CTA Tattler

Graffiti artists work over model CTA trains in exhibit

Street artists get to show their stuff legally tonight at the A.Okay Loves CTA (Chicago Train Art) show. About 50 urban artists use O-scale model trains for their tagging pleasure in the show at A Okay Official from 6 to 10 pm Friday (tonight) at 3270 N. Clark St.

One of the featured artists is Solve, who caused a stir this week on the Blue Line when he did an installation piece on seat near the Hobo Corner.

He stenciled the words "We are experiencing legal difficulties" on a  TV, plugged it into the secret outlet, and sent it on its merry way into the morning CTA rush hour.

 

The Chicago Reader did some detective work and reported on it here. More of Solve's art is here.

Daley unveils $227 million capital plan to fix up CTA

Mayor Daley has shown more leadership on CTA issues in the last week than he did in the last year.

Last week he lambasted aldermen who voted against the property transfer tax increase.

Thursday he announced a quarter-billion-dollar plan to improve CTA safety and the "customer experience." And he urged state legislators and Blago to approve a capital spending bill to help pay for it all.

The $227 million spending plan would eliminate slow zones, including those on the Englewood branch of the Green Line. The capital cash infusion also would be used to rehab trains and buses, improve train door safety and speed up bus purchases.

"Ours is a 1920s system," said the mayor. "It's costly and inefficient." CTA President Ron Huberman promised more details down the road.

Can't wait to hear them.

Red Line southbound morning rush capacity to drop 20%

Phase 2 of the three-tracking project will slow down southbound riders starting in late March when the CTA reduces capacity on the Red Line by about 20%.

Starting March 30, the number of Red Line train cars heading south during the morning rush (7:35 to 8:55 am) will drop to 120 from the current 152. At that time, Red, Brown and Purple Line trains will share a single track in the second phase of the project to build new platforms at Fullerton and Belmont.

There's a small bit of good news here: The number of Brown Line trains will stay the same but capacity on them will grow by 33% because the CTA will operate eight-car trains instead of six-car runs. Great progress on expanding many of the Brown Line stations allows the CTA to start using eight cars.

The CTA also will add two "sneaker trains" per hour southbound starting at North/Clybourn to add a little more capacity.

"Single-track northbound will be a thing of the past by March 30," said CTA President Ron Huberman at Wednesday's board meeting. Currently northbound Red Line trains use Track No. 3 at Fullerton, but share a single track with the Brown and Purple trains at Belmont.

This reduction in southbound service is about equal to the reduction in northbound service that started in early April last year. If folks continues to "leave early, leave late and alternate" then we should get through this OK.

Finally, the CTA Wednesday also announced the Skokie Swift Yellow Line will now run on weekends from 6:30 am till 10:30 pm starting March 30.

The CTA also said they are making all this stuff effective March 30 because that is my birthday.

Well, just kidding about the first part, but not about my birth date.

How the CTA will run eight-car Brown Line trains

Buried in much of the doom and gloom reporting on Phase 2 of three-tracking is the great news that the Brown Line will begin operating eight-car trains about 18 months sooner than anticipated.

This will provide 33% more capacity at a time when fewer train cars will be heading southbound during the morning rush due to single tracking at Belmont and Fullerton stations.

Here's how the CTA will be able to run eight-car trains.

• Close the Wellington and Paulina stations on March 30. They currently can accommodate just six car trains. Closures will last about a year.
• Reopen Southport and a termporary station at Diversey on March 30.
• Passengers will use a temporary Diversey station during the summer while work continues on new elevators and the stationhouse.

Let's face it: We all knew PAse 2 of three-tracking was coming this spring. What we didn't know was that some of that lost capacity due to fewer train runs southbound would be made up by the new eight-car Brown Line trains. So kudos to the CTA for pulling this off now.

But don't get complacent. There still will be less capacity. From the CTA Web site:

There are more than 40 bus routes that could be used as alternate transportation, including nine lakefront express routes that provide direct service to and from the Loop during rush periods. CTA will increase bus service on several routes: #11 Lincoln/Sedgwick, #22 Clark, #134 Stockton/LaSalle Express, #135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express, #147 Outer Drive Express, #148 Clarendon/Michigan Express and the #156 LaSalle. The CTA also recommends that riders consider other nearby bus routes or other CTA rail lines such as the Blue Line.

To the extent possible, the CTA recommends that riders plan to leave earlier or later, and allow extra travel time.

More laptops on CTA - trend or anamoly?

I've seen saw four laptops dudes -- always dudes, not dudettes -- on four consecutive rides. Is that a trend or anomaly? With the proliferation of handheld devices, before this sighting I hadn't seen anyone with a laptop in a while.

And I'm amazed they can actually work in the limited space. I always try to sneak a peak at what they're doing. But it's usually something mundane like surfing gossip sites.

And even if I don't see many laptops around these parts, it seems Canada's Moncton Transit  in New Brunswick is encouraging laptop use on buses with free wireless access.

Then there's the story of some London guys at crave.cnet.com who carried the 18-pound, 20-inch Dell XPS M2010 "mobile" computer around London and on the Underground. I swiped this still photo from the funny video on the site, which you can watch here.

CTA office staff - including Ron - pitch in for big snow removal jobs

UPDATE: OK, I found a photo of CTA Prez Ron Huberman by the Chicago Tribune. This was taken Feb. 1 somewhere on the Red Line.

During major snow storms, more than 100 office staffers at CTA headquarters -- including President Ron Huberman -- grab shovels and help dig out rail stations and platforms.

“With continuous snow fall such as we had this morning (Feb. 1), locations have to be shoveled multiple times as new snow accumulates. In addition to our regular janitorial staff, we have a dedicated staff of office employees who have come from behind their desks and pitched in today to help keep stations clear,” said CTA President Ron Huberman. “With the extra help, we are working to have all platforms cleared again before the afternoon rush.”

Read all about the CTA's "snow command team" here. Another press release details how "CTA track and substation staff will be on duty throughout the night at rail yards to clear switches of snow and ice build up. Rail switch heaters throughout the rail system will also be activated to help reduce ice buildup." 

And yet another CTA missive tells us how "trains are equipped with sleet scrapers and snowplow blades to remove ice and snow from the third rail. In addition, CTA has four snow fighter locomotives to clear tracks of ice and snow."

This weather is tough on everyone, including the CTA. Glad to see they are prepared and pitching in to help, from the president on down. If you see Ron out there with a shovel today or later this winter, please snap a photo and send it to me to post. 

World's subways systems shown at same scale

I recently ran across this site that shows the world subway systems on the same scale. Here's a screenshot of just six of the cities compared.

And here's a site with just subways on our continent.

A few words about comments on CTA Tattler

I don't moderate comments here on CTA Tattler.

I don't have the time nor the inclination. More importantly, I like the free flow of ideas and opinions you folks share here, and don't want to stifle that.

However, there are occasions where some commenters push the envelope. Recently in comments, there have been near threats of violence between commenters, and some puerile name-calling.

I don't like that. The objects of same don't like that. Please stop.

Nuff said. Thanks for reading and for the good ideas and discussions we have here.

"You will not have the courage to tell the CTA to bypass your ward"

I quoted Daley a bit in yesterday's post about his rant against aldermen who voted against the property transfer tax increase:

Also, Mayor Daley was in fine form, saying that any alderman who voted against the tax should call the CTA and tell them to have buses and trains bypass their ward -- "if you have the courage." Daley predicted that if they did, "We'll have to call 911 to protect you and your family" from angry constituents.

You really MUST see the entire rant for yourselves:

Here's something that the Mayor and I certainly agree on.

Aldermen try to "Blago" property transfer tax before OK'ing it

Chicago aldermen voted 41-6 to OK a 40% hike in the property transfer tax that the buyer pays, but not before trying to "Blago" the bill by adding yet more free rides -- this time for active duty and disabled vets, according to the Tribune.

Also, Mayor Daley was in fine form, saying that any alderman who voted against the tax should call the CTA and tell them to have buses and trains bypass their ward -- "if you have the courage." Daley predicted that if they did, "We'll have to call 911 to protect you and your family" from angry constituents.

The tax is the final piece in the transit funding puzzle, with proceeds earmarked to help pay for CTA pension shortfalls from years of underfunding the pension plan for workers to pay for operating costs.

The Sun-Times story on the bill's passage notes that the council DID include what may well be a worthless exemption of the tax for senior citizens. And there's still some question whether alderman can mandate the free rides for vets and military personnel. That's still under scrutiny, but CTA Prez Ron Huberman said it appears the move may in fact be legal.

Voting against the tax: Bob Fioretti (2nd Ward); Sandi Jackson (7th); Sharon Dixon (24th); Rey Colon (35th); Brian Doherty (41st); Bernard Stone (50th). But if you live in those wards, I'm thinking your CTA access is safe; I doubt if any of those aldermen will be asking the CTA to bypass their wards.