CTA Tattler

Hey the meeting's today (Friday) right? I looked for it on Carole's blog but didn't find the details. Some commenter said 2pm and I assume it's at CTA headquarters? Someone lemme know! Thanks.

Deepkid: sorry for the confusion. The meeting is at 2 pm today, March 30, at CTA headquarters, Lake and Clinton.

I edited the post above to add that info.

Ah nevermind, I found it:

Friday, March 30, 2007, 2 p.m. - Special Board Meeting

The Chicago Transit Board meets monthly in the CTA main offices. The meetings are held on the second floor at 567 W. Lake Street, Boardroom, Chicago, Illinois. These board meetings are open to the public.

No problem! I hope to see you there if I can move some things around today. :)

I'm pretty sure this meeting is simply a formality. There are already brochures on the buses about "Three-Track Phase 1."

The meeting is merely a formality to make the public think a carefully weighed decision is being made.

Lots of CTA staff have been present at every station I frequent handing out the three track literature and bus alternate maps for the last week. This is going ahead regardless of the CTA's actual state of readiness.

Next week should be mighty interesting to say the least.

It already started - Belmont was running three tracks yesterday: http://yochicago.com/neighborhoods/lakeview/transportation/three-track-starts-early_121

Is it just me, or have they never specified when "phase I" will end?

I'd like to ask everyone to do their part with helping new drivers out. They're being trained quickly and poorly so they barely know the routes they're getting dumped on. If you notice a missed turn ask the driver if there's been a reroute and offer your help if they need it. New drivers and us riders have been thrown into this mess together. Let's help each other out.

No offense, but if the CTA can't even have drivers know the routes for their "alternative" plan, I don't think I can help the driver. I will be in the back of the bus repeatedly banging my head against the plastic windows.

It is offensive. Why wouldn't you help them? Taking the three minutes to get up and help would save you from banging your head for god knows how many minutes as they try finding their way back on route. They want to do their jobs and they are with what they have which is in all honesty jack shit. When you started your job you had times when you didn't know what you were doing. Luckily you got help from somebody that took the time when they didn't have to. Since supervisors and other drivers aren't on the bus to help the newbies it's up to us. CTA management left us all hanging. We need to pull together as much as we possibly can. Little things along the way can add up into big things later on when we need it.

To truthfully answer your question, how can I help the bus driver? Unless I am standing right next to him or her, I am jammed way in the back of the bus. If I just yell at the driver they are going to take offense and get upset. If I push my way up to the front of the bus I risk starting a fight, getting charged with assault or some other thing like that. Not to mention by the time I make it to the front the bus driver has corrected it him or herself or has used a radio or their system to try and help his or herself.

They have radios, they have cellphones they have other communication tools to contact their supervisors or other drivers. Not to mention not everyone actively seeks out or wants help when he or she is doing his or her job.

I have nothing against bus drivers, but its not our responsibility to do their job or be their supervisor. I may be being selfish here, but I don't want you or a CTA bus driver to come and tell me how to do my job when I am struggling. If they ask for help I would certainly volunteer to help them, but I am not going to try and show off what I don't know. Like if their is a re-route or something else in the system.

"Since supervisors and other drivers aren't on the bus to help the newbies it's up to us." And actually when I have seen new drivers I have seen supervisors or other drivers on the bus with them. If they need more supervised time they should ask for it. And if the CTA can't handle it then they need to see what happens when they force their drivers to wallow in the shit that the CTA made for them.

I've never had a driver get the least bit angry when they needed the help and I offered. They were nothing but grateful. I wasn't suggesting you claw your way to the front of the bus. Use common sense. If you're in the position to offer then offer. They can take it or leave it. Simple no?

I'm as upset about the situation with the CTA as most other riders; I'm on the Blue Line, my stip is Chicago, and the service is so bad with trains being slow and too crowded to board, that I've resorted to taking the Milwaukee bus. The buses are, in turn, getting more crowded and slowing down dealing with the overflow. I would say 75% of the drivers have been incredibly cool and trying hard to work with passengers under difficult situations. Sure, there is the occasional one that snaps at passengers as if WE were the ones causing the problem, but I let that go. So seriously - make a good faith effort to work with them; you might find that they are, by and large, doing the same.

I've had to help drivers before now--guys get pulled off their normal routes and stuck with LSD express bus duties quite often. I can get them down from Wilson/Clarendon to Michigan and Ohio. After that they need to talk to someone else.

I saw a student driver bus on Lincoln the other day. I didn't know they had dedicated student driver buses.

I was on a 36 with a 22 driver and she forgot which route she was on, and was very apologetic (and embarrassed) when I asked her which route it was - luckily the bus was empty and ended up being a quicker trip.

I've also been on a bus where the replacement driver put us onto another bus because there was a fault with the bus which was a safety hazard that the other drivers just ignored - he reported the other driver who didn't stop to pick us up (they are required to do so).