CTA Tattler

Red Line accident: "Cars pulled apart; wires snapped; bright flash of light"

Miranda was on the Red Line train that "uncoupled" Thursday morning at Sheridan Road, causing long delays for the morning commute. Here's her eyewitness account of what happened. (And thanks for sharing!)

"This morning, 11/17/05, I was on the Red Line train southbound when we stopped at the Sheridan station.  We sat for roughly 20 minutes (about 8:10 am to 8:30 am) with no announcements or word as to what was happening.  Then, as the train began to pull out of the station, the car in front of the one I was in moved...and mine didn't.  The cars pulled apart, wires snapped, there was a bright flash of light, and another passenger opened the doors and we all piled off the train.  The cars were at least 10 yards apart, with debris on the tracks.  As I made my way down to street level, there were still no announcements.  I used the pay phone in the station to call my workplace, and spent several minutes on the phone.  After that--still no announcements, and no customer service representatives or CTA staff in sight. 

"Luckily, I discovered that the 151 bus route stops a block from my workplace, so I was able to make it in.

"I e-mailed the CTA to tell them about the absolute lack of customer assistance and announcements, and also to ask just what the heck happened with the train (besides the obvious--yes, it uncoupled--but how?) and what they're doing to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Tekky was on the Sheridan platform at the time of the accident and filed this report:

"It started as a train whose doors wouldn't open at Sheridan. Everyone stood on the platform for a while a CTA Operator checked the doors. He returned to the lead car, and after a few more minutes the train started to move. Just as it was starting to clear the station, I heard a "crack" and saw a flash of sparks.

At this point I couldn't really see anything as I was 15 feet away and the platform was packed, but the train had separated between what I think was the 5th and 6th cars. As I walked to the stairs to jump on the "Rum Bus" (the 151) to get to work, I saw the condition of the connecting springs... They were almost just straight coils. That was all I could really see of the incident, but one of the CTA Operators on the tracks shouted out to another something about clearing the debris off the tracks.

From what I understand from the CTA Alerts, they got another crew down to Sheridan to run both parts of the train separately. "

Urban earwax art

Continuing with my week of great reader Tattler Tales, here's a sickening story from Craig:

I was on the Red Line a while ago, on a relatively full car, heading from Howard to Chicago/State. I couldn't help but notice what the guy across the aisle from me was doing. He was approximately 22-24, and by the looks of what he was reading, a collegiate business student.

The book he was reading seemed to have lost his attention, as he started drawing... on the window.... with earwax. I watched silently (while trying to remain inconspicuous) as he would stick his pinky in his ear, fish around for 10 seconds or so, come out with a batch of earwax, smell it (to check for quality, I guess) and then continue his masterpiece.

By the time he got off at Fullerton, he had drawn a pair of stick figures, who seemed to be enjoying some sort of sexual position, as one stick figure was bent over, and the other was standing behind, obviously enjoying himself (you could tell by the large smile on his face). Ahh... the beauty that is urban art.

Whoopi G. must avoid the Cottage Grove bus

Here's another good reader Tattler Tale from Rebecca:

Saturday I was on the #4 Cottage Grove bus headed downtown, and this guy on the bus was talking nonsense non-stop.

First he was reciting some rhymes ("Roses are red/Violets are blue/George Bush's wife/Looks like she was born in a zoo"), punctuated with incomprehensible shouts. Then he launched into a long treatise about how much he loves Whoopi Goldberg and how he doesn't care what other people think, he thinks she's beautiful and would marry her if he could.

Then he actually starts shouting his wedding vows to Whoopi: "Do you, [unintelligible], take Whoopi to be your wife, through sickness and health--yes, I do!--for richer for poorer--yes, I do!--'til death do you part--yes, I do!"

It was quite entertaining.

First vibrators, now S&M performance art?

Riding on the El provides us with interesting views, including porch nudes and roof vibrators.

Sometimes we just don't believe our eyes or do a second-take and the strange sight is gone. That's what happened to one Purple Line riding last month, and now he's looking for our help in trying to figure out if he really did see some kind of mock S&M performance art on a rooftop:

"On top of a building just west of the train I saw a giant carrot (presumably filled with either helium or air, like a wind-sock), and then one person "fake whipping" another, as in a mock S&M "performance art" type event."

He says he saw it between Belmont and Sedgwick at about 8:30 am on Oct. 20. Can anyone help him out?

Of handcuffs and sock puppets

I've been out of town on business over the last week, so I'm giving over this space to the Best reader Tattler Tales. Cheryl starts us off with a head shaker/scratcher.

Mucho weirdness on the way home yesterday. I stopped at the Dominicks at Fullerton (this has little to do with transit, but it was still funny) and there was a guy inside handcuffed to a pole. Turns out he works there, he had called the police on some shoplifters, they got there and cuffed him by mistake. And then they couldn't get the cuffs off. I tried not to laugh too loud.

Then, when I left the store I saw a Lincoln bus coming, so I hopped on rather than climb the stairs again. A couple of stops later, this guy gets on who just doesn't look right. He sits a few seats away, but in a seat that faces into the bus rather than forward. He pulls out a Bible. And a sock puppet. I'm assuming it was a sock puppet, and not just a sock.

I didn't look too closely, as my number one rule of thumb is never, ever, make eye contact with crazy people. Or with whatever it is they are using as an alternate personality.

The puppet proceeds to read to us (one of the Epistles, I don't know which one). The man interrupts the puppet occasionally to remark on the women he sees both on the bus and on the street. "Look at that New York woman out there. Yeah, she's New York woman, the way she's shaking her ass. You know what she wants done." is the remarks I remember, but it was all along that line.

Everyone on the bus ignored him, including the driver and t he guy from the CTA standing behind the driver, teaching him the route.

CTA to give automated bus time by phone

Bus riders by next June will be able to get bus schedules via an automated phone line, says a Tribune report:

"Chicago Transit Authority and Pace riders who want to know when the next bus is scheduled to arrive at their corner soon will have that information available at their fingertips under a plan the Regional Transportation Authority board approved Thursday.

"As early as next June, callers to the RTA's Travel Information Center (836-7000 from any of the Chicago region's area codes) no longer will have to wait for an operator to get Pace and CTA bus schedules. Instead, they will be able to use an automated system by dialing in the route number or saying it over the phone, according to Phil Shayne, RTA director of regional services."

The automated system will cost about $254,000, but eventually save money for the CTA and RTA both, which must pay 85 cents for each call handled by a live operator, the story says.

This is great, but what we could really use is NextBus, which Warren alerted us to last month

CTA budget passes with surprise fare hikes

Disabled-rights advocates were "appalled" to see the CTA board double fares for paratransit services (to $3.50 from $1.75) in OKing the 2006 budget, the Sun-Times reports. In another surprise move, fares for shuttle buses also were doubled, from $1 to $2.

But it was no surprise that those paying cash fares will dig for another quarter. The Sun-Times link above has a nice synopsis of what the new fares will be. Check it out.

And if you don't yet have one, get your Chicago Card or Plus card free between Dec. 1 and April 1. Kruesi said only 9% of riders use them now.

Cemetery chuckles

A little 5-year-old girl riding the Red Line south out of Wilson with her Grandma stares studiously as they pass Graceland Cemetery.

Then she turns to Grandma and asks: "How many people are dead in that cemetery?"

A man sitting all the way at the other end of the car looks up from his newspaper and chimes in, "Everybody!"

Giggles rippled through the car.

New cost-saving, fare hike ideas from CTA

There's more news today about the CTA continuing to find way to save on operating costs and raise more revenue.

They're looking to see if they can save money by using buses that run on hybrid electric-diesel power. The Trib reports CTA bought 20 of these hybrid fuel buses to determine if the higher cost -- about $530,000 versus $340,000 for a more conventional bus -- eventually is made up in fuel savings.

On the revenue side of the ledger, the CTA board is expected to OK the 25-cent hike in cash fares to $2, which would be effective Jan. 1, 2006.

In addition, the Trib reports a new fare-hike idea not in the original proposal: Doubling the cost of the rush hour downtown shuttle bus to $2 from $1. Board Chairwoman Carole Brown last week said riders had contacted her with that idea.

But I'm thinking it wasn't the shuttle bus riders.

Good vibes recovered from roof

It’s gone.

The bright red dildo/vibrator that laughed at us (and we laughed at) from the roof of a building at the juncture of the Red and Brown lines has been retrieved.

I’m not sure why or by whom, though I strongly suspect the tenants whose balcony abuts the roof of the building watched over by Hubert the Harris Bank lion.

But please assure me it’s in a landfill somewhere and not in a bedside drawer.