CTA Tattler

No strannix, it's not a conspiracy theory, it's classic Cover Your Ass!
All bureaucracies cover their asses, it's the nature of the beast.
You don't have a group sit down & conspire to cover for the previous administration, it's done out of habit.
Don't forget, Kreusi was & still is Daley's political fixer & Huberman has to tiptoe around blaming him for the decrepit mess the CTA rail system is in, even though most of it is Kreusi's fault..

CC,

If you would stop whining about brown line trains for a minute and use your head (if you have one), maybe you would come to the conclusion that your conspiracy theories are off-base. To essentually make the argument "wha-wha-wha, my train got to Belmont first but the brown line departed before it. This is unfair!" is an absurd line of reasoning on its face even before you get into your ridiculous theories about why you think it is happening. The suggestion that whatever train gets to Belmont first should always be the first one to leave is extreamly shallow-minded (and you are not the only person to act as if this is the only thing that matters). I was on a brown line train yesterday that arrived at Belmont a few seconds before a red line. The red line then departed first. I remembered reading this thread and I sort of jokingly thought that maybe someone from the CTA had also done so and perhaps was attempting to prove that you were wrong. Any mild annoyence I had that we did not leave first was gone when I noticed a southbound red line train come through around 15-20 seconds later. Obviously, if the brown line train had left first it just would have been delayed by this train. And then the red line train would have been delayed while it waited for the brown line to cross. So obviously it makes sense for the red line to leave first even though it arrived at Belmont after the brown line. Similularly, if there is a southbound red or purple line train that is around 20 to 30 seconds away from approaching Belmont it would obviously make sense for a northbound brown line train to leave Belmont before a northbound red line train. That way, a delay on the brown line and the southbound red line train will be avoided. One train will have to wait instead of two. Also, it would make sense for a red or brown line train to depart Belmont first when there is a big back-up of trains behind it, even if it didn't arrive at the station first. So this silly whining about trains leaving the station when they were not the first to get there is rather childish.

MK, I think you're addressing the wrong person about conspiracy theories and whining. Maybe you mean Unindicted Coconspirator or one of the other testosterone boys who are all up in each other's faces today. I don't have any conspiracy theories and I don't believe I've done any whining. I offered a couple of factual anecdotes, without any spin, about my experiences on the red line this week, and I posed a trivia question about multiple intersections. That's really about it. So if you're going to go off on someone please make sure you've got the right party in your sights. Thank you.

Oh, yeah, and one grammatical item. But I didn't call anyone any names and I didn't mean it as any personal criticism, just to inform people of correct usage, because these days it is so easy to get it wrong with newspapers no longer proofread and setting a bad example.

Sorry, I think it was just a typo on my part and the "U" didn't come out. I meant "UCC", as in Unindicted co-conspirater.

========
It was a Chicago newspaper article [I think the Trib] on Krambles in which Krambles took a reporter on a trip on the Ravenswood L in which Krambles took over as motorman!
He called the Ravenswood "his little railroad"!
I've never forgotten that!
=========

Do you really think that your memory is a credible source? Just in this thread alone you've done a good job of demonstrating that your preception and your memory are not your strong points. And it wouldn't take very long to find other examples from just this week tht would remove any doubt.

George K. thought of the whole El _system_ as his own little railroad, not just the Ravenswood El. The fact that he uttered the remark while piloting a Ravenswood train during a PR stunt isn't relevant.

There are plenty of political activists along every line. Your preception that the folks along the Brown Line have so much political pull that their trains always get to go first at Clark Junction is laughable. Operational needs may (or may not) lean towards favoring Brown Line trains, but it's the operational needs that govern operations at Clark Junction, not some political agenda or conspiracy.

Perhaps if the operational needs did not out-pace the capaicty of this very important point on the system, someone could start to factor in political agendas into operational choices, but the demands on Clark Junction are so great that any political presure would certainly inspire an over-worked whistle-blower to blow the lid off the conspiracy.

The people who are tearing-apart your crackpot assertions aren't doing so because they're all against you. They're doing so because your crackpot assertions are, well, crackpot assertions.

Once again Rusty, you have failed to comprehend what I wrote!

Not once have I written that political pull is responsible for the operation of trains between Belmont & Fullerton.

Not one fucking time!

I have repeatedly written that it appears to be a management decision from CTA HQ!

I have no idea who or why!

And no, Krambles didn't think of the entire L system as his little railroad, he specifically said it of the Ravenswood. It was only the Ravenswood he regularly ran himself!

And I have an excellent memory & that article & quote has always stuck in my mind!

And so has Krambles arrest!

today going NB on red between clark/div and clybourn the train was doing 55!!!!!!!!!! no announcment made about 'slow zone construction work' and the usual 15 mph crawl from the past several weeks. WHOO HOOOO

UCC,

Just because other people noticed that sometimes a brown line goes before a red line, that does not mean it ALWAYS happens, which is what you said. There have been at least 2 posts from people stating the opposite of what you said. It obviously can't be always.
Frame your argument properly if you want people to take you seriously.

http://www.ctatattler.com/2006/02/the_insider_on_.html

UCC, are you "Jeff"?

Ron is having a press conference today at noon about the "slow zones" that some of you folks deny existing :)

In an "it's all about me" world, I'd think he was responding to my question about the zones that prompted Kevins Tattler entry

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cta-slow-zones-websep03,0,1191471.story

Oh, and since he's having the conference on the same block as where I work, I may have to grab a sandwich and heckle :)

KevinB

In an "it's all about me" world, I'd think he was responding to my question about the zones that prompted Kevins Tattler entry" - KevinB

That must be one fu##ed-up little world.

However, looking at the broader, real-world picture, it's probably more likely to announce the progress of their summer-long campaign on the slow zones.

(And will someone remind KevinB that we all agree slow zones exist, it's just that not everybody buys into his theory that the CTA is hiding some.

I never said they were hiding them, just not being honest about the "big picture" on the underground part of the "slow zones" and after the completion of the North/Clybourn to Clark Division, if they were actually over this time as several of us thought last time when they did construction for over a year on the Grand to Lake part of the red line....

MK nicely told me that there were no "slow zones" on that stretch of track, much to the surprise of me and many thousands of commuters who got the daily SB message "Due to construction, there is a 15 MPH slow zone on the Red line between Armitage and Clark/Division"

[[MKs words in previous entry:

There already are not any slow zones between Addison and Clark/Lake. So it would be really silly for Kevin to ask anyone at the CTA about that. ]]

So, who you going to believe? MK or the CTA?

KevinB

Kevin B.,

Read the f----ng next sentence in my post after the part you quoted. I'm sure you know very well what it says. But you decided to ignore it and mislead everyone or perhaps even yourself. If you had not ignored it you would have seen that the very next thing I said was: "Of course, trains do currently go slowly because of the three-tracking at Fullerton and Belmont and THE WORK BEING DONE IN THE SUBWAY(all caps added for this post). But those are not slow zones under what I would think would be a logical definition of slow zones." You seemed very confused about the difference between slow zones resulting from bad track conditions and construction slow zones. For some reason, you asked about when they were going to remove a construction slow zone in which they have been very clear as to the timetable. Just check out the discussion to refresh your memory: http://www.ctatattler.com/2008/08/cta-weekend-upd.html

And, in case you haven't noticed, they are obviously almost completely finished with that work. The last I rode the red line, as other people have pointed out, it was full speed throughout almost all of the northbound tracks in the area.

I'm hoping you exercised good judgment, KevinB. Seems like RonH was pretty patient with you last time around at Howard. Your luck might run out.

You can call a sow a rose but it doesn't make it smell any sweeter.

I'm calling it the same thing the CTA calls it, a freaking "slow zone" . In this case I further refined the definition for the particular area from Armitage(or North/Clybourn if you like) to Clark/Division as a 15MPH slow zone due to construction on the SB (and NB) Redline.

But then again, MK you know better than anyone else in the entire world.

Also as far as the misdirection/misunderstanding/confusion/sophistry, you might check out the comments section on the trib web site with the story about Rons announcement today. I'm NOT the only one who thought the underground construction from the North Red line tunnel entrance to Clark/Lake was over last year.

At the very least I'm not the only one who was fooled.

Also, since you accused me of not reading your entry (which I did), you didn't read mine. I understood that the construction was to end there in October. I asked if there was going to be another round of construction in that stretch from Addison to Clark/Lake, just like last time.

Real simple question, could have been a real simple answer from the CTA via Kevin.

I was just wondering when the other shoe was going to drop.

KevinB

Okay, okay, okay, we get it.

The announcements about CTA slow zones in the red line subway last year were unclear and gave many people the mistaken impression that the entire subway would be fixed by the end of 2007.

The fact of the matter, which has been reiterated on this blog's comments and in many other places, is that the CTA was talking about the BLUE line's subway, not the red line's, and only Clark/Division to Grand was slated to be finished by the end of 2007.

It seems that the real issue here is that the CTA did not do a good enough job of communicating to customers that work in the red line's subway would continue well into this year.

Whatever. 2007's been over for more than eight months, and the subway work will be done in a few weeks. There's no reason to still be screeching like banshees to each other about this. Let's move on. And not only that, let's try to be civil to one another, okay? I'm always amazed how quickly people lose their tempers on the Internets - just because you aren't face-to-face with the person you're arguing with (and as such, can't face the *real* consequences of flinging insults), that doesn't mean it's okay to let a discussion devolve into an on-line cockfight.

That being said, *ahem* the red line doesn't stop at Clark/Lake, it stops at State/Lake, so :-P

My mistake...State/Lake.

I stand corrected. Thanks :)

MK,

When are you riding the red line that the north end is running at full speed? From Thorndale to Belmont, on a good day, takes about 20 minutes. That's only a four or so miles miles... do the math. The average speed is about 10-15 mph on the north end (maybe). Even the (bogus) google approximate time is 15 minutes... that's just 20 mph average.

KS,

I think you know very well that what you stated is compeletely false. What is the purpose of complaining about things that are not true? Do you actually think that anyone would believe you. Do you just not care about solving any issues and your purpose is only to vent? Does it make you feel better to do so?

MK,

It is not false. LOOK AT THE CTA's OWN TRIP PLANNER! It says exactly what I said it did. You need to get your head in reality.

MK,

It is not false. LOOK AT THE CTA's OWN TRIP PLANNER! It says exactly what I said it did. You need to get your head in reality.

MK,

Try going to google maps and get directions from Thorndale station to Belmont station. As of today, it is 16 minutes, and it always takes a bit longer than google maps says. Do not accuse people of lying when you haven't done the most rudimentary investigation.

What exactly are you trying to say? All I said in the post you originally responded to was that there is only one small slow zone between Thorndale and Belmont (and currently, in fact, from Thorndale all the way to 47th street). These slow zones encompass a small area of both red line tracks between Addison and Sheriden. At least as of the most recent map, there is currently also a tiny slow zone between Wilson and Lawrence on the northbound tracks only. All these slow zones combined add no more than 40 seconds to the commute (and probably less than that). You can see this on the slow zone map: http://transitchicago.com/news/motion/board/slzn20080929.pdf Do some research. You might learn something. I am absolutely baffled as to why you state "do the math. The average speed is about 10-15 mph on the north end (maybe). Even the (bogus) google approximate time is 15 minutes... that's just 20 mph average." It is difficult to believe, but you actually seem to be suggesting that because the train does not travel the distance between Thorndale and Belmont at close to the time it takes to go 55 MPH that it therefore is not travelling at "full speed" (your words) and there must be slow zones. Do you honestly not see where your logic fails? Think about that for a second. Come on, I know you can figure it out. Here's an idea. Perhaps it makes sense to realize that there are STATIONS in between these two stops. At these places, the train must SLOW DOWN and STOP and then LET ON AND OFF PASSENGERS. You do understand that this takes some time, right?

So your method of "doing the math" is not correct. In fact, it is rather sad and might suggest something about this country's educational system. But, in any case, it still does not generally take 15 minutes to go from Thorndale to Belmont. In my experiece it is around 8 or 9 minutes (even at rush hour). That is not my regular commute but I travel through that area enough to know how long it usually takes. I have no idea why you think that citing Google Maps or the CTA trip planner is convincing. Why would you expect them to be accurate? Google is hardly known for its expertese in transit travel times. I always thought it was known for other things. And the CTA is not known for being very accurate in what it states either. Besides, it could purposely be giving longer trip times in order to encourage customers to plan for more leeway.

MK,

I realize how many stops there. There are not enough stops to lower the speed that much. You seem to be grasping at straws because you realize you are wrong. And, you suggest that looking at WHAT THE CTA USES to determine how long it takes from stop to stop is inaccurate on the side of making the CTA look worse. I suggest you ride the train and learn how to read a watch. You are a fool.