicago Card fill-up options

Bus-only (and other) Chicago Card holders will be able to add value and check balances at 61 merchants under a pilot project announced Tuesday by the CTA.

Right now, the only way to add value to a Chicago Card is at vending machines located only at train stations. CTA Tattler readers have shown general approval of the cash fare hike, but have called for more places to add value to the Chicago Card.

So kudos to the CTA for this pilot project. Here's how it would work, as explained on the CTA Web site:

"Adding value at the new locations will be fast and convenient. Customers will simply touch their Chicago Card to the electronic scanner and pay cash to the merchant. Once the amount is verified by the merchant, the customer again touches the card to the scanner to authorize the transaction. For the pilot, merchants will be able to accept cash only from CTA customers."

And what's in it for the merchants? Well, a 1.8 percent commission rate on the  value added to Chicago Cards.

As an aside, there has been some criticism of the CTA that the cash fare hike will hit the poor hardest. The CTA answers that charge in the same press release with some stats:

"The 2006 budget proposal recommends that pass prices remain unchanged. The proposed 2006 fare increase was carefully structured to minimize the adverse impact on CTA customers, especially those who can least afford it. Keeping pass prices steady is a key element in the 2006 proposal.

"Although they make up only one-quarter of all CTA customers, those earning less than $20,000 account for more than one-third of all 7-Day pass purchases. Purchasers of CTA's 7-Day pass have average annual household incomes one-third lower than CTA customers in general. Half of all of CTA’s reduced-fare monthly passes are sold to persons with annual household incomes of less than $20,000. If the 2006 proposed fare increase is approved, by limiting the price increase to cash fares, CTA will be able to shield its most price sensitive customers while still generating about $17 million to offset high fuel prices."

Interesting. What do you think?

Motorman asks permission

The doors were closing at North and Clybourn. Two guys come running down those long steps, huffing and puffing up to the train.

The motorman sees them. Ands  asks permission of the riders whether he should delay the train a bit and pick up these poor huffing schmoes.

"You gotta ask the riders could I pick them up," he says over the intercom. "They said yes, so I opened the door. You know, I had to ask permission first."

The schmoes were quite happy.

Two things: CTA photo blog, iPod sharing techniques

Thing No. 1: In my Internet perusals, I came across a way-cool CTA photo blog, Kiss and Ride. Blogger cannotbetrusted posts often fuzzy cell phone photos he takes on his morning commute. He doctors them up quite nicely with Google's free Picasa software.

Then he invites readers to write captions, stories, haikus, whatever. The results are fun and often creative. For instance, here's a story written to go with the Kiss and Ride photo I cribbed here.  Check it out.

Thing No. 2: Over three days last week I saw three different ways for six different teens to share an iPod.

First, two girls in their late teens shared iPod buds, with one leaning back in a seat and the other leaning forward in the seat behind her.

The next day, I saw a girl and a boy, both about 15, leaning across the aisle, sharing buds.

Then, two 18-year old girls sat side-by-side, just a couple of buds sharing some tunes.

It was a little odd to see one bud stretching out of the ears of two different people, in three variations.

Some lessons to be learned on employee, customer communications during service outages

Following is an open letter to CTA President Frank Kruesi and Board Chair Carole Brown.

Dear Frank and Carole:

A week ago, a CTA work train derailed at around 3 am Monday. The derailment put two tracks out of service for the busy morning rush hour, effectively cutting CTA's capacity by 50%.

The Purple Line Express to the Loop was shut down all morning; the Brown Line was stopped and/or slowed most of the rush hour.  The Red Line was packed with Evanston Express riders. Early in the day shuttles took riders from Addison to Fullerton.

This situation called for excellent communication between the CTA and passengers. To be sure, there was some, but not enough.

Actually, great communication with passengers -- at least those signed up to receive CTA Tattler's wireless alerts -- started at 4:39 am when the CTA sent its first of five alerts. That first alert warned: "No Brown Line trains between Southport and Fullerton. Bus shuttle between stations. Shuttle train Fullerton to Loop."

Great start. Unfortunately, comments to my post about the derailment indicate that train station customer assistants had less information about the problems that day than those signed up to get the wireless alerts.

That's just wrong, because there are about 400 enrollees, and probably tens of thousands of riders that morning whose commute was negatively impacted by the derailment.