CTA Tattler

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...He also mentions that boss "mobile signage" plus new "operator announcement palm cards." I'm trying to find out what they are exactly...
- Kevin
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Mobile signage = 3-foot-tall sandwich boards. They'll quickly make up signs and affix them to these boards (or write on them directly) and deploy someone to quickly get them to the scene of an incident or affected locations.

Operator announcement palm cards = accessible little cheat sheets that remind operators (and other staff) what they should say in the case of an emergency. (Wait, isn't that already in the standard operating procedures (SOPs) they issue to employees?) Not saying that little reminder cards is a bad thing, but it's not much to tout in a big announcement.

These announcements were all part of a press event Ron had several weeks ago, weren't they? And didn't Ron announce the digital signage last spring at a Brown Line station reopening? And has any of it been implemented yet? Don't most agencies wait until they have something to show before telling? Ron's made these big announcements and still nothing to show.

Yep, they're installing the new signs at 47th Red right now. Seems to be going pretty quickly. Don't know if anyone else is getting them yet but I'll take pictures when they're done!

Breaking news! BLAGO GOES DOWN!!!!!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081209/ap_on_re_us/blagojevich_corruption_probe

Jessi: The new digital signs?

Re: Blago: Does this mean we can have a capital plan for the CTA now?

Hopefully, they will have a LED display above the fare gates displaying train arrival times and emergency messages. That way you can make a decision on whether it is worth you time getting on the train if there is a delay or emergency.

(I've noticed that the CTA has not sent out a CTA Alert to our own SMS alert system for more than a month.)

That really makes sense...lets stop using the only currently viable way to get information out to the customers about outages until the new system comes online...and we know that the CTA never has any delays or failures..

KevinB

I'm looking forward to the new rail cars whenever they arrive.

The most recent slow zone map no longer has the "star" indicating the signal issue in the northwest part of the loop track. Is this fixed now or is it better, such that it is no longer causing the delays it once was? It's nice they have done such good work on the blue line. Now it is time for the red/purple.

http://www.transitchicago.com/news/motion/board/slzn20081126.pdf

I'm almost too giddy about Blago to carp about the CTA, but I'll make an effort.

This past weekend, CTA couldn't get the Weekend Service Changes alert together. First it said there would be boarding changes on the Green Line. Then some astute individual probably noticed that the Santa Train was running on the Green Line and maybe it wasn't best to do trackwork at that time. A corrected alert was issued early Friday afternoon. Both the original and corrected alerts stated that on Saturday between 6:30am and 4pm, the Brown Line would board southbound on the northbound Red Line platform at Belmont and bypass Diversey. Neither of these changes occurred during either of two Saturday trips I took on the Brown during the hours the alert said they would.

If this is the level of accuracy that's produced in a non-emergency situation, I shudder to think what the emergency texts will be like.

Let's hope when Blago goes down, that the stalemate on a Capital Bill goes with him. Too bad he'll fight this for a little while.

I'm imagining this conversation took place down in Springfield...

Blago to aide: "I've got this funding, and it's bleeping golden, but all Ron wants to give me for it is a burned copy of PowerPoint, and a hacked key for it. Who does he bleeping think he is? I'll fix his bleeping wagon. I'll put a whole bleeping army of seniors on his buses for free. It'll look like bleeping Old Country Buffet at 4pm all day on his bus. I'll teach him to try to bribe me with some bleeping Microsoft product."

Rusty.

Awesome.

Did anybody else see the article linking Blowdryavitch's aide to the shafting the cta funding because he was jealous of Ron and wanted his job?

Didn't see that, fg. Is there a link? This is an interesting spin on the ever-evolving weirdness. I'm sure there was a bit of schadenfreud enjoyed at 567 W. Lake today. Think about where we were this time last year with funding and the real doomsday staring us down. Karma, Gov. Jackass, karma.

That was damned funny, Rusty! "Old Country Buffet at 4pm on his bus." I almost fell out of my chair. :)

I would have found that crack about OCB at 4pm funny if I didnt happen to live on a bus route with 3 major senior centers on it(And 2 disabled persons housing set ups). Its ALWAYS looked like that on the 77!

WTTW is replaying a 2002 profile of Blago. His mom worked for the CTA when Blago was a kid. Maybe something happened to mom that made the son hate the CTA and feel the need to screw it over.

There was an uninspiring passenger communication channel at the Clark/Lake Blue Line station Monday afternoon, as people were handing out 4x6 blue index cards to riders with some stupid message about having turned the slow zones into "fast zones" (I'm working from memory here - did anybody else see this?). Meanwhile, a pile of blue index cards piled up underfoot at the base of the stairs on the platform.

Found it!

www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1322115,harris-daley-blagojevich-120908.article

John Harris was pissed that Daley picked RonH to be chief of staff so he decided to make all our transit-riding lives miserable for many weeks to get him back. After today's court appearance at the Federal Building he hopped in a cab while Blago's state-financed SUV sped off. Why not use the transit system you tried to dismantle because of a grudge, John boy? I hope this asshole rots in jail.

I don't think that article exactly suggests that Harris "tried to dismantle" the transit system because of a grudge. It just suggests that the grudge may have influenced his interactions with Huberman during that dispute. The reason for that whole "doomsday" fight, of course, was because Blagojevich boxed himself in a corner because he had promised not to raise sales taxes.

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There was an uninspiring passenger communication channel at the Clark/Lake Blue Line station Monday afternoon, as people were handing out 4x6 blue index cards to riders with some stupid message about having turned the slow zones into "fast zones" (I'm working from memory here - did anybody else see this?). Meanwhile, a pile of blue index cards piled up underfoot at the base of the stairs on the platform.

Posted by: Vinny | December 09, 2008 at 10:25 PM
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Vinny -
I hear that uninspired fast zone campaign came from Ron's crack new marketing team - the same folks who are going to oversee the new passenger communications efforts.

Be scared. Be very afraid. (and don't expect much)

lol....when does anyone expect much from the CTA?

KevinB

I'll admit to succumbing to hyperbole, MK. I think I was just so genuinely shocked at the lengths to which these jackasses were allowing their petty grievances to shape public policy which in turn affected millions of lives. After a good night's sleep, I realize nothing should shock me when it comes to Illinois politics. I still think John Harris should have been forced to take the Blue Line as he made his getaway from the Federal Building.

Nothing. I took one, at one go and it had zero in point of fact on me. All I actually did was misspend a dose. For women, this is a morality appropriate to "well-deserved say no".

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