CTA Tattler

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.