CTA Tattler

Here's why eating is prohibited on the CTA

Pookie Marie's story here is instructive in understanding why the CTA prohibits eating and drinking on trains and buses:

Today at rush hour on the usually VERY nice and respectable #147 bus down Lake Shore Drive, a woman was sitting in the seat eating chicken and had some very strong sweet smelling barbecue sauce. She had her chicken bones and food paper in the seat next to her.

I sat down in the seat behind her to see what would unfold. Five people passed by this seat and no one confronted the chicken eater. A few times, the chicken-eating woman fell asleep as if he had narcolepsy and I was sure her meal was going to go all over the seat.

Well, a lady in a white top and light blue silk skirt asked to sit down. She was about to sit down on some goo and I said "Wait!" I handed her a slightly used paper towel but she was grateful to have even that to wipe the seat.

A few stops later, the chicken lady got up, with her sauced-bag and bones and greasy fingers, and proceeded to put her greasy hand on the back of the seat so she could brace herself to get up.

The lady with the nice outfit then proceeded to wipe the front, back, side, top and all around because the chicken eater didn't look like she was wearing very clean clothes.

The lady thanked me for handing her a paper towel to wipe all surfaces.

Now I think I'm going to carry some wet wipes so that I can wipe down the seats.

Now I was thinking, "Aha! This is what they experience on the Red Line all the time." But this is the first time on the usually respectable #147 express down Lake Shore Drive that I saw this happening.

Legs-spread-wide men raise ire of women passengers

It seems that comments from Deborah about how to deal with seat hogs touched a nerve with many female riders. She wrote:

"The worst offenders have to be the young men also in their 20s who feel entitled to take up three full seats on the subway by spreading their knees apart as far as possible. Must be a testosterone-driven territory-marking instinct."

This prompted comments from other women:

"I despise those men who spread their legs. Is their junk so big that they can't close their legs? Do they think that we women want an easy glimpse of their crotch?"

And:

"I can't tell you how liberating it is to finally see this in print: The guys that sit with their knees pushed into your leg because of their SUPER LARGE SCROTUMS! I don't believe it! Sometimes I'll push back or churn around a little bit and smile and say "excuse me", just trying to give them the hint to pull their legs together AND 99% OF THEM WON'T! Why?"

And Xtina even wrote a poem about the subject:

Please be polite
And sit upright
'Cause it is oh so rude
To spread your knees wide, dude!

or

If your Johnson is chilly,
Pull your knees in, Silly!

or how 'bout:

There are ladies on this train,
And straight dudes too,
They don't wanna feel your knees,
So keep your legs together, foo'!

Trish got in the poetic spirit too:

"My leg is not part of your seat.
Must you sprawl so to fit all your meat?
If your balls are so swollen
That you cannot hold 'em
Get treatment -- and be more discreet."

I'm very impressed by such creativity.

Now, I'm a guy, but I'm not a spreader. In fact, if I sit next to a spreader, I nudge him with my knee to signal to him to get out of my personal space.

So ladies, how big a problem is this? Do we need a rule on the CTA?

After the alert: A track interloper climbs the Morse embankment

The CTA Alert last Wednesday came first from a rider, not the CTA: "Red line sb sitting at granville. Power out b/c of someone on track at Jarvis."

Close. It actually happened at Morse, though the CTA didn't divulge such details: "SB Red line is back to normal after police activity at the Morse Station. SB Red delays expected for rest of rush hour."

So I asked a customer service agent, who said the guy climbed the embankment just north of Morse around Lunt, and walked the tracks to the station. Then he hopped onto the platform.

But an undercover cop on the Morse platform saw it all and called for backup. Meanwhile, a train was in the station when they shut the power off. The track interloper jumped on the train and made his way through the cars till he reached the first car.

Meanwhile, more cops came on the scene and literally grabbed the guy by his shirt, hustled him off the train, and cuffed him, without saying a word.

Chicago's finest at work. I mean, who knew undercover cops were working so hard and being so effective. The CTA agent said the undercover cops come nearly every day to Morse -- and other stops -- for a few hours.

I feel good about that.

"Temporary inconvenience; permanent improvement"

Those were the signs I saw on road construction projects growing up in Pittsburgh. And the CTA might as well put up similar signs, with all the slow-zone repair work these days.

And that's a good thing. Believe me, I am not complaining. Here's a rundown of what's happening when and where  this weekend and into next week. All details can be found here on the CTA site. Below are direct copies from the site of pertinent stuff.

Blue Line:  Single track between Grand and Division from 8 p.m. Friday, August 17 until 5 a.m. Saturday, August 18 and again from 8 p.m. Saturday, August 18 until 5 a.m. Sunday, August 19. Weeknights through mid-September, single tracks typically will be in effect from Grand to Division from 8 p.m. each night until 4 a.m. the following morning, Monday nights through Friday mornings.

Red Line: Southbound trains from Fullerton to Cermak/Chinatown that normally operate through the subway will be rerouted to the elevated tracks from 9 p.m. Sunday, August 19 until 5 a.m. Monday, August 20.

Northbound: From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, August 20 through Thursday, August 23 and Monday, August 27 through Friday, August 31 northbound Red Line trains from Cermak/Chinatown to Fullerton that normally operate through the subway will reroute to the elevated tracks.

Southbound Red Line service temporarily suspended at Jarvis, Morse and Loyola Stations from 10 p.m. Friday, August 17 until 4:30 a.m. Saturday, August 18 and again from 10 p.m. each night until 4:30 a.m. each morning beginning Monday, August 20 through Friday, August 24.  See the site for more details.

Overnight Single Tracks in Effect on Red Line Subway: A single track will be in effect on the Red Line between the Grand and North/Clybourn stations from 11 p.m. Friday, August 17 until 6 a.m. Saturday, August 18 and again from 11 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday, August 19.

Also, be sure to check the same looong customer alert for news on getting to the Air and Water Show, the Reggae Festival, Taste of Austin, and the Beyonce concert!

A cane helps in getting seat hogs to move

This crazy commuting tale had me doing the proverbial "laugh out loud." It's from Deborah in New York City.  It was her response to "Confronting the rude seat hog."

A bag on the seat? You call that a problem? HA! Lemme tell you about some of the seat hogs on the New York public transportation system.

Big sweaty jocks in hockey uniforms and big hockey sticks will fill the front seats of the bus reserved for the disabled and elderly.

Often beautifully groomed Asian women in their 20s do the same, but these women typically refuse to move if asked to do so by an elderly/disabled person. They seem personally offended by the request!

The worst offenders have to be the young men (white, black, Latino) also in their 20s who feel entitled to take up three full seats on the subway by spreading their knees apart as far as possible. Must be a testosterone-driven territory-marking instinct.

These guys take up way more space than my fat behind ever could, and there's at least one of them on every subway car.

A public confession: I have lost my patience with all of these rude people. I am elderly and disabled and use a cane, and I will sit down wherever I like whenever there is a seat available.

If they don't move their stuff, legs, bags, etc., I will still lower my butt into the space that should be made available. If they still don't move, I will sit on top of their legs, bags, and hockey sticks as if I didn't notice them under me.

If they get huffy about it, I "very oh very accidentally" whack their calf/ankle/foot with my cane as I settle into the position I want. I sincerely apologize to them for my clumsiness.

Maybe because I am a disabled old lady, the situation doesn't escalate further. Yeah, I might "accidentally" whack a homeless psychopath and perhaps live to regret it.

In the meantime, I get my seat, dammit. Yeah, it's passive-aggressive or just plain aggressive . . . but it works.

Good thing most Tattler posts don't require Ambien Viagra Levitra Cialis comments

Some of you who monitor comments here might have noticed recently -- as Lady T did -- that my blog has been hit badly with spam comments.

Lotsa folks selling various erectile drugs, chocolate and beer, among other things.

Then I learned that TypePad allows me to ban individual words and URLs in comments, and took advantage of that feature.

So be warned: You won't be able to use such words as those appearing in the headline.

But now watch. My blog will suddenly get a spike in Google results for those same words. So you can't win.

Though I am very proud that CTA Tattler is the No. 1 Google result for "Hobo corner."

The City of Chicago's contribution to the CTA goes beyond $3 million

Myself and others have questioned why the City of Chicago funds the CTA with just $3 million in direct aid. So I put that question to CTA President Ron Huberman, and this was his reply:

"On the City contribution, a couple of points.   First, we should address the misperception that CTA is a city entity only.   Although the CTA is called the Chicago Transit Authority, the agency is a regional transit system that serves 40 suburbs, in addition to the city of Chicago.  CTA provides 81 percent of the public transit trips in the six-county region either with direct service or connecting service to Metra and Pace. The CTA also provides nearly half of all trips that have a suburban component.

"The City of Chicago helps fund CTA operations and provides much needed funding for capital improvements.  In fact, it is the only municipality that directly funds the CTA.  In addition to an annual contribution of $3 million, the City of Chicago pays more than $20 million annually to fund the Chicago Police Department’s Public Transportation Section, which provides security for a large part of the CTA system.

"The CTA has also generous support from the City of Chicago in restoring its facilities.  Since 1989, the City has invested about $850 million in CTA infrastructure projects, including building the Orange Line and renovating many stations in the Loop."

Some glimmers of hope for state CTA funding

I really was bummed Friday after learning the state Legislature had passed a budget without any CTA funding. But now I see there is still yet some hope, though not a strong likelihood.

On Friday, State Rep. Julie Hamos introduced Amendment No. 3 (pdf) to the Comprehensive Transit Legislation - Reform and Funding SB 572. Highlights include:

Revenue:
Increased operating funds to address the current financial crisis and provide stable funding for the future:

• 1/4 of 1% sales tax increase to be imposed by RTA in 6 northeastern IL counties ($280 million)
• Up to 3/10 of 1% real estate transfer tax (RETT) to be imposed by Chicago Mayor and City Council ($100 million)
• Continuation of state funding toward paratransit services for disabled riders computed as an additional 5% match on all revenues, effective in FY08 ($54 million already in introduced budget)
• 25% traditional state-funded match on new revenues (phased in: -0- in FY08, 12½% in FY09, 25% by FY10)

Expenditures:

• Closing the operating funding shortfalls for mainline service at Metra, Pace and CTA: Metra and Pace to receive 52% of new sales tax revenue generated in the region (respectively split 39% and 13%); CTA to receive 48%
• CTA to receive all Chicago-imposed RETT for pension and retiree healthcare costs
  Funding for $100 million ADA-mandated paratransit services for seniors and disabled provided by Pace
• Funding for new $20 million Suburban Commuter Mobility Fund flexible services provided by Pace
• Funding for new $10 million RTA Transit Innovation, Coordination and Enhancement (ICE) Fund
• Metra to receive new authorization for $1 billion of revenue bonds, as approved by the RTA Board

County Transportation Assistance:

• In 5 collar counties: additional 1/4 of 1% sales tax increase, imposed by RTA, to be used at each county's discretion for local road and other transportation projects ($120 million)

So that's some hope. The bad news is that at this time, it may not have enough votes to override the promised veto of Guv Rod, reports Sick Transit Chicago.

So it's another wait and see game here. And the Trib reports CTA President Ron Huberman "is actually relieved the legislature did not provide the $100 million the agency desperately needs to balance this year's operating budget." He prefers the long-term solution that Hamos is suggesting here.

And why not. It beats coming back every year hat-in-hand to a fractured, dysfunctional state Legislature.

Strangely, perhaps legislators make CTA riders victims of Huberman's success

I really didn't think "Doomsday" would come. I really did think that the Illinois Legislature was smart enough and brave enough to take care of the 1.6 million daily riders on the CTA and allocate approximately $80 million in a news state budget so the CTA could continue to operate without service cuts or fare increases.

It looks like I was wrong.

And it looks like maybe the legislators are making CTA riders the victims of Ron Huberman's belt-tightening success, strangely enough.

What I mean by that is, maybe the legislators saw that Huberman and his team did a great job in finding more cuts in administration, in tightening the belts, and in settling the union contract. Those cuts narrowed the funding gap. Then the legislators saw that the new service cuts weren't quite so draconian as originally proposed, and the fare increases were reduced a bit, and really not so bad for those with the Chicago Card.

So the legislators took the easy way out and didn't include any money for the CTA in the new budget. And somehow I doubt they will come back and allocate any more money to the CTA before the Sept. 16 start date for cuts and fare hikes.

Let's be clear about this folks. It's the state legislature and governor who have failed us here, not the CTA. There was a lot of anger here toward the CTA yesterday (and name-calling, since deleted) that I feel right now should be directed toward the legislature. Have at it, but keep it clean. No, the CTA is not perfect. But right now the problem is in the legislature. 

We got new leadership earlier this year at the CTA. Now we really need some new leadership in state government.

A shrunken contingency: Fewer service cuts, reduced fare hike set for Sept. 16

Pending news of more funds from Springfield, the CTA board Wednesday approved a new "doomsday plan" with fewer service cuts (pdf) -- 39 bus routes rather than 63 -- and fare increases (pdf) not quite as bad as originally suggested by the CTA. The Yellow and Purple/Evanston Express lines were rescued from the chopping block.

Since the first contingency plan was announced, the CTA has found about $18 million more in administrative cuts and efficiencies.

At CTA Tattler press time, it looked like the state legislature might pass a budget without money for the CTA. Keep an eye on the Tattler Yahoo news feed to the right for news as it breaks.

Bottom line on the fare hike: If you don't have a Chicago Card by now, what are you waiting for? Chicago Card users would see just a 25-cent fare increase ($2) at all times (peak or non-peak). Those who pay cash during peak hours (6:30-9:30 am and 4-7 pm weekdays) would pay $3 ($1 more) and $2.50 on a bus (50 cents more).