CTA Tattler

I've had the same thing happen to me on 147 bus. It would have been different if 1) the go-lane wasn't a separate place to 'quickly board', 2) it was explained anywhere that you couldn't use it at the same time and the all important 3) The driver didn't have to YELL at me like I was an idiot for trying to use my card, hearing it beat and going to my seat.

I've noticed you can get away with if a person is paying cash. I've done it by accident and didn't receive any backlash from the driver.

Don't feel too bad about getting yelled at, it's happened to me (maybe too many times) ;)

Yeaaaaaaa I got quoted by the tattler!!! :-)

Anywho, Aeryn, the driver yelled at me like I was stupid too!! The damn thing lit up and beeped so I continued on to a seat! It would be nice if all the little lights on that thing would light up green if it was accepted and red if it's not...the way it is it beeps and lights up yellow no matter what so you never really know if it was accepted or not. I suspect I've boarded without paying a few times because I used to always touch my card while someone was at the fare box and was never told anything by the driver until this week.

It has happened to me a few times too. And each time I ask the drive why they bother to have the "go lane" and they always just tell me to re-touch.

Or ride the Red Line morning rush every morning. :(

I would also add:

1. Being stuck at transfer station when the last train has already left. (Howard when the Purple Line is done.)

2. Trying to exit out of a broken door (which is never marked) and then having to run to the other door in the car.

3. Witnessing a random argument between strangers on the train. (My favorite was between two businessmen on the Purple Express.)

4. Ride in a car during the summer when the A/C is broken.

5. Have someone with luggage or a bike stand in the absolute middle of the doorway area and bugger everything up.

6. Witness someone get PISSED when boarding passengers don't let the exiting people get off first.

I experienced the same thing with the express lane just this morning on the 146.

Does it happen on all "Go Lane" buses, or is it just the articulated buses? I can't remember if it has happened to me on the non-artics also.

This is idiotic for so many reasons already stated -- the need to re-touch the card *slows down* the express lane, and on a congested bus if someone has to push their way back to the front to re-touch, it slows down the whole bus; there is absolutely no audio or visual feedback to the user to distinguish between a succssful touch and an unsuccessful touch (I got in a semi-angry exchange with a driver the first time it happened, I thought I was being double-charged because I saw it blink.)

This could be a particular problem for deaf people, who only have the visual blink to go by, *and* are not making eye-contact with the driver while they are boarding through the Go Lane.

Wednesday a friend and I were leaving the Madonna concert at the United Center and we were boarding the #19 bus. The bus was flashing a message that read “Get in the Fast Lane!” to indicate that this was one of the new 2 lane-boarding fast pass busses. The bus also had no less than 10 ads above the seats for the Fast Lane service (this was an articulated bus) and also had in 8 separate places, take-away flyers attached to the over-head handbar via tether explaining the Fast Lane service. As I board the bus, I am behind some out-of-towners using cash so I move into the left Fast Lane and place my card and move on. The bus driver then scolds me and tells me to wait my turn?! I said “I am using the Fast Lane” to which he replied “You can’t do that.” I then ask him why then are there about 25 advertisements on this bus including lines painted on the floor to tell me to use the Fast Lane. He just ignored me and waived me on.

What is the point of this Fast Lane if we aren’t supposed to use it?

doesn't happen solely on articulated buses. it's happened to me on the 49 & 66, i don't even bother trying to use the "go lane" anymore. f'ing useless.

you can't just scan your card at the same time someone else is boarding! the machines at el stations have both a touch pad and a transit card slot -- do you attempt to force your way through the same turnstile using your chicago card at the same time a person is using a transit pass? it's the same on the bus -- you still have to go one at a time.

the benefit is that you don't have to fumble with money or keep loading a flimsy transit card. though i do agree with the need to upgrade the chicago card scanners -- it's way too hard to tell for sure that your card scanned correctly, especially when you're trying to "go" to facilitate a crowd boarding behind you..

Has anyone contacted the CTA about the issue of being unable to use the Go Lane while someone else is paying cash that LadyDay mentioned? Any one get a response?

Joe Blow,

Your analogy to the trian station turnstiles is misplaced -- only an idiot would try to barge through a turnstile at the same time as someone else. But on the buses, they created a whole separate lane so more than one person could board at a time -- only they failed to make it possible for more than one person's fare to be registered at the same time, which eliminates (or at least reduces) the benefit of the Go Lane.

They either need to fix the core problem and upgrade the system on these buses to enable more than one fare to be input simultaneously, or they need to start doing a *far* better job educating drivers and passengers about the limitations of the system, plus change the audio/visual feedback to let the Chicago Card users know they need to re-touch.

In fact, simply doing the last of these things - changing the audio-visual feedback - would probably go a long way toward curing the problem, but I don't know how much effort that would require.

Perhaps this whole Go Lane idea was premature given the limitations on the technology?

Guess I'm an experienced rider on the CTA. A few years ago, my fiancee and I were riding a Belmont bus early Saturday morning on the way to the blue line. We were sitting in a set of sideways seats facing the forward-facing single seats on the right side of the bus. Through a good portion of the trip, there was a guy holding up a newspaper but really didn't seem to be reading it. I also noticed that the paper was several days old, which seemed odd. As we got up to get off, we got a great view of the guy with his erect penis and his hand "choking the chicken, spanking the monkey..." Pretty ballsy, considering the bus had a few people on it.

Washing your hands after using public transportation is a good thing.

I immediateyl wash my hands following every time I ride the El...

The "Go Lane" is a sham anyway -- space is pretty tight, enough so that a "whoops, 'scuse me" is inevitable. And since plenty of people still use the front to exit (including me), it's often moot.

As someone on the monthly Chicago Card Plus plan, I've had to snap at a few drivers -- I live well north of Foster, and both Clark and Broadway drivers love to tell me *after* my card has registered that their runs end at Foster. If I'm loaded with packages -- if I'm on either of those buses, it's because I'm running errands -- I have no desire to get off the bus at Foster, wait with a crowd, and then get back on again. And if I step off the bus immediately and wait for the next one, the CTA's computers see that I used the card twice in 15 minutes and automatically convert it to a pay-per-ride account. I'm not catching the drivers off-guard, either; I hold the card so they can see the blue-and-yellow face as they're approaching and again as I'm getting on. They need to be a little more involved on this issue.

Wow Joe Blow...2 things are obvious...you work for the CTA and you didn't think too hard before you came up with that crappy analogy.

I think the Go Lane was a great idea by the CTA but wasn't executed well. I'm about 99% sure it happens on every bus that's equip with the Go Lane.... I've also noticed this: When I go to the LaSalle (I think it's 203 N. LaSalle) clark/lake station, there's a Go Lane Only turnstile but it still has the regular transit card on it. Even thouse it has "Go Lane Only" on the top of the turnstile, about 50% of the users are regular transit card users.

I have a few more official CTA rider requirements:

- Ever waited more than 20 minutes for a bus that's suppose to run every 5 minutes and the bus was empty (it happened to me and we were expecting a bus crowded with people)
- Ever had a bus driver yell profanities at another driver in road rage.
- Ever wonder "Where are these kids parents"
- Ever sing along with street performers/drunken cubbie....sports fans/a bus or train full of "happy" people.

Wow. All I need is to see a perv's penis and I'm an experienced CTA rider. I'm not all that sure I want to be.

Bob S., you might want to ask the bus driver if he goes past Foster before you scan your card. That would probably save you a hassle. The 55 stopped at St. Louis one time, and I missed my flight from Midway. I ask before I get on now.

Tyler, sure, I can ask, every time I get on, whether the bus is actually going to the place the destination sign tells me it's going, but it doesn't seem like it should be my burden, does it? Maybe the destination sign should be accurate, and if the driver can't or won't do that, maybe they should be alert.

I agree with Bob S....Passengers should not have to ask if a bus is going to a certain place. I hate getting on a bus expecting to make it to a certain stop only to be herded off several stops early...if the bus sign says it goes to a certain point it should do just that.

Two other CTA musts:

1. Sit in a wet seat. Try to determine if you sat in water or pee. Hope your pants dry before you get to work.

2. See someone transporting something totally silly on a train or bus - I once saw someone bringing their Christmas tree home on the Damen bus.

Another CTA must:

Explain the route to the bus driver, who normally drives an entirely different route but was told five minutes ahead of time s/he would be driving a different one that morning.

I've had to do that more than once on the Lake Shore Drive express buses--the last time the guy was driving the 148 route in a bus clearly marked as a Belmont bus. Just yesterday I took a Sedgwick bus down Western from Lawrence to Roscoe. She said she was going down Western as far as Fullerton.

Re: Don't Go Lane, savoir faire hit the nail on the head: if there's going to be a separate "Go Lane" for Chicago Card/Chicago Card Plus users on busses, there absolutely needs to be feedback to the card users on whether or not their card was accepted. The way it is now the lights light and the thing beeps when the card is read -- whether or not it is accepted. Only the driver -- a few feet away from the touch pad -- can see whether or not it was accepted. Either this needs to change , or the touch pad needs to be put back where it was right by the driver. I had this happen to me (usually yelled at, sometimes politely told by the driver when card wasn't accepted) several times on various busy bus routes before I finally heard a driver explain what was happening (this driver also called the system "really stupid" -- a description I've since heard used by at least another driver).

Savoir Faire, there isn't a limitation on technology need to accomplish your recommendation. There's a limitation on how much the CTA can spend on technology after they receive their yearly bonuses for doing such a great job balancing the budget each year.

I got yelled at this weekend on the Lawrence bus with the Go Card. And it was one of those "Miss! Miss! Miss!" things where it took forever to get my attention, since I had headed for the back of the bus.

I thought I had done something wrong! Why the *&%^ is there a separate lane? It's a waste of time for the driver to have to keep track of everyone. I actually miss the intitial contact with the driver -- I can't say "good morning" or "hi" when I use the Go Lane.

Forget the urine. My wife and I were going to O'Hare this past April, got on the Blue Line, and discovered that for those who treat the El like a rolling toilet, urination is not the only option. It was appalling. To boot, this was on the floor of the first seat in the door, not the hobo corner. Sad, sick, and surreal, all at the same time ...

rofl waffles @ xmas tree on damen bus