CTA Tattler

Priority #1: Hire as many idiots from other city departments at $100,000+ salaries.

Priority #2 : Hire flacks from the many laid off newspaper reporters to spin the hiring of so many useless idiots. Pay flacks equally large salaries. Also hire more Power Point wizards.

Priority #3: Read up on Potemkin Villages so that God/King Richie can fool the Lords of the Rings into giving Chicago the Olympics.
Worry about how the CTA will move all those extra people later.

Priority #4: Find that guy who pesters me incessantly with emails on the Gray Line & banish him to Wasilla, Alaska.

Hehe, that was good for a chuckle UC, but not too far off I reckon... :-/

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That's all great news that the agency will be run more like a business.
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First, running a public service like a business is like running a bicycle like a car. Once you put that engine on the bike, it loses it's essence as a non-polluting vehicle. And once you start running a public service like a business, it no longer is focused on its mission as a public service.

And second, a few tired, old catch phrases in a Powerpoint presentation does not make them more business-like, unless you're talking about a former circa-2000 dot.com business.

We don't need reincarnation of the management technique du jur that was being taught in college when Ron was there. We need someone who actually knows how to operate a public transit system. Management by business school theory is a joke.

Thank goodness Ron isn't a few years older or we'd be hearing about Quality Circles. (For you youngsters out there, that was the management theory du jur back in the '80s.)

Ooo! I know! We could hire a team of overpaid administrators to institute Sigma Six! That would be so much more business-like than being distracted by providing a public service with a public transit system. And it would look so cool in a Powerpoint!

It's Six Sigma, you dolt. And UCC, shut up already. Your act is getting old.

huh, you just noticed? did it have anything to do with my comment yesterday (where I ask you to ask him about the performance based budgeting system)?

:)

I guess dave is a fan of the never-will-be-built Gray Line.
Now that's an act that's really gotten old!

Rusty, while I agree that the CTA is not a business, but a public service and that these are two different animals, there is nothing wrong with injecting a little bussinesslike efficiency into a public service. The real issue is knowing when to draw the line between efficiency and serving the greater good. After all, lazy workers and inefficient processes don't help fulfill the CTA's mission to serve fast, reliable transit to the public.

And dave, yeah. I'm sick of UCC too. And KevinB. A couple of whiny bitches with nothing to do but complain. Give them the world and they'd say it wasn't big enough.

I think that when people say that something is going to be "run like a business," they essentially mean that it is going to be "run well" or "better" -- embracing values of efficiency, quality, accountability, etc. Basically, it means "doing a good job." Of course, as we're seeing in the headlines, there are a lot of actual businesses that would benefit from having been "run like a business" in that sense.

There's no reason "doing a good job" should be associated strictly with business, while inefficiency, corruption, and bloat should be associated with government -- in fact, in a huge number of cases, the opposite is the case. The Social Security Administration is much better-run than the vast majority of businesses, while Comcast is a quasi-totalitarian nightmare. From what I can tell, the CTA does a better job than Comcast or your average HMO.

I'm a whiny bitch, huh?

Well, I guess if I expect a public, tax supported organization to provide the service that it's chartered to provide on a consistent basis, I am. I have the same expectation when I go to the DMV, to the City of Chicago to get services, etc.

I ride the CTA by choice. I choose not to pollute the environment by driving a car to work. I choose not to even own a car. I pay the CTA $75 each and every month to provide me with on-time, clean, safe, friendly service just like it says on my Chicago Card Plus. They are the ones setting my expectation by even bothering to put these words and the expectation on their propaganda.

I don't expect this service to be perfect. I do expect it to be reasonable reliable and to get me where I need to go in a reasonable amount of time.

The CTA only one that lets me down on a pretty consistent basis. I get frequent reminders of this fact from "slow zones" and construction that seems to never end, tale after tale of waste of public money, broken promises and outright rudeness and lack of caring of the employees and managers, right up to the top of the very highly (and IMHO over) paid food chain.

I thought that it was also interesting that we haven't seen anything about unpaid furlough days on the CTA. I know that this has been happening at the city, county, and state level and is a pretty standard cost cutting measure (since labor costs are one of the highest budget items. I also don't understand how people can be making 100+ thousand dollars (as posted before) for whatever they are doing over there. I'm pretty sure that it's probably not essential to train and bus operations (see the previous list of city hall hacks and their salaries).

So, maybe I am a whiny bitch for expecting that I'm going to get what I pay for and when I don't, saying something about it.

I guess it's all about perspective. I see the result of the SSA policies on a daily basis and God couldn't get the SSA to change their mind after one of their "final determinations" that can essentially make a person into a non-person, incapable of getting an ID card or Drivers license or other things because of an age discrepancy.

Cheers,

KevinB

Hmmm. I struck a nerve by calling "Six Sigma" "Sigma Six".

Who really cares what it's called. It's nothing more than another MBA inititive to artificially increase the demand for MBA's instead of spending the money on actual service delivery.

Just more high-paid executives talking about business instead of doing something productive.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that someone with no experience in transit like Ron was given his job. Who cares if you know anything about the specific industry you're going to be working in. It's all the same if you're just going to deal with theoretical management and catch phrases.

If Ron ever left CTA, he could just as easily run a technology company, a food producer, or a automaker. In this world of catch phrases and theory, you don't even need to know what the core business is, let alone have any experience in it to run the company. You just need to sputter the right jargon.

And, unfortunately, I'm just a dolt, and I don't know the jargon well enough, so it doesn't matter what I know about any industry, I can't move up in the world, unlike "dave" who's better than me because he knows it's Six Sigma, not Sigma Six.

What we need is a world where no one cares if it's Six Sigma, or Sick Smegma. Whatever you call it, it's just crap that gets in the way of actually doing something. And now it's taking hold in the CTA.

We need fewer executives spouting business school jargon, and more people who can tell the difference between a public transit agency, and a breakfast cereal company. Executives are NOT interchangable between industries unless the organization has lost its focus on its core responsiblities.

We don't need another feel-good Powerpoint. We need someone who knows what they're doing to actually do something.

That's just the thing kevin. Do you ever read your own posts? All you do is complain. You never offer solutions, you never come up with constructive criticism, you just bitch and moan on this blog every single day.

You remind me of the guy stuck in the terminal with us at DFW a few years ago. Sure we were all pissed that our plane was late and the airline wouldn't be straight with us, but this guy insisted on loudly shouting his frustration so everyone could hear him. What good did that do? He just wanted to vent and make the rest of us more miserable than we already were.

We, on the other hand, wrote a polite, but serious letter and got free tickets for our trouble. What did this guy get, except for exasperated stares from the other waiting passengers?

You are a curmudgeon who serves no purpose. However, you at least have something to say, whereas UCC just goes off the deepend with things that really have nothing to do with anything, so I apologize for lumping you two together.

Adam:

You have a good point. I agree that there are many businesses that are poorly run, and government agencies that are well-run. Perhaps we should just call efficiency efficiency and not "business."

Rusty:

I haven't lived in Chicago long enough to be able to compare Ron's tenure with any other CTA president, but from what I've seen, it seems like things actually are better (although, certainly not great). What do you think?

Also, although I think MBAs are generally useless people, I wouldn't go so far as to say that executives can't be moved in from another industry. Insitutional and industrial knowledge and culture are often valuable, as you say, but sometimes a fresh perspective can be very helpful. I can't say, because I haven't been here long enough, but from what I've seen and heard (including from a CTA employee) Ron really has been running things much better than Kruesi did. Now, better than terrible could still be bad, but it is better.

who's with me?

Ron for Mayor!!

I've offered suggestions many times along with the complaints, but give me a break, do I need to give solutions to problems that are so simple that a trained chimp could figure them out?

I mean, we spent all this money to put in a brand new red line station at howard and the damn thing leaks during a rain storm because they didn't actually connect the two pieces of roof together?

They have a parking garage that you have to go down to the ground floor of the station to get to, when it could have been just as easy to design an entrace so you could go from the 3rd floor (where the turnstiles are) to the 3rd floor of the garage and thus could use the overhead walkway(that's only connected to the garage, not the station itself) that crosses the bus lanes so that you could easily avoid the possibility of getting run over by a bus... or a wheelchair wouldn't have to go over cobblestones in the crossing/handicapped ramp.

Since it's also a major transportation hub, they could use a few more bike racks as well. Should I tell them how to add more? Well, you drill holes in the concrete and put the bike stands in. Clear enough for ya?

I'm also still not convinced that they could have used one of the NB redline tracks during rush hour to give 2 tracks SB during the morning rush hour. It seemed pretty easy to do when I was on train and they did it many times during some of the work on the SB platform on the weekends. So, that "switching issue" must not have been very tough to overcome.

I think it was done to cause the most discontent on part of the riders so that we would support whatever the CTA wanted in dealing with Springfield on Funding issues, but then that's just the cynic in me.

Also, saying that Ron it better than Frank is no measure. That's like saying in a war, under Frank, 10,000 people per month died and under Ron that has been reduced to 5000/month. It's better, but is it really acceptable in a supposedly "world class" or is that "Third world" transportation system? Depends on which alderman you listen to.

If the loop signal project wasn't 377 days behind schedule under Ron's watch and if he had pulled the plug on Block 37 as soon as he started, I'd be much less critical. Heck I'd probably be singing his praises.

Or the design of entrance of the the Brown line addison station that is so poorly designed that because of the big honking flower boxes (along with the support pillars) makes it almost impossible for the bus to pull up to the curb and let off passengers unless the bus driver has the docking abilities of a tug boat captain? Here's the solution....move the freaking flower boxes away from the curb or space them out or just get rid of them!

They spent all the money on the fullerton and belmont stations so that we could have see through glass on the platform( it just has wooden planks right now), but we couldn't have shelters/roofing that keep people from getting wet while waiting for a train?

The biggest problem I see is they make all these grand plans based on the fact that money is no object, when they could have just made a mostly functional station with a few artsy things thrown in. I'm all for art. Art is great. I love art. However, art without a nice completely functional station is not good.

I'd be more than willing to put these in writing to the CTA (several I have like the disfunctional Sedgewick brown line) with suggestions. (replace grate and flower beds with exit only turnstiles). I really have nothing again flowerbeds or flowerpots or flowers or green things for that matter. I just don't think they should be in the way of function.

Folks, you don't have to be a rocket scientist or an MBA or an architect to figure out some of these things.. nothing more than some observation and a little common sense goes a long way. Maybe, it's a function of salary, the more you get paid, the less of that you have and like they say, the devil is in the details.

I'd be more than happy to spend some weekend traveling around the system pointing out a few things to Ron or one of those 150K a year employees with a notebook who could work it into a powerpoint presentation. Or maybe Ron could walk a mile in my shoes and deal with the daily crap like chatty train operators, stops for no reason, and really horrendously long distances between trains in the belmont fullerton corridor (why does a red line train have to stop before diversey and wait instead of pulling up to the switch just before fullerton or why does a purple line have to pull to a full stop anywhere between howard and belmont?????)

It's like the death of a thousand cuts. Every day its many somethings that should not have to happen and no one should have to deal with...

I'd really love to have one perfect storm morning commute where the system worked like it should.

KevinB

"I'd really love to have one perfect storm morning commute where the system worked like it should."

Well, I'd hate to be KevinB. Your life must suck. I would honestly say that at least 90% of my morning commutes, everything works EXACTLY as it should.

Either living in Roger's Park really sucks transit-wise (so why not leave if this is such a big stress on your life?), or you're a chronic exaggerator.

I'm glad you live a "perfect" life.

Or maybe I'm just not as oblivious as you are to the things going on around me.

Oh, and who said it was stressful? :)

I'm practicing for my ombudsman career.

Or maybe it's also just an occupational hazard of being a "fixer" of things.

KevinB

Maxwell said:
"who's with me?
Ron for Mayor!!"

I'll get on that bandwagon. He's far better suited to be a generalist politician than someone in charge of a very specific function of government that he had zero experience with.

Anyone know if Ron even rode CTA on a regular basis at any time in his adult life?

I can't wait to see the campaign Powerpoints.

Note to KevinB: I would say that 95% of my commutes are near-perfect. (No one or thing is absolutely perfect.) And my Red Line ride is better than ever now that the CTA has repaired the subway slow zones.

As the guy who writes CTA Tattler, I can absolutely guarantee you that I am NOT oblivious to what's going on around me.

There's no apostrophe in Rogers Park JW .
The man's name was Philip Rogers.

Here I was, all flush with renewed, albeit never to be requited, love after Sunday's OEMC press conference about the rain and floods. RonH was extremely succinct and looking extra yummy delivering the postmortem on the Blue Line flood and fire (plague of locusts, anyone?). Now this, "hard decisions based on top-most priorities will drive our expenditures." It almost seems as though he's preparing for a part in "The Office" or maybe an appearance in a Dilbert cartoon. This nebulous B-schoolese caused me to have traumatic flashbacks of my years toiling in the fabulous financial services industry. I am sad.

CTA Tattler in the news: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26741276/

(If you are wondering where all the new comments on the butt-pivot thread are coming from...)

Re: apostrophe in Rogers Park...

Shit, I knew that. Typing fast.

KevinB, I was getting all set to defend you when I started reading this thread. But then you come at us with "I'd really love to have one perfect storm morning commute where the system worked like it should."

I mean, come on, you haven't had even ONE morning when everything works right? I go from Morse to Berwyn, take the Foster bus to Jeff Park, and then ride up to Rosemont every day, which is a far longer commute than your Addison/Lake trek and has more moving parts. And things go smoothly pretty much every single day (though not today with the Irving PArk track issues).

Take the cross off your back already, dude.

By the way, have you even noticed how much better the subways are? You seem ... what's the word, oblivious to the things that are getting better around you.

Exactly my point, strannix.

Why do some annoying people on this board continue to believe that Ron only makes powerpoints and spin? How is the view from inside your ass?

On another note, I'm not sure what the knock on MBAs is. I worked for one of the best Management/Business consulting firm in the country, and while yes they made powerpoints, I can tell you that they started in motion many business initiatives at thousands of companies to help turn them around, which was also indicated in their bottom line and stock price.

Take for instance, the line in Ron's powerpoint to outsource trash removal to save $500K annually. This sort of stuff makes sense, whether it was Ron who came up with it or perhaps one of the other $100K salary people that idea.

It seems like they are really doing what they can. The system is not perfect and they need more capital (and maybe a fare increase), but I truly believe things are heading in the right direction over there. I'd be willing to bet that most people outside of UCC, KevinB, and the idiots who complain that someone makes more than them, would agree on that.

I suspect KevinB is still deeply bitter about having to actually walk a couple blocks from Lake outside instead of strolling down the platform to Washington.

Priority #1: Get Kevin B laid -- quick.

[I suspect KevinB is still deeply bitter about having to actually walk a couple blocks from Lake outside instead of strolling down the platform to Washington.]

As far as this goes, I don't blame the guy for being pissed off about this. The Block 37 project is a hideous fiasco any way you look at it. Huge horrible disasters like this is what people should be mad about, as opposed to "sometimes the train stops and I don't know why."