CTA Tattler

Olympics CTA T-shirt

I came across this fabulous Chicago Olympics T-shirt design while surfing through the Reader blogs.

Good stuff.

   

Deal near on RTA/CTA funding?

A combination of increased sales and real estate transfer taxes could be the ticket to allow the CTA and RTA to avoid massive service taxes, reports the Daily Herald.

The key is a half -percent sales tax increase: "A quarter-cent would go to keep trains and buses running, while the other quarter cent would go to suburban counties to build new roads and widen existing ones."

Providing money for roads may provide suburban lawmakers with enough cover with voters.

Suburban lawmakers also fought to change how the money would be divided up:

"Suburban Republican Sens. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst and John Millner of Carol Stream initially opposed the mass transit bailout because 60 percent of the money would have gone to the CTA, 30 percent to Metra and 10 percent to Pace -- despite the suburbs paying nearly two-thirds of the new taxes. The compromise would see the CTA getting 48 percent, Metra 39 percent and Pace the remaining 13 percent."

The Chicago Tribune is calling it "A decent transit deal."

Let's just hope the deal gets gone.

Gays bashing women

Northbound on the Red Line one Saturday, four gay guys occupy the seats by the door.

At one point, one of the guys seductively peels a banana and then suggestively eats it, with much in and out motion, to the obvious delight of his friends.

When not doing that, they pass the time by dissing woman who get up to leave the train:

As one very tall, very heavy woman, in a dark blue American Apparel dress, makes her way down the aisle toward the door,  one sneeringly remarks under his breath, "Ohhh, she looks really good in blue."

Then one of the other guys retorts:: "Yeah, and so did Monica Lewinsky."

Meow.

Eyewitness: "Brush-back" victim actually was a suicide attempt

An eyewitness to the "brush-back" incident at North and Clybourn on Wednesday shares his story of what really happened:

Hi. I am a Chicagoan who witnessed the incident of what happened yesterday morning at the North/Clybourn Red Line station.

I was waiting for the Southbound Red Line on the platform and there was apparently an African-American male who had some mental issues (he was constantly talking to himself in a frustrated manner) waiting for the train as well on the same platform.

When the train was coming into the station he ran across the platform and jumped right at the train as it was coming in. He bounced off the train like a rag doll and landed on the platform with his arm stuck between the platform and the train. Due to his arm being stuck he was dragged on the platform for a short distance before the train came to a grinding halt.

I'm not sure why most media outlets in Chicago say that this unfortunate person was "brushed back", "fell onto the tracks", and was "on the platform when the train struck him". None of this is true. This person actually jumped off the platform and hurled himself onto the face of an incoming train.

Signed,

Anonymous Chicagoan

Gallant CTA Prince Charming helps his Cinderella -- well kinda like that

The following reader Tattler Tale ranks right up there with my Top 10 favorites. Carrie reports:

Heartwarming story from this morning: As I was boarding a 2-car purple line train at Howard, a man getting on behind me accidentially stepped on my shoe, which slipped off my foot and fell down between the car and platform.

I stood there in shock as the man apologized. I muttered "it's okay" and hobbled off, with one bare foot, to find a CTA person to help fetch my shoe after the train pulled out.

I found a friendly CTA guy in the little booth and he accompanied me back to the train, which is still standing in the station.

To my surprise, he asked the conductor to pull forward so he could try to get my shoe before the train left, so I could still catch it! The conductor pulled ahead, he climbed down, and fetched it.

But just as he was about to hand me my shoe, he suddenly pulled it back, only to present it again with a flourish, Cinderella-style, for me to slip my foot into it!

I laughed, thanked him again and again, and hurried off to catch the train, which was still waiting for me! After years of riding the CTA, with plenty of horror stories of my own, it was great to have a very sweet, funny experience with an extremely helpful CTA staff member.

After the Alert: "Brush-back" closes Red Line subway

On Tuesday morning around 9 am, CTA Alerts subscribers got this alert from jbchicago:

"Emergency in North/Clybourn subway. SB Red rerouted over the top."

Later that morning, The Tribune reported that someone waiting for the train on the North/Clybourn platform apparently got too close to the train as it entered the station and was "brushed back" (hit) by the train.

Service went "over the top" for about 20 minutes but was then restored in the tunnel.

True confession: I huge fear of being "brushed back" on a train platform. I have this unfounded fear of bending over to pick up something as the train comes whooshing into the station.

Meanwhile, over at Metroblogging Chicago, Fuzzy Gerdes tells his story of being in the last car of the train the hit the guy, and -- surprise -- not getting a lot of information about how to evacuate the train or about what exactly happened.

Take free bus to Springfield for transit lobbying

Sing up now to join mass transit advocates on a free bus to Springfield Wednesday, July 25, to lobby legislators.

From the Center for Neighborhood Technology:

On Wednesday July 11th, transit advocates from Northeastern Illinois including the Transit Riders’ Alliance, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Illinois Public Interest Research Group, Metro Seniors In Action, and Progressive Public Affairs traveled to Springfield to lobby in support of transit funding. Those in attendance spoke with 20 Senators and 25 Representatives, and while few were opposed to additional transit funding, many were not fully informed about the situation. Like everything else in Springfield, transit has taken a backseat to the budget and has not received the attention it is due.

That’s why we’re headed back to Springfield for another…

Transit Lobby Day

Wednesday, July 25th

FREE BUS FROM DOWNTOWN CHICAGO PROVIDED! (RSVP required)

And as the end of July approaches, it is a crucial time to remind the General Assembly and the Governor that the transit crisis must be resolved before session is adjourned. For this lobby day we will have a free bus to take us to Springfield in the morning and return us that same evening. The bus will leave from downtown Chicago (exact location TBA) at 6:30 AM and return at 9 PM. Please plan on joining us for this very important day! If you are new to lobbying, we will provide tips on how to talk to legislators, materials to give them, and the best places to find them.

For questions or to RSVP, please contact Emily Metz at emily@cnt.org or 773-269-4070.

When you call, please explain that you heard about the lobby day from the Transit Riders’ Alliance.

Three track riders who switched to buses inching back to rails

In the last few weeks I have noticed my evening commute getting more and more crowded. So I asked the CTA for ridership stats, and they seem to bear that out.

Before the two-year three-track project kicked off in April, the CTA did a good job of promoting alternatives bus routes to the Brown and Red Lines. And at first, it appeared that riders were responding to the call for them to use bus alternatives.

The CTA reports that rail entries in that area were down 9.5% in April compared to a year ago, but by June were only down 4.7%.   Bus ridership was up 12.5% in April,  and up 8.7% in June.

It's seems like human nature. People hear that train lines are not all that crowded, and they start switching back to them from the buses.

But remember people, this is a two-year project, so let's keep using those bus alternatives.   

More Blue and Red Line station closings for slow zone repairs

You want slow zones repaired? Brace yourself for more station closings this weekend and overnight for a few weeks.

Blue Line: "This weekend CTA will temporarily suspend service on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line between Western/Milwaukee and Clark/Lake on Friday, July 20 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday, July 23. Bus shuttles will operate as a substitute for rail service making stops at Western, Damen, Division, Chicago, Grand, Clark/Lake, Washington, Monroe and Jackson. CTA customers are advised to allow extra travel time."

Also, "weeknights through August 31, single tracks will typically be in effect from Grand to Division from 9 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning, Monday night through Friday morning."

Red Line: "Southbound Red Line trains will temporarily operate on southbound Purple Line tracks at the Jarvis, Morse and Loyola stations from 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday July 23 – August 2. Southbound Red Line trains will be unable to stop at the Jarvis, Morse and Loyola stations due to track maintenance work to eliminate slow zones."

Also, "Southbound Red Line trains will temporarily operate on southbound Purple Line tracks at Argyle and Lawrence stations from 10 p.m. Friday, July 20 to 6 a.m. Sunday, July 22. Southbound Red Line trains will be unable to stop at the Lawrence and Argyle stations due to track maintenance work to eliminate slow zones.

CTA rehires "Bemont" map misspeller. A CTA panel has ruled that former CTA President Frank Kruesi overreacted when he fired a manager for not noticing new rail maps had "Bemont" misspelled. To my memory, that firing was the fastest Kruesi had ever responded to any CTA problem. And now it turns out that decision was overturned. What a legacy.   

Ominous Tattoo Girl

I saw these two items tattooed on the shoulders and forearms of a 20-something Asian woman:

• A boom box
• A musical staff with notes

And these two phrases:

• A killer in me is a killer in you
• A pretty girl is a perfect grave

Huberman on other top transit systems

My interview with CTA President Ron Huberman continues.

Q: What other public transit systems are you familiar with and what do they do well that you'd like to see done here? -- Question posted by Bob S.

“Both Tokyo and Curitiba, Brazil, have phenomenal transit systems. So does Hong Kong. At the same time we have to realize that our system is 100 years old in places, so we have to look at the good ideas that older systems are using and incorporate those as well. And improvements will come in phases. It will be a slow transition to modernize the CTA system.

“Also, in the coming months, we’ll be putting out information about the slow zones – laying out time frames on how long it will take to fix them. It’s a very costly project and will take some time to repair. But we feel people will be patient if they know the end point of a project.

(NOTE: The week after this interview, the CTA announced a plan to speed up improvements in slow zones.)

“Our plan is to take us back to the days of 70 miles-per-hour trains. We haven’t been there for years. The best we can do now is 55 mph on parts of the Green Line south. By 2010 we’ll start replacing train cars. They will all be outfitted with security cameras. But at this point we only have the funding to replace about one-third of all the rail cars. So we’re still working on that.”

Finally, on the CTA funding issue, Huberman said he doesn’t have a crystal and couldn’t predict how the funding crisis would be resolved. But he does hope it’s over before the end of July. And he says he and his staff are involved every day in lobbying Springfield on the funding issue.

“We don’t sit back and just wait for things to happen,” Huberman said. “Every day we’re on the phone or talking in person to the legislators in Springfield.” 

Retracting the tracts

A small, thick-set, wiry-looking guy in his 60s trolls the aisles of the Red Line in his Mets cap and Navy T-shirt, muttering to himself the whole time.

He bends over and places a religious tract on every empty seat. He doesn't hand them to anyone, and avoids eye contact. He finishes plastering the entire car with the tracts and exits at Argyle.

As soon as he leaves, a woman in her mid-40s gets up and starts collecting each tract off every seat, not missing one. Then she sits back down and starts tearing them all in half. There are so many, it takes three or four tries to get them all torn.

Then she places the torn tract bits in her red messenger bag.

Clean freak, or non-Jesus Freak?

Huberman's vision for CTA "a work in progress"

My interview series with CTA President Ron Huberman finally continues after a couple of weeks where we couldn't get our schedules to match up. After all, Huberman is a busy guy.

I asked you what you would ask Huberman if you could. I based my interview with him on those questions, plus my own.

Q: What is your vision for the CTA 2 years from now? 5 years from now? 10 years from now? Question posted by Erika.

"Frankly, We’re just developing that vision right now. It’s a work in progress. Basically we need to rethink the entire rail system, and be more efficient at rapidly moving people. We need to determine the right technology for the rail of the future – get the right design – and rebuild for the next 100 years.”

I have no problem with ticketing sleeping CTA riders

Personally, I have no problem with the police ticketing sleeping CTA riders.

Tribune columnist John Kass doesn't like it. He's made a big deal about it in the last two days in his column. Police ticketed a sleeping rider recently, he had his day in court, and the city dropped the charges. That's fine too.

But the fact is, there's a law on the books against sleeping on the CTA. It's illegal. Personally, I would love love LOVE to see more cops on the trains and buses ticketing riders for doing illegal things, like sleeping and blocking seats while they sleep, eating and making a mess of it, smoking, and playing the shell game.

When I was interviewing CTA President Ron Huberman, I suggested to him that the normally worthless Securitas guards should board the trains and ticket riders for all of the above.

What do you folks think?

Blue Line weekend slow zone results in subway closure

A big chunk of the Blue Line will be closed this weekend so the CTA can work on  the bad slow zones on that line.

From the press release:

"This weekend CTA will temporarily suspend service on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line between Western/Milwaukee and Clark/Lake on Friday, July 13 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday, July 16. Bus shuttles will operate as a substitute for rail service making stops at Western, Damen, Division, Chicago, Grand and Clark/Lake. CTA customers are advised to allow extra travel time."

Fast work promised on slow zones

The CTA vowed Wednesday to finish repairs on eight miles of Blue and Red Line slow zones by the end of this year.

They are reallocating $14.7 million to repair two more miles of slow zones in the Blue Line subway and on the North Side of the Red Line, the Trib reports.

The CTA is finally listening to loud and long customer complaints about the slow zones.

“Our rail customers have told us that one of their greatest frustrations with the CTA relates to the slow commute times on both the Blue and Red Lines," said CTA President Ron Huberman. "Although our budget issues are not yet resolved, I feel that the level of frustration riders have expressed dictates that we dedicate the funds we do have to eliminating these slow zones and improving travel times as quickly as possible. This is a first step. We are aggressively developing a comprehensive slow zone plan, but in the interim, these plans will tackle areas that impact tens of thousands of CTA riders every day.”

Huberman truly is ushering a new era where the CTA actually listens and responds quickly to customer complaints. First there was Tuesday's announcement about improved safety and communication with riders. Now this.

Keep it up, Ron.

Huberman's plan to improve communications with CTA riders, safety

At Tuesday's press conference where CTA President Ron Huberman the DriveCam system to monitor and evaluate bus drivers' diving behavior, he also unveiled plans to improve rider safety and communication.

  "After reviewing the circumstances of two recent incidents on our rail system, and completing a full debrief that included interviewing employees, reviewing protocols and getting customer feedback, it is clear to me that the CTA must improve our response to emergencies – with a renewed focus on communicating to our customers and ensuring that their needs are responded to as promptly as possible,” said Huberman.

He outlined these steps to improve safety and communications:

• Forming a task force made up of police, fire, OEMC and CTA to systematically review all of CTA’s emergency protocols to ensure they are up to date and focused on safety and ensuring CTA is communicating with customers.
• Re-training employees on communications and safety protocols starting with managers at the CTA’s control center.
• Scheduling a series of training exercises.
• Establishing a safety hotline for employees to report any safety-related conditions that they observe.
• Conducting an independent review of command and control systems.

In his remarks at the press conference, Huberman also noted that "one example of a new protocol that we will be implementing this week is quickly boarding additional CTA personnel onto trains that are stuck between stations…. Their sole responsibility will be to communicate with customers….and to assist individuals."

Bravo, Huberman. These are the kinds of changes we riders are looking for from you.

Click on the continuation to read the full text of Huberman's remarks on the subject of safety and communication with riders.

What motormen are supposed to do during emergency outages

After the two incidents in the last week where power was cut to trains, I asked a CTA spokesman what the protocol is for train motormen to make announcements.

First, Noelle Gaffney reports that there is auxiliary power "for a little while" after the main power is cut. She couldn't be more specific on how long it lasts. The motorman is instructed to use the auxiliary power to inform passengers about what is going on, and tell them as much as he knows.

When the auxiliary power shuts down, the motorman is supposed to move from car to car to make announcements.

The day after any such incident, CTA managers get together for a "post-mortem" to talk about what happened, how it was handled, what was learned, and what could be done better in the future.

Late Monday, I had my final interview with Ron Huberman. I pressed him on the question about what the CTA is doing to improve communications with passengers on all levels. He put me off, saying he was planning a press conference for Tuesday afternoon where he would address that issue, among other things.

So stay tuned for that.

What to do about wankers and flashers

Recently I've gotten a lot of mail and comments from female readers complaining about weirdos and perverts who expose themselves and masturbate in front of them. From what I can tell, this is a very common occurrence that has happened to many -- if not most -- women riders.

So what's a woman to do when this happens to her? I asked the CTA brass.

The most important thing to do is report the incident. Here's advice from the CTA's Noelle Gaffney, VP of Communications:

"I would advise that if they are on the train they should push the alert button (under the blue light) and alert the rail operator.  If for some reason they are not comfortable doing that, then I would recommend  they exit at the next stop and report it to the operator (while the train is in the station) or to the customer assistant.  Let them know the number of the rail car (on the inside it appears above the doors at either end of the car, and on the exterior it appears on the side of the car, toward the end) and a description of the person."

Gaffney also checked with the CTA's general manager of security,  a former police official. He also stressed the importance reporting all such instances to the CTA or police.   

"When they have reports and know when and where incidents are occurring, they can map  them and study them for patterns," said Gaffney. "Our security can work with police on deployment of officers, who may be plainclothes or uniformed, depending on the situation.  If we find that any of the culprits are registered sex offenders, our Law Department will institute steps to ban them from the CTA system."

Bottom line: If you see something, say something.

Why you shouldn't "self-evacuate" from a CTA train

An incident Saturday night provides more good reasons why you shouldn't "self-evacuate" from a stuck train -- that is, leave the train without instructions to do so from the operator.

Power was shut off on the Red Line from 13th to 27th streets on the South Side at about 9 pm after a potential "jumper" was observed on the CTA viaduct over Archer Avenue, the Tribune reports.

After about 45 minutes, the would-be jumper was removed from the track and the CTA was ready to restore power. However, by that time, passengers on the trains started "self-evacuating" and power could not be restored until the track area was cleared.

That took about another 75 minutes, and before it was all over, 16 people had to be hospitalized with complaints of shortness of breath, dizziness and the like.

A CTA spokeswoman says operators were told to open all doors and windows to help alleviate the stuffiness in trains without air conditioning. But apparently that wasn't enough for some passengers, and they exited the train cars, thus exacerbating a problem that was almost resolved.

Really, I do understand the desire to take matters into your own hands and just leave the train. But this was a case where doing so apparently only made matters worse.

Be realistic: Things WILL go wrong on an imperfect system

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the hourlong outage on the Loop El Tuesday night after the big fireworks show. But I think we need a little perspective here.

First, the CTA is a very old system. I think that fact that the power shut down automatically when there was an equipment failure is a very good thing. And CTA personnel very carefully examined the situation to make sure that all its riders would be safe before power was restored.

Yes, it was very inconvenient, and yes, it was very hot on those air-conditioned trains. But people, there will be equipment failures, and there will be power outages.

Because the outage happened on the busiest day in recorded history, the spotlight shone even brighter.

The CTA served 703,339 rail passengers on July 3 -- the most on any single day since daily rider recordkeeping began in 1998. There were 96,722 rail riders between 10 pm and midnight that night -- and no doubt most of them were coming from the Grant Park fireworks. (Ridership stats courtesy of the CTA.)

Certainly it seems the key area for improvement -- as ever -- is in communicating the outage to passengers. Mayor Daley agrees.

As I mentioned, there was no CTA Alert issued by the CTA. I've read that passengers were lined up to enter the Loop El and no CTA employee was there to tell them about the outage.

So there's plenty of improvements to be made in communications. I'm finishing my interview with CTA President Ron Huberman early next week. I'll be interested to hear how he plans to improve communications to CTA passengers.

Why the Loop El was shut down after the fireworks

UPDATED: You probably heard about the Loop El being shut down Tuesday night for about an hour after the July 3 fireworks. Here's why: A broken spring on a train car.

The Tribune reports "that about 10:45 p.m., a spring that served as part of the suspension on an inbound Green Line train broke, automatically cutting power to the train and five other trains on the Brown, Green and Orange Lines."

There were six CTA Alerts about this on Tuesday night, but none were made by the CTA.

In the meantime, there was a medical emergency at Randolph/Wabash involving a pregnant woman. That prolonged the delay on the busiest night of the year. The CTA served 350,000 passengers that day.

Memories of July 3 fireworks madness

Well, I hope you all made it home in one piece from the fireworks extravaganza last night. (By the way, why does Chicago hold its fireworks on July 3?)

One million people witnessed the fireworks, and it stands to reason it's one of the busiest -- if not THE busiest days -- on the CTA.

We didn't go, but I certainly remember the madness in the past of trying to leave Grant Park and the Loop by mass transit.

I remember lines at the Jackson Red Line station spilling out of the stairway and onto State Street. Many drunk people jostling to get home.

Another year, we tried to avoid the crowds by walking up to Grand and State, when we heard someone was pushed off the platform and electrocuted.

And it's the only day of the year that bikes are prohibited on the CTA.

So how was your ride home?

UPDATED: Electrical problems trap El riders for about an hour after fireworks. A pregnant woman had to be evacuated. Thanks to J-2 for the tip.

Wedding Day blues on the Brown Line

Here's a great Tattler Tale from Lynn:

This morning, I saw a woman in a strapless white wedding gown get on the Brown Line at Sedgwick. She was yelling into her cell phone and holding her train with her free hand. Another woman (with a slightly bemused and/or embarassed expression) followed her with a basket of flowers.

The first words I heard her say were "She's only 2!" (Maybe this was about a flower girl?)

After boarding the train, the bride proceeded to yell at her friend on the phone - "How silly of me, to expect people to take time off work for my WEDDING!" Evidently the unseen friend had let the bride down in several ways, including not following through on various promises to help.

She also wailed that the bottom of her dress was black and that "Alice" had messed up, so now she was on the train to go pick something up herself. The friend was grilled on plans to get dressed, be on time, etc.

I think my favorite part was when she shrieked: "These are my wedding pictures. People are going to be saying 'What a pretty girl. Why are there spots on her dress?' I don't want them looking at her! I want them to look at ME!"

Other passengers did watch this drama at the beginning, but then returned to their reading. I couldn't help but giggle a few times to myself at the melodrama of it all (I was in the Hobo Corner and the bride couldn't see me). I kept thinking that it was so over-the-top that it couldn't be real.

The time was about 8:45, and the angry bride said pictures were at 10 and the wedding at 11:30. She was in a heap of trouble! She exited at Chicago, still upset.

Choice female reading

I saw two 30-something women intently reading on the Red Line.

One was enjoying the geographic thriller Woman.

The other was reading the magazine Bitch.

I had never heard of either, so it was a good learning experience for this man.

Who has some other good CTA reading suggestions for the summer? For males or females.