CTA Tattler

Happy Birthday Susan!

I actually called to inquire about the part-time bus jobs, having driven a bus in the past, and looking for a truly part-time night gig to supplement my income.

Unfortunately, the part-time positions require full-time commitment, because you don't have a set schedule- the hours change from day to day so you have to be available all the time.

It seems to me that if the CTA seriously needs new drivers, they shouldn't offer part-time employment which requires full-time availability.

I wish the CTA didn't feel like bullshitting us about finishing the work eliminating the Jeff Park to Harlem slow zone last December, when that section has been closed every weeken since they resumed work.

A woman was dragged by a CTA bus!

Nothing that was supposed to be finished last December, from the slow zone work on the Red and Blue lines to the station repairs on the northern stretch of the Red Line, is anywhere near done, as far as I can tell, unfortunately. But hey, Ron's a swell guy.

But seriously, it's hard to be grumpy when someone's having a birthday. Happy birthday, Mrs. Tattler.

Hey kevin! it was great to hear you on the radio, listen to outsidetheloop every week and was blown away to hear them say the site and who the guest was! Nice job.

Regarding the job fair, any one know if they will be looking for rail operators soon? I'm very interested.

Sorry, tried to listen to the podcast but they were still introducing themselves after the first two minutes. I don't have patience for that sort of thing. If people are going to put on a radio show about something, they should learn how to start talking about something other than themselves before everyone turns the show off.

Happy Birthday, Susan! I wish you a year of no insane mumbling guys on the Irving Park bus.

"Applicants must have strong customer service skills." Ha!!! That is so rich.

http://chicagoist.com/2008/04/25/truck_crashes_i.php

Another story - people died!

Hey MK,

If you don't like the intro, then fast forward the podcast. I know you can do it! Just give it a try.

Thanks for listening...or trying to, anyway.

I notice nobody is mentioning the FFH (Future Fare Hike).....

^ I'll mention it...

"But Huberman says now that the agency also didn't fully realize what the impact of free rides for seniors was going to be." - CBS2

NO shiznit sherlock! Dumbazz Blago and Huberman.

So...I guess the fare hike is more interesting than a semi truck colliding with a CTA station? Whew.

On CTA Alerts, if I block that insufferable, arrogant dipsh*t "lazynbc5junkie" (who used to call himself ChicagoAnchorman), will his obnoxious, unnecessary posts still show up on UPOC's CTA Alerts page? Is it a block only via SMS or the Web page too?

Interestingly, he's now claiming to work for the CTA, even though his profile says he's 15 (and he acts 15).

Bob S. -
He may not be a CTA employee, but he does seem to have immediate access to someone's CTA pager.

Some of the info he posts seems to comes straight from the text pages that are sent to CTA management, supervisory, and field personnel 24 hours a day. It's almost word-for-word except for the added "please allow additional travel time." He also clearly has access to CTA radio transmissions but those are easy to get with a scanner and the language on those transmissions is not usually as complete or detailed.

Is it a fluke that he puts the information together the exact same way the operations texts are worded? My brother, a CTA employee , pointed that out to me when I was reading him my UPOC alerts from lazy/anchorman. His text pages from the Control Center preceded lazy/anchor's by several minutes and were worded the same.

So, CTA employees with pagers, take notice. Your 15-year-old-kid is pissing off UPOC subscribers non-stop.

I found it interesting that lazy/anchor was asking people to limit chatting when most of the chatting was asking him to stop.

And kudos to chi-thrdrail and others for not lowering themselves to lazy/anchor's level when baited!

Happy birthday Susan!

where were the CTA UPOC alerts during this awful incident? I saw several different updates on their customer alert page, but only one UPOC alert from CTA-HQ - way after the fact. Glad I was at a computer (Unless, maybe lazynbc is their new official contact for UPOC alerts?)

Thanks for the background info, UPOC subscriber. I grudgingly admit he posts this stuff first and now I know why. But it's the bullying and the inane chat (like that four-post conversation where his old handle welcomed his new handle to the service) even as he's yelling at everyone else not to say anything he's already mentioned that pisses me off. I'll block him and see if he vanishes from the page too, I guess.

Hey, Bob S. -
Don't get me wrong. I'm as annoyed (maybe more) with lazy/anchor as you are. I don't believe that having updated information gives him the right to clutter up our email with his repeated chastisements to not chat (when most of it's complaining about him) and challenging other equally-informed posters. I sure didn't mean to defend him - just add some insight to where he may get his info.

Of course, on the other hand, the CTA-HQ was not coming through with much info (one alert?) on UPOC during this time. I can't figure that out since their website was updating about every 30 minutes.

I didn't read any defense into your post... your frustration seemed as evident as mine. (Sorry that didn't come through in my own post; I blame the coffee, which just isn't working this morning.) I know this too shall pass... once or twice a year someone comes along who's a little too overenthusiastic. At least this one's 15, so we can hope his teenage attention span wanders elsewhere eventually.

Bob S, UPOC Subscriber, et. al: both of the ChicagoAnchorman and lazynbcfivejunkie users are now listed as Inactive on UPOC. I corresponded with these users and each interaction led to the user bailing from UPOC voluntarily (whilst tossing a final epithet my way).

My basic message was that the user(s) obviously had quality information, and I wanted them to stay, but that I would boot them if they continued to argue with others and post too much information.

Apparently neither user was down with those ideas. I am going to forgo new users for a while and see if things cool out.