CTA Tattler

Metra flip-flop on platform photo ban

A month ago, Union Pacific Railroad/Metra banned photography from the platforms on Metra's North line to Kenosha, Northwest line to Harvard and West line to Elburn.  Of course, they cited security concerns.

But after loud opposition from rail fans, Metra rescinded the ban, while "reserving the right to question photographers."

Yeah, like that's a big change and makes us all feel real free.

That's reminiscent of the CTA's policy, which gives discretion to any CTA employee to say that the average tourist might be a terrorist.

You never know.

And Sept. 11 is less than two weeks away.

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

CTA avoids red ink with fare hike, rider increase

A big jump in ridership and fare revenue -- spurred by the cash fair increase -- helped the CTA overcome an operating expense deficit and post a $700,000 operating surplus through the first six months of 2006.

View the financial report here (in pdf). The report shows that fare/pass revenue surpassed budget projections by almost 10%. Meanwhile, operating expenses grew by almost 4% over budget.

The performance report confirms what many of us have complained about here: There was a 41% increase (this year over last year) in rail trips with delays of 10 minutes or more. (See snapshot image of report below or view page 4 of the report here in pdf.)

The report shows that in the second quarter of last year, there were 408 rail trip delays, and 575 this year. As seen above, page 4 of the performance report has lots of fun stats on items such as security complaints, average days between exterior washes for trains, and cleanliness complaints.

The stats confirm dirty trains abound. Last year the train cars got "major cleanings" every two weeks. This year it's every three weeks.

Dang.

Cool U-Pass purse

My friend Tovi caught these photos of a woman and her purse made from discarded U-Passes.

We're thinking she asked her friends at the end of the school year to donate their used U-Passes. But I wonder how she made the purse?

Duct tape?

UPDATE: As noted in comments below, the purse-maker is Eliza, and she does use duct tape for her creations.

Photos from Soul of Chicago Express tour by missjasmine

Tony Coppoletta took CTA rail enthusiasts on three-hour tour of Chicago by special chartered train on Sunday.

I notice that missjasmine has posted her photos of the trip here on Flickr.

UPDATE: As sunburntkamel points out in comments, you can check out all Flickr photos tagged with "chicagotraintour" here.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. I'd love to post a full account of the tour by anyone willing to write one up. Email me.

Take this Red Line customer service survey

Sandra Gray, a UIC grad student in the College of Urban Planning and Public Administration, asks for your participation in her masters project: a CTA Red Line customer service survey:

"The purpose of the research is to develop recommendations that will address customer service on the CTA’s Red Line branch. Research will be conducted through surveys, interviews with CTA personnel, transportation and ridership data, and similar studies. The final conclusions and product will be available September 15, 2006 by request at http://www.ctasurvey.blogspot.com/ or at sgray4@uic.edu, submitted to UIC, and submitted to the CTA. This is an anonymous and voluntary survey. No personal information is required from riders and it is your choice to participate."

Take the survey here.

"Allow extra travel time" -- Tell us something we DON'T know

The CTA dusted off its standard press release for this weekend:

"CTA Recommends Brown and Red Line Customers Allow Extra Travel Time This Weekend"

Well, duh. As the Trib reports: "Northbound Brown Line trains will not stop at Wellington Avenue or Diversey Parkway on Saturday and early Sunday because of continuing work on the $530 million rehabilitation of the rail route, according to the Chicago Transit Authority."

Remember, it's a temporary inconvenience; permanent improvement, says the CTA: "CTA is currently upgrading crossover tracks and signals throughout the Clark Junction corridor, the busy location where Brown, Red and Purple Line trains converge just north of Belmont on the City’s North Side. The upgrade to the 100-year-old junction will bring new signals and additional connections between tracks to allow trains to cross over to adjacent tracks."

Postscript to "Give up your seat"

Wednesday's post on giving up your seat for pregnant women and anyone else who might need one drew lots of great discussion.

Thursday I was returning from a South Loop errand around 12:30 pm on a Red Line train crowded with both Cubs fans heading to Wrigley and returning Midway passengers laden with aisle-crowding luggage.

A man around 75-80 years old boarded at Washington and tried to squeeze past the door hogs. Note: I had already given up my seat for a younger woman. ;-)

Two middle-age-plus guys sat by the door. The younger, maybe 55, jumped up and gave the old guy his seat. The old guy laughed and said, "What? Do I look old?"

The 55-year-old guy said. "Oh no, I just had ants in my pants!"

The older guy got his seat and everyone had a good laugh.

The Red Line playground

Two young girls -- obviously sisters -- ride the Red Line at about 8:30 pm with their very careful, risk-averse suburban mom.

But that doesn't stop these girls from trying to have some fun on the long ride home from Chicago to Howard. They play a game where they bat a plush toy to each other, sitting side-by-side, counting the number of volleys.

Every time the toy hits the floor, mom gets more and more irritated -- even though the train car is uncrowded and the floor amazingly clean by CTA standards.

They finally make it to a game-high 12 volleys when the toy hits the ground yet again. Mom snatches it and calls the end to an entertaining game. Spoil sport!

Next, the 6-year-old stands up, and using the door glass as a mirror, proclaims: "I am pretty!" She had pulled her sweater over her head as a scarf, looking like an ingenue hiding from paparazzi.

Her pesky older sister yanks the scarf down off her head, musses her hair and shouts: "No, NOW you are!"

They went on to play hand slap games before their clearly perturbed mom made them sit quietly from Loyola to Howard.

I enjoyed the fun almost as much as they did. 
 

Give up your seat and make someone's day -- whether they're pregnant or not

It's nice sometimes to hear about the bright side of CTA commuting. Jeanne shared such a story a little bit ago that you might have missed in comments. In case you did, here tis:

"I had a nice experience on the El I thought I would share.

Yesterday I was at Merchandise Mart waiting for my purple line to arrive. When it did it was practically bursting at the seams, as usual. I decided that rather than waiting another 15 minutes for the next one, I would squeeze my pregnant body in, all 8 months of me.

I stood against the doors for about 2 stops, and when there was a bit more room a nice gentleman noticed that I was not just another fat chick but rather visibly pregnant. He asked me if I had far to go, I said “yes all the way to Howard.” He immediately enlisted another gentleman who located a seated gentleman to give me his seat!! Everyone graciously made room for me to make my way to the seat.

I have to say in the last few months, since one could tell I am pregnant just by looking, I have had mostly positive experiences on the CTA in general.

The only times I have not been offered a seat I usually chalk it up to people to engrossed in their iPods or reading material.

Gents, please look up and look around, if you see a lady who may be pregnant offer her your seat. If she is not pregnant she will just think that chivalry is not dead, and will politely refuse or be extremely grateful for the seat."

That's Jeanne's story, now here's Kevin again: Gents, you might want to follow the advice on the Mitchum train ads:

"If you give up your seat to a pregnant woman, you're a Mitchum Man."

"If you're very careful who you assume is pregnant, you're a 'sensitive' Mitchum Man."

Or even better: Just be nice and give up your seat to someone.

Steaks on a train

Rich shared this youtube video last week in a comment. In case you missed it, I'm embedding it here. It actually looks like it might have been filmed on a Brown Line train.

Headline of the year: "Subway saw psycho"

No, the "Subway sawing psycho" didn't strike here in Chicago. He comes from the Gotham City, where a certain tabloid headline in 1983 infamously screamed: "Headless body in topless bar."

This story appeared last month in the New York Daily News last month under the headline "Subway sawing psycho":

Police take power saws used in attack out of garbage can at 110th St. subway station.

"A maniacal ex-con randomly carved up a 64-year-old man with two power saws in a Manhattan subway station early yesterday - moments after stealing the tools from a construction crew, police and witnesses said.

"He stabbed me in the heart! Help me!" postal worker Michael Steinberg screamed as his 6-foot-tall attacker stood over him, madly revving the black-and-yellow cordless saws."

Next time you see someone on the platform attacking another passenger with a power saw, be sure and call the police.