CTA Tattler

Slow zone warning

I'm on the Red Line heading south from Loyola, about to begin the crawl. A slow zone from Loyola to Granville has crippled trains for months now.

But for the first time ever, the motorwoman warns us of her slow pace: "Due to a track slow zone, I'll be proceeding very slowly to Granville. I will pick up speed again after Granville. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience."

Wow! Have any of you ever heard such a warning before?

Traversing Grand Lake

A reader recently complained about "Grand Lake" -- the two huge puddles at the Red Line's Grand Avenue southeast staircase. When it rains, puddles spring up at  the station level of the staircase to the street and at the midpoint up the stairs.

I use that exit all the time, and it's been a big problem for as long as I can remember. But people, it's really not all that bad. Passengers stop and pause and "wade" through the water like it was a foot deep. I mean come on, it's maybe a half inch deep at worst. Don't your heels have a half inch on them?

Yes, I know, the CTA should fix it. And I know they've tried. But until they do, can we at least make our way through Grand Lake a little faster?

Tales from the San Francisco BART

Last week I flew into San Francisco Airport on business, and of course I had to try the BART.

Directional signs inside the airport to the BART were generally good. And the ticket machines were easy to use. And note to the CTA: They accept credit and debit cards! You can select exactly how much to put on your ticket. But a ticket downtown is kinda pricey at $5.15 to Montgomery station. So we're spoiled in that respect.

But there might be another note to CTA brass: Set fares by zones the way Metra does. You insert the ticket to both enter and exit the turnstiles.

The BART system is barely 35 years having opened on Sept. 11, 1972. The stations are large, bright and clean.

In the continuation are my observations and report on things seen and heard on the BART. It might as well have been a CTA train in that respect.

Let the negotiations begin

Ron Huberman played his gambit in the CTA funding game Thursday, laying out plans for rail fare increases up to $3.25 and cuts in train routes (Evanston Express and the Yellow Line) and bus lines (any route without Sunday service).

(The RedEye notes that if you ride the train during rush hour and that fare increase went into effect, you would pa about $750 more a year.)

So now the ball is squarely in the Legislature's court.

On top of the fare increases and service cuts, 840 CTA jobs would be cut. And then there's the robbing Peter to pay Paul: The CTA would transfer $56.9 million in capital improvement funds to operations.

Ron Huberman was very matter-of-fact about his so-called "doomsday plan": "If we made no changes, the CTA would be out of service in October," he said.

A man's gotta do what he's gotta do.

In light of the release of this plan, what further questions would you like me to ask Huberman when I interview him?

Fire on the tracks

A combination of strong winds and dry weather spurred many fires across Chicagoland Thursday, including one on the tracks at Fullerton.

We got these shots from Dylan at thelilddude's Flickr site. Note the CTA worker checking out the flames.

Also, passengers at State and Roosevelt on the Green Line were evacuated because of smoke entering a train car.

 

More parading pigeons

In the latest sighting, my friend Eric got this photo of a pigeon on the Red Line coming ot of Howard. They seem to board often at Howard.

Find more pigeon stories here, here and here.

Ten things to know about Chicago transit

In case you missed it last month, the Tribune published "Ten things you might not know about Chicago transit." It's mildly entertaining, including this nugget at No. 10:

"Hollywood loves the CTA, but doesn't understand it. The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) lists some of the fi lm goofs: "The Fugitive" (1993) features a Balbo "L" stop, which doesn't exist. In "High Fidelity" (2000), the character played by John Cusack takes a Purple Line express to the Loop that goes underground, something the Purple Line doesn't do. "Risky Business" (1983), featuring the famed sex scene on an "L" car, depicts a single-car train on an underground route, which the CTA did not operate at that time."

CTA's Bike-to-transit week

The CTA is reminding us this week about its policies for bikes and trains and buses with its Bike to Transit week celebration.

All buses are equipped with bike rack on the front. And two bike per car are allowed on trains at all times except rush hour -- 7 to 9 am and 4 to 6 pm.

Last week an angry motorman yelled for a biker to leave the train during the morning rush. When he didn't, the motorman walked the entire length of the platform to personally throw him off.

That's nice, but it delayed the train -- and all others behind it -- almost 10 minutes. Better to have let him stay on than cause a delay that long.

"After the Alerts" chronicles what happened to cause delay or rerouting

My brother Dan, the creator of CTA wireless alert system (more info here), has started a new feature on his blog, Derivative Works, called "After the Alert." Basically, it reports on what happened to cause the CTA alert to be sent.

On Saturday, it was crane collapsing through the sidewalk and smacking a Loop building.

We got this alert on it:

"reroutes in the loop, pink and orange line trains are being turned early. red and green sent via wells/vanburen. "

And this:

"Connect to Red thru downtown from Mart and Orange ends. Closures due to const. crane accident by 'L' structure."

CTA wireless alerts is a cool user-generated news source.

Daley begs cash; Huberman threatens service cuts, fare hike

Talk about a tag-team approach.

One day after Mayor Daley lobbied the state legislature for more CTA funding, CTA President Ron Huberman warned of service cuts and possible fare increase to balance the bu$110 million deficit if the state doesn't come through. Huberman promised details at the board meeting later this month.

In other CTA news:

Brown Line service added during rush hour. A total of seven Brown Line trains have been added to service -- three in the morning, four in the evening, according to a CTA press release.

Red Line "over the top" again this weekend. Once again this week, Red Line trains will operate on Brown Line tracks and go around the Loop. The subway tunnel will be closed for construction and maintenance work.

And on the CTA's Web site, I found these key points of the three month plan for the three-track project: