CTA Tattler

CTA news roundup: Disabled fare hike dropped; two bus accidents; universal RTA fare card?

There's been quite a bit of CTA news to catch up on over the last few days:

• After enduring a scolding from Mayor Daley, the CTA board voted last week to roll back the big fare hike it had approved for paratransit riders. Daley even called CTA Chair Carole Brown on the carpet about the doubling of the fare. Interestingly, Brown cast the lone dissenting vote on the roll-back at last week's board meeting. CTA Tattler readers had a lot to say about this subject, especially our pal jk1.
• There were two bus accidents last, one resulting in the death of a man who walked in front of a bus near Midway Airport on Friday. Meanwhile, On Wednesday car rear-ended a bus near Soldier Field, sending four passengers and the driver to the hospital.
• Finally, the RTA wants to develop a universal fare card that would give Metra riders unlimited rides on the Pace and CTA systems. The price for such a system is not known, but other options in a previous study of such a system reportedly cost between $67 million and $170 million,  the Tribune reports.
• And of course, there was the Holiday Train derailment Saturday, which I reported earlier.

Holiday train derails; Santa, passengers unhurt

The CTA's Holiday Train derailed Saturday night. No one was injured. Santa and other passengers were evacuated.

There were announcements on the CTA Web site about the derailment last night, as well as on our CTA wireless alert network. But no acknowledgment that it was the CTA's Holiday Train.

Thanks to Andrew at Gapersblock.com for his tip about the derailment. And be sure to check out pictures by Wendy McClure of poundy.com fame at her Flickr account.

In the adjacent photo by Wendy, a CTA worker in the bottom right corner helps Santa's Elf and other passengers evacuate the train.

Wendy reported in comments to her Flickr photo set: "We were told the train had jumped the track--something having to do with the flatbed Santa car, the unusual length of the train, and maybe the speed. They were sending a northbound train to pick us up."

In addition, two commenters on Wendy's site reported the Holiday Train had derailed at the same spot in the past.

The only other mention of the incident Sunday on the CTA's Web site was that "CTA’s Holiday Train will not operate on the Brown Line today, Sunday, December 18, 2005."

Guess not.

Farewell to DePaul's neo-Gothic athletic building

Who among us hasn't shaken their head and/or shed a tear at the demolition of DePaul University's Hayes-Healy Athletic Building in the last week or so?

The CTA bought it for a song (just under $4 million) in a jury's decision. (DePaul wanted $10 million; the CTA offered $7 million. Under eminent-domain rules, it went to a jury and that's what they came up with!) Now it's almost gone to make room for a few extra feet of track so the CTA can expand the Fullerton platform to make it ADA-compliant, among other added amenities.

A Tribune story explains that "the CTA needs a small portion of the building's footprint for its plans to rehabilitate the Fullerton Station, making it handicapped accessible and lengthening the platforms so it can accommodate longer trains."

The Chicago Reader this week has a story (pdf required) on how the demolition was fast-tracked and didn't follow city rules for demolishing semi-historic buildings such as this.

A vocal opponent of the demolition has been former alderman Marty Oberman.

From Inside Publications in October 2001: "Martin Oberman, a former alderman who lives near the proposed station, urged the CTA to accept his proposal, which would use slimmer platforms of 18 feet and would save Hayes-Healy, but would require shaving off its back end, as well as the back of the Deitzgen Building on the northeast corner of Fullerton and Sheffield streets.

"Oberman accused the CTA of using “misleading” calculations to arrive at its conclusion that 20- and 22-foot platforms would be necessary to accommodate growth and disabled commuters. He said 18 feet would be just fine, allowing each commuter plenty of space “if you just use the right arithmetic.” But, he said CTA officials had “put on blinders” and refused to compromise any further.

"However, CTA officials seemed to have little patience left for compromise. “There is not physically enough space for the new station and the Hayes-Healy building to coexist in a matter that meets operation, ADA, capacity and planning criteria,” said Kevin Thompson, the CTA’s general manager for government and community relations."

It's done now. Farewell, Hayes-Healy Athletic Building.

UPDATE: As Brian noted in his comment, DePaul had a link to the wrong building on its Web site, and originally I posted a photo of Cortelyou Commons. The correct photo of the correct building is now posted above. Thank you Brian.

Google launches Portland transit trip planner

Wouldn't it be great if you could plan your CTA travel via a Google Map interface, rather than the CTA's often unreliable schedules?

Move to Portland.

My brother Dan, who developed the successful CTA wireless alerts system, reports on his blog that Google has launched Transit.

Here's how it works:

"You use Google Transit Trip Planner to get directions, just as you would with Google Local. Google Transit provides directions using public transportation rather than driving directions. With Google Transit Trip Planner you can get the most useful possible schedule by filling in the following information:

1. Your starting location and destination as a street address, intersection, or city/town name.
2. When you want to leave your location (at 7PM on 12/09) and/or arrive at your destination (by 7pm on 12/09)."

I think it's pretty cool. And as Dan urges on his blog, we should send email to Google and to Carole Brown, the CTA chair. Maybe we can get her -- and Google's -- attention with this.

New Skokie Swift station first in 40 years

Skokie will get a new Yellow Line station stop near the Illinois Science + Technology Park -- the CTA's first new station stop in years, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The $9.2 million funding comes from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program. I think it's great to see the feds mitigating something useful.

In other CTA news, officials hope adding more sand around the vicinity of Belmont and Lake Shore Drive will help avoid another rash of jack-knifed buses there, the Trib says.

With 3-to-5 inches of snow expected today, the CTA and city want to prevent further jack-knives of accordion-style buses in that area. Four happened after last week's snow there and a fifth occurred just south of there on Sheridan Road.

Finally in the Trib, Going Public columnist Kyra Kyles yesterday gave some tips on effective complaining to the CTA about service or other problems.

Email is the most effective and easiest for the CTA to respond to because they can forward the mail to the appropriate department. Plus, a reply within 24 hours is promised. I've always had my questions answered promptly by email.

Plus there's always the old telephone: 888-YOUR-CTA. But, in general "fewer than a dozen reps are fielding an average of 700 to 800 e-mails and 100 to 200 calls per day," says the CTA.

Hug a transit cop today

Well, OK, maybe you you shouldn't hug him/her, lest your friendly gesture be misconstrued as an attempt to go for their gun. But next time you see one, say hello and thanks for a job well-done.

After writing about smoking on the platform being banned (again), I heard from one of Chicago's finest via email:

"I'm a Gang Officer [for the Chicago Police Dept.] and work the trains in plainclothes every week on one of my off days. Sometimes people get pissed when we write them a ticket for smoking on the platform or drinking on the trains, and that's just part of the job.

"On the other hand, when we get a guy with a backpack full of stolen wallets or a guy grabbing Ipod's after a two-block-long chase through slippery slush, they rarely even say thanks. All in all, it's a great job and I'm glad to have it. I just hope to hear from someone now and again, "thanks for being around."

Tis the season folks to give thanks and spread good cheer. Cops are people too, and all people need to hear an encouraging word every now and then.

So let's give it. And not just to cops. Say hi and thanks to the customer service agent, and the janitor spreading sand on the platform, and the motorman who opened the door for you. And to your neighbor on the train who needs a seat because she's pregnant, or on crutches or has kids with him.

Songfests on the CTA Santa Train

Regina over at Chicana on the Edge wrote to share her fun experiences on the CTA's Santa Train.

I haven't seen the train yet, but her story makes me want to try to catch up with it before Christmas. Now taking a little one or even a big friend would be a great Christmas gift.

Regina was happily surprised to catch the train one year. Unfortunately, the canned holiday music system was on the blink. So she asked:

“Should we switch to manual?” I joked and (the train conductor) chuckled. But as the train remained music-less, the switching-to-manual idea stayed with me. I made my way to the middle of the car and wondered if I should try it. I hesitated for a minute and then called out, “Hey, everybody! The music stopped so let’s all sing! "Jingle bells! Jingle bells!”

"They surprised me with such enthusiastic cooperation that by the second “Jingle bells!” my voice was drowned out. When we finished that one, I launched us into another, but by the third song a couple of boys were ready with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and my job as leader was happily over. At my stop a few minutes later, I yelled, “I gotta go, but keep singing!”

Sweet story. I want to know when Regina is riding it so she can lead us in song too.

You can hear her sing a lovely version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on her home page. Just click on the red gift box under her picture near the bottom of the page.

"Plane in the street:" My favorite CTA wireless alert

The CTA has been the main contributor -- and a good one -- to our wireless alerts system that we set up for riders and the CTA to share real-time warnings about CTA outages and delays.

One alert last night during the height of the storm ranks as my favorite of all time from the CTA:

"Due to airplane blocking 55th Street at Central, #55 reroute is WB: 55th -Cicero-Archer-55th - Central.EB:Reverse. "

Airplane blocking 55th Street!?!?! Obviously it was an awful accident -- a 6-year-old boy killed and 11 hurt are the early reports. But I just love how the CTA matter-of-factly reported "plane in the street" to our 400 alert users.

I just looked at my phone and said, "WTF!"

Avoid a potential security issue with your car by using airport parking services. Calling ahead and scheduling airport parking reservations will help you get to your gate quicker. Sign online and make your long term airport parking reservations immediately. Arrive early and make it through security on time with airport parking reservations. Here you can pay for your airport parking with EZ-pass in New York.

News flash! No smoking on platforms!

This just in! The new Chicago smoking ban prohibits smoking on train platforms!

"Now, the cigarettes will get snuffed and the cigars stubbed out in most public places, from Chicago Transit Authority train platforms to condominium lobbies and hallways, on Jan. 16." -- Chicago Tribune.

Ummm... hasn't there been a smoking ban on CTA property like forever?

Hair twisting and public health

A woman in her late-20s sits directly in front of me, twisting her hair so tightly it looked like cornrows. As she twisted, she left a little tip of hair fanned out at the end of the cornrow.

She delicately stroked this little tip of hair, just as a baby would stroke the satin edge of her favorite blanket.

I decide to Google "hair twisting" and was somewhat surprised to see that this person may be sick!

• Hair twisting syndrome.
• Trichotillomania  (repeated hair pulling or nervous hair twisting or twirling).

The poor thing! I do hope she gets well soon!