CTA Tattler

Smussy,
I guess the point is that there is a very real possibility that from Chicago to Southport you would not get a seat anyway. If that is the case, you could be glad to be the last person on the SRO car. I don't think ANYONE wants the system to be all SRO. However, a few cattle cars for people willing to KNOW they won't sit but don't care should be fine.

And you are right about the GO LANE! Funny story. I went to Lane Tech in the city. The first time I saw the marquee on the bus that said "GO LANE" it was on a 49 Western, and I assumed it was some sort of thing for the school. Then I thought, "that must really piss the Clemente kids off."

[a lot of us would use the "go lane" on buses if people wouldn't INSIST on standing in front of the scanner *or* if people would get the idea and move to the right so chicago card people could get on.]

As would I. I would also take my private helicopter downtown if I had one and golf 36 holes a day while living off my lottery winnings. But it's just not in the cards now, is it?

[Currently there are how many seats on a train? Maybe 42? Eight cars of 42 seats mean that, theoretically there are 336 seated riders before anyone must stand. With 2 cars without seats we now have a situation where only 252 can sit before the train becomes "standing room only". Is that a good thing?]

Every time I visit Chicago, I notice how the red and brown lines are not nearly as crowded as the NYC subway. Ever been on the L or 4/5 train at any time of the day?

That said, the "theoretical" number of seats available remains constant on the brown line since there were only 6 car trains in the past. With 2 SRO cars on the brown line, there will be 6 cars with seats.

["Every time I visit Chicago, I notice how the red and brown lines are not nearly as crowded as the NYC subway. Ever been on the L or 4/5 train at any time of the day?"]

Man, riding the 4 train on a Yankees game day gave me a new appreciation for crowded.

That said, I haven't noticed a big rush-hour difference, but the NYC subway is significantly more crowded off-peak.

PS, the 25% increase in ridership since March is ONLY among seniors.

The reason the Go Lane is a failure is the inability of the equipment to process someone tapping their card against the Go Lane sensor while someone else is paying their fare at the farebox.
I don't know if this is a only on the CTA problem or if systems nationwide also have this problem.

I am also baffled by the recent decision to bar walking through the cars. I was doing this when I was 10. Arresting people for this is a waste of the cops. It certainly hasn't gotten rid of any of the peddlers that operate south of Roosevelt.

I agree, UCC (and welcome back). I hold out my Chicago Card Plus and sometimes the lights turn yellow, sometimes they turn green, I've only ever noticed one chirp myself but have read others talking about different chirps, and a few times a year I get called back to flash it again. The system really could have been designed much better by creating unambiguous visual and audible responses. (And by having the thing run by a computer that could handle multitasking as well as the Mac did in nineteen-freaking-eighty six ferchrissake.)

That said, I've definitely noticed a trend on the 147 of people using the Go Lane to shove past people using the farebox -- and it's a tight enough space that they are shoving, even the guy that shoved past an elderly woman to grab a nearby seat on the 147 earlier this week.

Yes, the lack of audio & visual confirmation that your card was recognized & accepted is caused by a lack of common sense in the design. The system designer obviously never rides the bus.

I've been in LA.
I rode the Red Line here.
While its being relatively new is an major advantage, it's a wonderful ride except for the seats. The seats are worse than anything the CTA ever bought.
The trains accelerated fast & smooth, no jerking, it's an automated system. The tracks are all welded & the ride is almost without any rocking except for a short stretch.
There aren't any turnstiles, you buy a ticket from a machine & maybe someone will come by & do a check, I never had that. [I also tried my RTA Reduced Fare SmartCard at the machine, but it wasn't recognized, but the Metrolink (real railroad commuter) Trains accept it.] to They are thinking of adding them in the future, a mistake. I never saw so many bikes on the trains in Chicago as I saw out here. Maybe because it's so hilly & the distances are greater. The platforms are very wide.
I also rode the Orange Line busway. The drivers also accelerate & brake without jerking us around. Even in one very rapid braking, where a light didn't change he did it without throwing us around. The busway has signal pre-emption & it was great watching the red lights change to green for the bus.

The streets out here are in far better shape than Chicago. Not just the lack of winter & the million tons of salt, they don't allow utilities to cut up a street a week after it's been repaved & make a crappy patch. The patching I saw was well done, not like the rotten crap that CDOT does.
People put bikes on the buses that run of the freeways & the bike don't fall off. We all know not to put a bike on the 147, it will be lost under the bus as it bounces off somewhere between Foster & Irving.

The system overall is far better run. A lawsuit a couple of years ago by a riders group forced them to add buses to relieve overcrowding.

I've not heard of a major injury of a person crossing between cars in recent years but I recall quite vividly a young man who fell between the cars while walking between cars and suffered profound injuries back in the mid 1980s. One mis-step and say good bye to your leg (or your life).

[I've noticed myself that there's been a drastic downturn in the number of people switching cars in the past few months. Is this something that's been enforced more lately?]

A guy I work with has been ticketed twice in the last month for walking between the cars. I don't know why they started enforcing it, but they have.

I take it there is no longer any doubt that the idea is to try this idea soon, rather than waiting until new train cars have been purchased (as was once suggested).

Anyhow, putting the seatless cars towards the middle of the train would encourage people to walk to the ends of the platforms, which apparently not enough people do, since the CTA has had to put up signs advising people to do so.

the not walking to the ends of the platform thing is just another example of WTF?ness. unless you're not from the city, how do you NOT know that's where you're most likely to get a seat, or where at least that the car is likely to be less crowded?

too lazy to move from where you are? have a certain 'routine' and are a little OCD about it? want to be spit out exactly at a certain spot when you get to your home station? or just feel entitled to get on one of the middle cars for some inane reason?

i've never understood why someone wouldn't want to walk a little bit to have a chance to get a seat or not to be packed in like sardines.

"The not walking to the ends of the platform thing is just another example of WTF?ness....unless you're not from the city, how do you NOT know that's where you're most likely to get a seat, or where at least that the car is likely to be less crowded?..."

Wow, smussy, that's a broad and extremely inaccurate generalization. That may be your experience, but certainly not all share that experience. Let me share but one example. Surely there are countless others. I board the inbound Blue Line train at Addison. Up to that point, all of the previous seven stops (except Jeff Park) have platform configurations that tend to load the ends before the middle. So going to the middle of the train is more likely to get me a seat than hanging at the end.

I'm constantly amazed at people who think their own experiences are the norm for all.

^^i've never understood why someone wouldn't want to walk a little bit to have a chance to get a seat or not to be packed in like sardines.^^

Is it really important that you understand it? Maybe "getting a seat" is less important to others than it is to you. Certainly not everyone shares your opinions or experiences. And that's fine.

My experience has shown me that mornings on the Brown Line at Western, my best bet of getting a seat is being in the middle of the train, while the evening commute is the reverse. Then I have a better chance of getting a seat if I board the front or end car.
(And the mockery of OCD seems a little harsh. maybe it's time to accept the things you cannot change)

Smussy,
my preference is middle of the train in the morning, end of the train in the evening, or where ever I happen to be when the train pulls in. Nothing much OCD about that. (And if it was, so what? We all have our challenges. It's no nicer to mock someone with OCD than it is to mock an alcoholic or an addict, you think?)