CTA Tattler

Kevin -- "Huberman stressed that in order to reduce slow zones by Thanksgiving to about 6% of the tracks, this summer will feature painfully delayed rail trips, especially on weekends." I'm guessing that refers to the Blue Line only, that they're not expecting the Red Line to be back in action by Thanksgiving as well? (While it seems like a nice thought on the surface, I suspect that it would be a bit much to pile on top of three-tracking.)

Sabrina: The CTA will be fixing slow zones on the Red Line as well. In particular Huberman mentioned Sheridan to Wilson.

Remember -- slow zone work certainly happened last year while there was three-tracking southbound.

Well, holy cow. Thanks for letting me know, I love being wrong in a way that gets me more than I was expecting. :-)

To clarify, Kevin, and I'm not trying to be snarky here, but those platform and pay-station screens: Will they simply display countdown clocks of the next scheduled arrival, or will they receive info in real time about delays and such? There isn't much point in installing them if it's just following the scheduled arrival. And there'll have to be substantial changes to the CTA information infrastructure if it's the latter. (But maybe you're foreshadowing!)

Also in the trying-not-to-be-cynical column, I hope the CTA has put controls into the contract to limit the ratio of ads to information.

I have mixed feelings, I'd like the information, but its a bit like putting lipstick on a pig...its still a pig. Maybe with some of the revenue money from advertising, we could get drainage problems fixed at the underground stations and keep the drains empty of leaves and litter so that they could do their job and I could save some money on the hip waders.

Believe me when I say that I love the whiz bang, techie stuff, but do we have to forgo the basic down to earth stuff to get it?

Also, just as a note, the wet paint signs were up again last night at red line addison and there were fresh coats of paint all around so this is now painting #3.

Also, on the way in this morning, 2 of the 5 regular turnstiles/fare takers were out of service during rush hour at the same station.

KevinB

Re: countdown signs...I think those should be visible from the nearby streets if possible. Sure, it's a pain to be standing there not knowing whether it's gonna be a half an hour or 3 minutes, but when you're heading down the street towards the station, it's kind of helpful to know whether or not you have to run.

Of course, if their site is designed well for mobile devices, you can just check as you're moving, but I'm not counting on that.

Nothing will ever make KevinB happy. He'll whine and complain about anything and everything. Why bother.

You can't get the trains up to 70MPH with all the kinks in the alley L on the North Side mainline.
That idiot Kreusi stopped the removal of the Diversey kink because he said the $25 million to straighten the track was too much.
But a lot of that money would have been coming from the feds & there will be huge maintenance costs over the next 75 years there, which will total far more that that over that time & must come come out of operating funds, which don't come from the feds.
The same goes for the triple turn & North & Halsted & the S turn at Sheridan.

Sound good to me. I hope CTA will add a sign at Quincy on the mid-level platform, too. For people heading to the Red or Blue Line, it’ always kind of Russian roulette whether to use the northbound or southbound platform. Take the south platform, and there will be at least two Orange Line trains passing by while you wait in the cold. Take the northbound platform, and you could bet that the train you just heard is a Pink Line train. I ended up at Clinton several times already, and also painfully found out the time passes have a 18 minutes blockage for a single location.

Sweet crud, KevinB, will anything ever make you happy?

Re: KevinB

I actually think that was one of his more optomistic posts

"...mixed feelings... love the whiz-bang stuff..."

He must be having a good day. So far...

Don't worry KevinB. I still enjoy reading your posts. :-P

It seems that Berwyn got a 'fresh' coat of paint too (stairwells). Too bad it still looks like shiznit. I wonder how many coats of paint it has had over the years.

Countdown signs outside stations visible from a block away would be nice, but there will be FOOLS that run through traffic, then push/bump people in the station and on the stairs as they race up to the platform to make the train. I guess if they want to get runover by a bus, its their choice to run for the train in a dangerous fashion.

Has anyone noticed this week now we have just the opposite problem in the morning with the Southbound Red line. Yesterday and today, trains completely bunched up around 8:15 am. My train had to come to a complete stop between stations 3 times and then sat at a handful of stations an extra minute or so because of an immediate leader. There was another train directly in front of that one and another one following my train. This is ALMOST as bad as the gaps in service. It added about 12 minutes of travel time to the ride. Now we have train bunching, good job CTA.

That really angers me that Kruesi elminated removing some curves on the North side!!! The Diversey "YANK" could easily be removed now that most of the original buildings that were nearly touching the tracks by Diversey have all been demolished. Same goes for the bend on the Red line at Montrose. There used to be another viaduct to the West and Wilson Yard buildings to the East. Both gone, plenty of space to make that one into a gradual curve. If they got rid of that one, trains could possibly reach 70 mph between Wilson and the curve at Sheridan. A minute here another one saved there, it all adds up.

I noticed this week they are replacing the Lawrence platform roof. It is needed, but where are the plans to put in a station house to replace the fenced in area? Its not fun waiting under heat lamps in subzero weather at this station when there is absolutely zero protection from the wind! Name another station that has a chain-link fence for a station, Wellington no longer counts, it will be getting one with the rehab about to begin on it.

As it is, people try to make a mad dash up the escalator whenever they THINK they hear a train arriving--which more often than not turns out to be a train going the opposite direction pulling OUT of the station. It's getting so that when I hear a rumble overhead I just stand aside from getting on the escalator so they don't flatten me, because I have bad knees and do not wish to run up--that's why I'm taking the escalator. What I would really like to say is either "if you want to run, you can just as easily run up the STAIRS" or else "hey, if I'm in your way, go ahead, knock me to the ground and step over me, I realize riding CTA is about survival of the fittest and strong young men should prevail over middle-aged women."

I've never understood why the CTA insists on painting the dirty-ass underground stations a fresh blinding white. This paint, of course, lasts mere weeks before looking shitty again.

New York has tile, I understand, but the track areas are black. As a result, though the NYC Subway is filth-tastic, it looks uniformly filthy, rather than looking at those drip marks and black stalactites.

KevinB,
The trick is that while the improvements you mentioned are undoubtedly more important, it's also true that unless you can figure out an adverstising opportunity in cleaning out the sewers, the cta will have to pay for it. The signs are being done first, but with free money. I hope you don't think that projects of lesser importance should be put on hold just on principle (and please explain the principle) until all higher priority work is done. We could also argue whether this is really "lipstick" -- I think train arrival info is quit useful to riders.

I guess my point is that if you have to slog through a station through standing water to get to a train that isn't running on time and not at the interval that it's supposed to, how useful is the arrival information (free or otherwise)? Its nice, but lets get our priorities in order.

How about having a plumbing company put up free advertising in the station and fix the drainage in exchange? I'm all for that. I bet there would be a waiting list. Maybe something like those roadside signs that "adopt a highway" thing. Maybe we could have "adopt a station" instead.

But all this time about limited trials of bus arrival information (out of one garage) and hybrid buses and TeeVees in the new rail cars to be delivered in a couple years really doesn't do alot for the problems that many of us see on a daily basis.

For fear of being branded a whiner, I would have loved if Ron would have left the sexy glossy rail car photos and addressed the southbound redline issues that I (and several other posters here) have to deal with on a daily basis and are about to get 10 times worse come March 30th....If I ever do get to a coffee I have about 30 questions/issues that I'd like to bring up. Some of them I've mentioned here, some I haven't, but I've talked and more importantly LISTENED to other people who are fed up with the delays, the excuses and just generally the lack of concern of the day to day stuff as opposed to the "Pie in the sky" future projects.

You can hear them on any platform when the 3rd "full train" comes by and no one can get on at Addison.

Whoever thought that stopping the extra 22 clark busses at belmont and clark was a good idea should be "re-eductated" to borrow a phrase from the chinese cold war.

I'd take the 22 clark if it would run reliably in the morning or evening to bypass the 3 track mess, but I can't count on my bus stopping at clark and belmont.

Like I also mentioned before, I don't see Ron staying at the CTA past summer if the city loses the Olympic bid, so I'm not going to get excited about much he's doing at this point. I have my $50 in my pocket for that bet in case I'm wrong, but I don't think I'm going to have to pay off.

KevinB

KevinB said: "I don't see Ron staying at the CTA past summer if the city loses the Olympic bid."

First, the city won't learn till 2009 whether it wins the Olympic bid.

Second, if they did know this summer, I'd love to take you up on that bet. Like, if you lose, no whining here for a full week about the CTA.

Pessamists and people with a general overall negative outlook accomplish much less than those that identify the problems and work endlessly at solutions while keeping a positive attitude along the way. I like Ron's "we can do this" attitude. I personally think that is the key to turning things around. I am expected to have a positive and forward-thinking attitude in my job. How can I expect my employees to be positive and identify solutions if I dwelled on our company's problems and made "bets for failure"? Things would break down completely with my team very quickly. Yes, its tough sometimes to keep a positive outlook, but the people that become effective managers are nearly always the people in the company that have to most positive attitude. Why? Because thats how things can get accomplished.

If you listed all the initiatives started and concrete examples of CTA accomplishments already completed under Ron, you'd have a very difficult time finding another former CTA president that could compare. Have we seen huge sweeping reform and results yet? No. How can you honestly expect literally years of neglect and problems to go away in 1 year? I say the biggest obstacle left is the lack of a state capital plan. If the miracle happens this year and they actually pass a bill that has sufficient funds for transit, I think we will see a very different CTA in 5-7 years.

All I can say KevinB, if you do get invited to coffee with Ron and subject not only him but the other invitees to 30 of your questions, that you also do you part and offer any solutions or ideas to the problems you raise as well.

Easy fixes are a dime a dozen.

Well, maybe more like 100-grand a dozen, but the actual cost really isn't where I'm going with this.

Those easy fixes have consequences. Working to improve the short-term is always the wrong choice, unless an election is right around the corner.

You also can't just jump in on the hardest problems. Anyone here play piano? Did your teacher give you a J.S. Bach fugue at your first lesson? Of course not. Not even if you were a musical genius, and piano was the fifth instrument you were learning. You learned how to use the new tool, and solved a few easy problems first before moving on to the big one.

That said, as you're headed to that first lesson you didn't announce that you'd be presenting the best of Bach in a concert next month, either.

It's going to take a long time to make up lost ground, and turn CTA back into a world-class transit system. It's also going to take new tools for a new generation. It's going to take some time to learn to use those tools.

And since it was brought up again, the CTA and the Olympics aren't related. The Olympics will be using their own transportation system. The job of CTA will be to move residents around they Olympic traffic jams so companies other than hotels, restaurants and retail stores can continue with business as (sort of) usual.

Meanwhile, all the athletes and most of the fans will be on private, charter buses that have nothing to do with CTA.

KevinB wrote: "if you have to slog through a station through standing water"

Oh come on. Few will deny that there are stations with leaks and smells and other maladies, but there are plenty of real problems to mention without drifting into the Land of Make Believe.

The "technie" stuff is actually far more important to some of us than the aesthetics of train stations. Unless the train station is on fire, I really don't care all that much about it's condition if I know in advance when the train is coming and therefore don't have to spend more than a couple minutes at the station anyway.

Having next train signs a block away is probably not a terribly useful thing. The main use of these things, aside from the psychological, is finding out when there's going to be a long wait for a train, so that you don't leave your home or office or whatever earlier than you need to. By the time you're a block away from the train station, though, you've already left; you're hardly going to walk back to wherever you came from once you realize that you still have 8 minutes to spare.

On the subject of getting awkward bends out of the track, the CTA has to do a better job of protecting right-of-way. Hopefully Ed's examples at Diversey and Montrose will be attended to, but the real long-term problem is at Sheridan, where besides the severe, equipment-damaging bends, the existing station has no hope of handling the CTA's goal of 10 car Red Line trains. And yet look at all the new development in the area. This one is going to be highly, highly expensive in terms of compulsory purchase orders and demolition -- if, that is, there is to go on being a Sheridan Station.

As for message boards that provide useful information such as estimated arrival time, London Underground has had these for 20 years. Paris even now has them all over. Brighton, England, has them at their BUS STOPS! What takes us so long here?

Bob S. -- usually these message boards for buses will work off of something like a GPS device in the bus and measuring distance and speed to the stop. CTA buses are already GPS-equipped; they simply haven't so far actually used the GPS for any customer information other than showing you the next street inside the bus. For a subway system, it probably has to relate to the signaling system by deriving time estimates from whatever signaling block the train happens to be on, as GPS obviously does not reach down to a subway. In any case all the systems I have seen are pretty accurate.

Of course, as you note, there's nothing to stop Chicago from doing it wrong, but I have more confidence in Huberman than that.

Kevin B may go over the top sometimes, but he's not making up the bit about going through standing water. Grand & State used to be my stop, and the recurring pond at the foot of the southeast stairs was notorious. No way to get past without stepping in it, and it wasn't all that shallow either. One hopes the renovation plans include some serious drainage engineering so that never happens again.

KevinB, your haters annoy me more than you do really; complaining is bad, complaining about complaining is worse. And I can see the good points you make, as badly as you sometimes make them.

But I'm afraid I'm jumping ship after your "lets get our priorities in order." The CTA's priority is to get people from where they've been to where they're going, within a reasonable margin of time and space. Everything else is just plain a distant number two.

As I mentioned above, I have my own concerns about how well the CTA can, let alone will, implement this, and I haven't sipped from Huberman's kool-aid yet, let alone his coffee. But getting information out to riders is much more important than protecting your pants cuffs. If you're that worried about it, wear old clothes for your commute and change at work. Everyone wins.

(Also, FWIW, when I realized I was often forced to wait for three trains to be able to squeeze into some near-mythical spot to get to work, I moved north. If it's such a big deal to you but somehow not so big a deal that you'd change your *own* priorities, Addison has a center platform; grab a northbound train to Wilson and cross the platform to a southbound. It might even be faster for you, but it's certainly not going to be any slower, if you're *really* waiting for three trains *every* *day*.)

And DBX, thanks for the information. I realize the screens are likely to be using the signal information that's already available; my point's that, if there's a delay, all the system will "know" is that a train is between two signals upstream, so it's perpetually three minutes away, for instance. Acquiring up-to-date, real-time information about delays is much more difficult, as is disseminating it.

My bad. I thought it was this summer that they knew if Chicago was going to host the 2016 olympics, not 2009.

Give me a break.One of the few, if only reasons Ron was moved to the CTA was that the mayor had to come up with a fix for CTA if there was even a hope of us getting the games. I'll stand by my comments. Ron probably won't be here much past the announcement if we don't get picked. Saying that the CTA has nothing to do with the olympics is pretty far fetched.

In fact I think it was about that time that one of the Aldermen compared the CTA to a third world transportation system. I'd have to search through the trib website to see exactly when it was said, but I remember it well...thought it was one of the most truthful things an Alderman ever said and thats a pretty rare occurrence.

I guess I don't see where having someone on a periodic schedule to clean the debris out of drains and to do drainage repairs is so much of a problem. Try going through the clybourn, monroe, clark/division red line stations sometime when it rains. Jumping across wide pools of standing water is not my idea of an "asthetic" issue. Maybe it could be a new olympic event.

Correct me if I'm wrong. First we had no operating funds, so we couldn't keep the trains and buses running on time. Now we have operating funds, but no long term capital funds, and we can't keep the trains and buses running on time...Hmmm...sounds like we just can't keep the trains and buses running on time no matter what.

If you ask me, the CTA sounds like the pessimists...we can't do this or can't do that, or need this to do that. If you need to get something done, you get it done. It comes down to what your priorities are. Fast, efficient, timely, customer service oriented, accountable, transportation doesn't seem to be priority of the CTA.

I'll ask my question again. When can we expect concrete, measurable (other than debatable statistics) benchmarks showing what Ron has done. Most of the stuff coming online has been in the pipe for years and years. Someone even tried to give him credit for the blue line slow zone upgrades. I think the fire in the tunnel had alot to do with that.

It would be real easy for Ron to get my vote. Come up with a sensible, easier to digest alternative to this 3 track fiasco coming up on the 30th and keep the trains coming every 3 1/2 minutes during rush hour southbound. I'm not asking for the world, just this. I can handle dirty cars, I can handle not having the displays and times if they just came like they were supposed to(for the most part--nothings perfect) for 2 hours every day(7-9am), 5 days a week (Monday thru Friday). I'd even forgo 6 months of any comments on the tattler if he could make that happen. That would solve our full train issues, and many others and give us something we could count on

Kevin

With all due respect, the previous post asks for everything to just start working right with little or no pain. Some of the reasons the trains are operating the way they are: (1) tracks need major work; (2) stations are being reconstructed and so trains can't use all the tracks; and (3) trains are old and requipment problems. What would you have them do? They're fixing the slow zones about as quickly as is likely feasible. Even if you think that somehow the brown line expansion was unwise, you can't seriously think it would be a good idea to abandon it at this point. And they have new train cars on order.

Major improvements always involve disruption. And that's true not just for train systems but for building construction, upgrading your cell phone, and even political change. Eliminating these improvement projects to get rid of the short term inconveniences that they impose would just be phenomenally short-sighted. The phrase penny wise and pound foolish comes to mind.

And in any event, that post is not about making constructive criticism. The basic MO of KevinB's arguments is typically: (1) all I'm asking is that the CTA do some unrealistic thing that will require sacrificing other, larger goals of greater long term importance to people; (2) in the event that the CTA does accomplish anything, I want the results to be "measurable" but not with "statistics". (What measure would you use that does not involve numbers? Some kind of crankiness measure derived from blog posts?) Stating that you will be satisfied when the CTA eliminates good plans in favor of resolving comparatively minor grievances does not make you sound reasonable.

So many of these are just cranky posts animated by nothing but an inherent disaffection for innovation and an unalterable dissatisfaction with whatever it might be that the CTA is doing it, regardless of how well it does it.

>>>I'll ask my question again. When can we expect concrete, measurable (other than debatable statistics) benchmarks showing what Ron has done.<<<

And then you go on to discount all the measures of improvement by claiming that they have "been in the pipe for years and years".

So what could possibly satisfy you? Evidence of short-term improvements that do nothing to solve the real problems?

I haven't drunk from the Huberman Kool-Ade. I still think the leader of such a large transit organization should have some transit experience. But he has kicked-out some of the deadwood in management, and has surounded himself with people who do have some idea of what they're doing. And apparently he's paying attention to their advice. That's progress.

The CTA is like a big, cumbersome ocean liner. You can stand on the deck, and face the oposite direction, but that doesn't mean the ship's direction of travel has changed. Turning the ship around takes time. And during that time, pointing out that no forward process has been made doesn't do any good.

KevinB, you're so certain that your priorities are the right priorities. Consider the concept that they aren't. While I may not agree with the person who said you should plan to wear old clothes because you know the puddle is there, the underlying point is that not everyone wants the same bandaids that you want.

And yes, fixing a puddle is a bandaid, or lipstick on the pig. Leveraging GPS technology to get vehicles running on-time, and sharing real-time information with customers is an important step in the long-term goal of having a world-class tranist system.

The individual puddles will be fixed eventually. But fixing them shouldn't be so important that they become a higher priority than leveraging technology to run the system better with diminishing resources.

Let me get this straight...we have to get bus arrival systems and new rail cars with Teevees and new hybrid buses before we can get someone to clean out a drain or fix a pipe? Good lord, I've heard everything now.

I think someone has their priorities wrong. It's a small example, but very descriptive of the way that the CTA has thought for too long. There are short term priorities, medium term and long term. You spend too much time on one and the others suffer. If you need an example the last several years of spending to much time on long term priorities (poorly designed stations, track work that really doesn't fix the problems, inspections that were let go until things almost got deadly).

Millions and millions of dollars were spent for stations that might be pretty but aren't functional. I'll admit it wasn't under Ron's watch but does that mean he's not responsible for fixing it?

I point to Sedgwick as a shinning example of non-functionality station. Its like a traffic jam getting in and out of the turnstiles. But we had to have that nice grating work that serves no purpose other than being pretty. It would and still is the perfect place to have exit only turnstiles or whatever you call them...

The block37 stuff is another example. Over budget. Ill planned. Is there really any plan? They just renovated lake street and then tore part of it up again. Makes sense....not.

At some point, you have to take the bull by the horns, take stock, figure out what isn't working and fix it. Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it doesn't...but it shouldn't take years to clean drains.

KevinB

"Let me get this straight...we have to get bus arrival systems and new rail cars with Teevees and new hybrid buses before we can get someone to clean out a drain or fix a pipe? Good lord, I've heard everything now."

No. No one is arguing that those things are prerequisites for cleaning a drain or whatnot.

What many of us are are saying is that we simply do not care about cleaning drains as we do about the other, more important modernization projects that the CTA is finally starting to implement.

That's not to say that we do not care about basic station maintenance. But for most of us, I suspect we simply don't agree that it is such a high priority that resources should be diverted from modernization projects in order to do vanquish the sorts of problems you're focused on.

You can say that that prioritization is "wrong," but this is not objective truth we're debating about here. People are free to see things differently and have different priorities as a result. Many of us, and apparently the CTA, have different priorities than you do. You're entitled to your views, but your suggestions that everybody is simply failing to see some obvious truth because they do not share your priorities is kind of irksome.

Any in any event, you must realize by now that this approach to things is not persuading anyone of anything. So unless your goal truly is to vent and have other people watch, it might be worthwhile to consider whether you might have more impact on people's opinions by adopting a different approach to these discussions.

Of course, it's a free country, so if you prefer to just vent without accomplishing anything, then, well, I suppose it's up to you to decide how to use your time and energy.

From his rants about his morning commute KevinB seems to work 8am to 6pm-ish. For someone who complains a lot about workers loafing and inefficiency he sure posts a lot from work. His job needs Mystery Shoppers.

KevinB opined: "Let me get this straight...we have to get bus arrival systems and new rail cars with Teevees and new hybrid buses before we can get someone to clean out a drain or fix a pipe?"

First, I know I really shouldn't be baiting you like this, but. . .

You have to remember that the CTA has funds from different sources. Capital funds to buy train cars can't be used to fix drain pipe problems that may actually be the responsibility of the city of Chicago. So you can't complain that the CTA is wasting money on new train cars when there is a leaky mess in the subway.

And for all the complaining you do here KevinB, I sure hope you're telling the CTA about all this. You'd be the perfect Mystery Shopper.

I'm just looking forward to the reports from the Naysayer Edition of Saturday at the Coffeehouse with Ron: "KevinB vs. RonH Smackdown."

Okay, not to distract from flogging KevinB, but I like this idea he posted above, in response to ilo's remark that subway cleaning would have to be subsidized by advertising to happen: "Maybe we could have "adopt a station" instead." That's a great idea. I bet lots of companies would sponsor a station (and you could charge extra for the popular/busy downtown stops, and use those to subsidize the less "adoptable" stations). They get a tax writeoff and a couple signs with their brand name on them, the CTA can pay for cleaning, and we all get nicer stations. Win-win.

The Harrison Red Line station was recently renovated through a partnership between CTA, Columbia College and Jones College Prep High School. I love the haiku on the wall. It takes one's mind off the odor that defies cleaning. I like the idea of having unique stations. Montreal's Metro is great example of having each station reflect the area that's above it. Now...back to our regularly scheduled programming of flogging KevinB....

And for what it's worth, remember this CTA Tattler classic? (Cut to wavy lines signifying flashback:)

http://www.ctatattler.com/2007/05/tales_from_gran.html

Shortly after that, the drainage on that stairway *was* fixed. Which is kind of dumb, now, considering the stairway's closed and likely to be torn up and replaced during the construction.

And the point I made both then and earlier in this thread still stands: If you know you're going to face some kind of puddle and for some inexplicable reason it worries you, dress for it and change at your destination. I keep an inexpensive but nice pair of black shoes and a couple clean pair of socks at my desk. Ain't that hard and it ain't that expensive, and I can wear much more comfortable shoes during my commute.

Why would a company donate money to clean a subway station when it get far more publicity by buying advertising on the platform or on the train?

If the idea is that companies would get advertising space in exchange for keeping the subway clean, then: (1) what makes you think they would they get a tax write-off for such a transaction? (2) the CTA already sells advertising, so this would not be new revenue unless the advertising rates are increased (and I'm aware of no reason to think that the CTA isn't already charging as much as the ad market will bear); and (3) if the rates were increased, why would an advertiser pay extra for the 'privilege' of being obliged to clean the station? The could just buy ads elsewhere.

Irk, there are things called "goodwill" and "community involvement," and many people, and even companies, find 'em worthwhile. Just sayin'.

FWIW, on the 70 mph issue, I took the liberty of doing a little math. At 55 mph -- from start to stop, no acceleration or deceleration, so this is an *ideal*, much more optimistic than a real-world figure -- the trip from Sheridan to Wilson (which I'm just assuming to be 3/4 of a mile here) on the Red Line would take 49 seconds. Again using the same unrealistic *ideal* conditions, at 70 mph, it would take 39 seconds. So even under the most unrealistic *ideal* of circumstances, you're going to save 10 seconds. In the real world that's going to be four or five seconds. Frankly, it doesn't seem worth the money and the disruption.

And keep in mind, that's the longest uninterrupted, reasonably straight stretch of track (again looking for ideal conditions) between Howard and Roosevelt. No other stretch of track on the North Side Red Line will ever even yield those four or five seconds. If upgrading to 70 mph takes more time or money than upgrading to 55 mph, it categorically is not worth it.

Bob S., sorry, but you're being just as unreasonable as some other posters on this blog whose attitudes you decry. There are those who are seemingly not satisfied with some forward progress, and they're deservedly drawing criticism for insisting that the glass is mostly empty. But there are others, like you, whose main theme is "don't spend one dime on X, it's frivolous. Put all the money into fixing Y." And of course, X and Y are different for everyone. Well, I'm glad you are not running the CTA, and even gladder that I don't live in your particular alternate universe. You are declaring that deep puddles of water in the station are perfectly acceptable and we should go through an extra change of clothes every day after arriving at work rather than have any expectation that the CTA maintain its facilities to a minimum standard of civilized habitation, which expectation you see as a sign of emotional problems on our part. And it was "dumb" to ever do anything about the Grand/State Pond--in your calculation every dry step taken since then has been a senseless waste of resources. Tell you what, if it makes you that uncomfortable to be in a decent CTA facility, you should feel free to stick to the shabby broken-down ones with leaks and filth or no roof, and be sure to ride only in those rail cars and buses that feature trash and odors. Then you will not have to be confronted with the "inexplicable".

C C, I apologize for having come off that way. Sometimes sarcasm works and sometimes it doesn't.

Without sarcasm, let's be realistic. If you know there's an unfortunate or unpalatable situation there and you know it isn't being fixed at the moment or in the immediate future, it does no good to gripe unless you're griping to someone who can do something about it, and this isn't Ron Huberman's blog. Call the CTA and complain, and do it every time, and get others to do it, and at some point down the road, it'll appear on their radar. But things don't happen instantly, and in the meantime, it's prudent to be able to deal with it. The "Grand Lake" that Kevin wrote about in the post from last year that I linked to was something I regularly faced during my regular commute, and it only took a couple of experiences with it to realize I was better off not ruining my nice clothes but wearing something appropriate. If this offends you that's a shame, but: It's stupid not to realize that. Stupid and embarrassing. I'm embarrassed that it took me that long to realize something that's just common sense. And I feel like I'm surrounded by people who still haven't realized it.

Irk, I assume a company might adopt a CTA station for the same reasons they might now adopt a mile of highway.

It's not a brilliant new idea that is going to take every marketing department by storm, I grant you, but it's a proven concept that, assuming that the CTA hasn't recently failed to do this already, might be worth pursuing. Especially since, at least at the launch of such a program, it would definitely get coverage in local news outlets, which *would* be free advertising, if not exactly breaking news ("The CTA is unveiling its new adopt-a-station program, whereby many local organizations are donating the funds to clean and renovate the L stations in their area, such as Boeing's 'adoption' of the Washington/Wells stop near their office... blah blah blah.").

Something tells me cleaning a random mile of highway is much, much easier than cleaning a CTA transit station. At least, cleaning a CTA station to the extent posters here expect someone should..

And to give the dead horse a few final kicks:

IT'S RAINING.

THERE'LL BE PUDDLES TOMORROW.

WEAR APPROPRIATE FOOTWEAR AND YOU'LL HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT.

I like the Adopt a Station idea.

Bob S: Thanks for the admission, but I think you still misunderstand people's intent in discussing problems on this blog. I wasn't actually asking you what to do if they don't fix a problem, so don't you worry about me. I can figure out for myself all kinds of things to do, but acceptance and adaptation are not very high on my list when I happen to be a paying customer rather than an employee. You go ahead and suit up in hazmat gear if you like--my style is a little more assertive.

My intent is to be a squeaky wheel, and I happen to think that posting a complaint to this blog is quite likely to get the attention of someone who can actually do something about it. I suspect they may pay better attention to what is said here than through regular channels, because most of the discussion is thoughtful and coherent. I don't do phone complaints any more--I never got the sense that the person who answered understood what I was talking about let alone had any intent to pass it on. And yes, I signed up as a Mystery Shopper and returned my trip questionnaire promptly.