CTA Tattler

Vituoso violinist entertains DC subway users in anonymity

I noticed yesterday that the Washington Post had won one of its six Pulitzers yesterday for a Post magazine story about violin virtuoso Joshua Bell performing at the entrance to the DC Metro's L'enfant Plaza station stop. He earned about $32 in 43 minutes from about 25 people. Almost 1,100 commuters had passed him by as he performed.

He was dressed like any performer, but certainly didn't SOUND like any performer. Read the award-winning story and view the video here.

I never give money to panhandlers. But I sometimes give cash to subway performers. I'd like to think I would have given Bell a buck or two if I heard him. But maybe not.

Personal three-tracking scorecard: not too bad

Personally, my commutes during the first week of southbound three-tracking were not so terrible. On average, my commute took about 3-4 minutes longer than previously. It used to take me about 35 minutes to go from Morse to Grand on the Red Line. Here are the results:

Monday, March 31: Morning North Side meeting disrupted usual commute.

Tuesday: April 1: 37 minutes total; 11 minutes between Addison and Fullerton.

Wednesday, April 2: 36 minutes; 10 minutes between Addison and Fullerton.

Thursday, April 3: 40 minutes; 13 minutes between Addison and Fullerton.

Friday, April 4: 41 minutes; 13 minutes between Addison and Fullerton.

And Friday was the only day I timed the commute going home. That was a mere 30 minutes.

I suspect that because my commute is early, my delay may not be as bad as others who may leave at 8 am. So I'd like to hear how it's been for others.

The motormen/women were always informative in keeping us up-to-date on what was going on. One woman even announced the run number a few times "for those who might need a late slip."

Also, on Friday, a passenger in another car complained that the announcements were too loud. The motorwoman duly reported it, and announced that the CTA would try to fix it at Belmont. There were so many CTA attendants at Belmont that they found someone who knew how to fix working on the Belmont platform. So he boarded on my car, and tossed two people out of the Hobo Corner so he could adjust the volume.

He tinkered with it between Belmont and Fullerton, and the complainers were happy with the results. Unfortunately, those of us on other cars could barely hear the announcements. But hey, good effort at being responsive to customer complaints.

Service agency does outreach to homeless CTA riders

Occasionally in this space, you folks and I have all written about nasty encounters with homeless people sleeping and otherwise setting up housekeeping on CTA trains. Thresholds, a Chicago-based social service agency, has been reaching out to these people for the last six months and trying to get them some help.

In those six months, two Thresholds case workers have made contact with almost 70 homeless people riding the Red and Blue Lines. "Contact" can mean anything from giving out a business card, distributing food and sundries, or just talking to them.

Of course, one of the biggest problem they face is follow-up care. It's just hard to locate their clients again for further services. But amazingly, they have moved five people into housing.

To the CTA's credit, they first approached the city's  Dept. of human Services to find an agency to do the outreach. That's when Thresholds entered the picture. Check out the Thresholds Web site. They quietly do great work in many neighborhoods across the city. If you have a few extra dollars consider donating to the cause.

Weekend slow zone work

There's plenty of slow zone work on the Red and Blue lines this weekend:

• Blue Line Service from Jefferson Park to Cumberland temporarily suspended.
• Red Line subway closed between Fullerton and Cermak Chinatown.
• Southbound Red and Brown Line customers at Fullerton will board and exit trains from the northbound Red Line side of the platform.
• And don't forget to take the Red Line to Sox Park for Monday's White Sox home opener.
  

CTA vows to engage customers more - and better

At our coffee with Ron Huberman last month, Adam Case, the CTA's chief of customer communications, talked a bit about ways the CTA would try to engage its riders more.

I've already mentioned the coming overhaul of the CTA's Web site. Case also noted that as of two weeks ago, the Mystery Shopper program had about 1,500 sign-ups. He said any problems cited in Mystery Shopper reports were sent daily to the general managers responsible for the bus or train line cited. He also mentioned the CTA wants to find ways to capture rider cell phone photos with descriptions of problems.

Both Case and Huberman discussed the idea of building an interactive relationship between the rider and the general manager of his/her route -- to the point where they know each other by name. Huberman described it as "providing micro-service at the neighborhood route level."

Can't you just see KevinB giving the Red Line GM an earful?

"This train is not where it should be . . ."

We stop halfway into the Belmont station, and the motorman announces: "This train is not where it should be -- stand clear and we'll move in a moment."

The train passengers burst out in laughter at his one-liner.

Interestingly enough, this was late last Friday, when the train actually WAS where is HADN'T been in about a year -- that is on Track 3 at Belmont. It had just opened that day after a year of northbound three-tracking.

CTA site to get full redesign within six months

The entire  CTA Web site will have a brand new look and feel within six months, said Adam Case, the CTA's chief of customer communications.

Case said the site will be modeled after transit Web sites for Boston and London. That's great news, because both sights are clean and very useful for commuters. I particularly like Boston's service alerts on the home page.

An RFP for the CTA site redesign has been issued, and the CTA board will soon vote on who wins the job, Case said. The RFP calls for the site to be launched within 120 days from contract letting. Case said eventually the site will show real-time bus and train arrival information.

Regarding the home page redesign launched last week, Case said, "We feel like it's an improvement for our customers." It was done completely in-house by one of the CTA's Web designers.

Case also encourages CTA Tattler readers to share with him some of the functionality you are looking for in a new site. So feel free to comment here.