CTA Tattler

I would be all in favor of aisle-facing seats if so many CTA riders weren't overweight.

I often have to sit in an aisle-facing seat on the #14 Jeffrey Express bus and I almost always end up scrunched between two fat people.

That's it, the side facing seats are all a plot by us fatties to keep you skinny people standing... mwahahahah!

That's it, the side facing seats are all a plot by us fatties to keep you skinny people standing... mwahahahah!

Is it me or does that picture look like an eerie waiting room for some secret government human-experiment lab?

If I ever get on a dark train car like that with green lights leading me towards as steel door, I think I'll opt to walk home instead.

But scary probing-lab aside, I'm a bit concerned about the surveillance cameras. I understand their touted benefit of helping law enforcement solve and deter crime, but what policy does the CTA have to protect the privacy of law abiding riders?

If the CTA doesn't even have a clear or strong policy regarding customer information from Chicago Card users, can we realistically expect that the CTA has anything in place to keep surveillance data safe from over-zealous law enforcement agencies when no crime is being committed?

I'd be curious to know if the CTA has a privacy policy for the existing cameras at some train stations?

I'll say it again. Make the aisle facing seats bench-style (like newer NYC subway cars) instead of the separate, felt-covered, concave-style seats. Obviously the folks making the decisions have never actually ridden a CTA bus. These seats are built for Twiggy.

I still HATE the idea of everyone riding sideways, all squished in looking at eachother, lurching back and forth - keep it the way it is, with a variety of different kind of seats.

Zeeck makes a good point. We should make sure that the CTA policy helps to protect the innocent as much as the surveillance system will protect against the law-breakers. I for one am not a fan of surveillance cameras, but as these are in a private location run by a technically private company, they have the right to do as they please.

"Smoother acceleration and braking," hmm? Well, I'll believe it when I feel it, as it mostly seems to be a function of the conductor, not the train.

Every once in a while I get a conductor who drives like a 15-year-old with a drivers' permit, and I swear I'm going to hurl but I'm too busy trying not to be thrown to the floor.

Is there anyone we can contact when we get a conductor who practically throws passengers to the ground?

Thought I would repost this quick rendering I did a couple weeks ago of a hybrid seating plan for the new cars.

compromise el car layout

It offers more standing room in the middle of the train and shorter doorway panels to encourage more people to move to the middle of the train during the busiest times of the day. At the same time, there are still some front and rear facing benches for two reasons.

One, this confirguration allows for two extra seats. Two, trains are not crowded ALL THE TIME, so since the majority of riders prefer front/rear facing seats, why not integrate some into the cars? It seems unfair to dispense with the majority's preference, not to mention the fact that trains are not crowded MOST of the time. That is, MOST riders do not ride on trains that are crowded.

Anyway, this configuration would have both vertical (floor to ceiling) grab bars and hanging straps so that riders of any height can have a stable hand hold. The seating would all be bench style to allow people of all sizes to sit comfortably.

Thoughts?

Why not eliminate the seats all together, and then the CTA can rent portable seats at each el’ stop for those that want the extra convenience for their commute.

I personally despise the aisle-facing seats unless I'm with someone I know. Then it's no problem. But I don't want people on both sides of me squeezing me in.

And I may be a bit round on the edges, but I'm not as bad as some of the people who I've had to sit next to. I've been worse off than you skinny people.

And I should mention this...

I don't think there's that much of a problem with the amount of people standing. The whole problem is that the CTA has poorly designed cars with no place to grab onto when you're in the middle of the train. If they were to upgrade the old cars to have poles and bars and such in the middle, all would be fine for me.

I have a couple of concerns about the new el car seating. I'm short, so ceiling straps won't help me much. I hope there are enough poles to hang on to, though the aisles look a bit wide. Surfs up if you're caught in the middle with nothing to hold on to.

My biggest gripe though is the view. As many times as I've ridden the el, I still get a kick out of the view from the elevated tracks. With the new set up, my view will be other riders, shopping bags and backsides. It's like getting stuck squished between your siblings in the middle of the backseat on a long car ride. Shotgun!

I'm just waiting for every morning that I step into a crowded El car, everyone standing around one smelly dirty bum stretched across 3-4 seats, drooling in his sleep...

As Erin said, people will use the longer stretch of seats to sleep on. Let me be the first to predict that the CTA will have to retrofit some kind of device every two seats that blocks sleepers.

I thought they were eliminating the half-walls at the sides of the doors. I see them in that picture. Perhaps these aren't the magical ones that prevent standees from moving into the car rather than block the doors.

Just a few notes:
1- The photos and renderings in CTA's PowerPoint are (hopefully) not what the real cars will look like. For the most part, these are just quick and dirty Photoshops of existing equipment. So don't let this thing tell you anything about, for example, the presence or lack of half-walls.
2- The train operators are not entirely at fault for the jerky motion of the trains. The controller handles they use only have 3 acceleration positions, 3 deceleration positions, and a neutral position. The equipment merely responds to which notch the operator moves the control handle to, and as it happens, the equipment causes noticeable jerking motions. Apart from not waiting until halfway along a platform and then sliding the handle all the way from +3 to -3 to make the station stop, there's not much that can be done about the jerkiness on CTA's vintage equipment. All the odd slow zones scattered around the system don't help the situation either, since aside from making the operators slow the trains down suddenly, they also require these guys to constantly notch the controllers up and down in succession to keep the train moving forward at a constant speed without the help of decent forward momentum.

Wow, check out these train designs under consderation for Toronto's rapid transit system. Far more polished, comfortable and practical than the trains the CTA wants to buy.

Check it out here!

Front and rear facing plus longitudinal seats, diminished entry panels, and all the information solutions the CTA wants. All I would change is the individual seating. Ergonomic benches definitely are the way to go.

I'm all for side-facing seating on all trains. Anything the CTA can do to increase capacity at little to no cost should be seriously looked into.

There is nothing more frustrating than waiting endlessly for a train only to find it packed to capacity & your only hope is that another train will follow shortly with a little more room available.