CTA Tattler

That's pretty cool.

That was cool. That looked like a pretty steep staircase up to street level, too. Nice, CTA.

oh, nifty. :D

I can't wait to be trapped in a tunnel now!

Careful what you wish for, Bob S. Blue Line stopped running for a spell this morning. It was extremely refreshing to learn about the incident first from the CTA website instead of some other source. Gotta love those service alerts.

Eh, big deal. I've had that in my bedroom for years...

oops... TMI.

A heads-up about the Blue Line: This afternoon, at least, one of the trains was having battery trouble, and its first car wasn't lit inside part of the time.

CTA employees were also doing work around the Clark/Lake stop, and the trains were crawling through there.

I hope things are going more smoothly during rush hour.

My favorite part was when he clunked his head on the chain for the door. But how many of us have our hard hats with us when we go for a ride in the subway?

Rusty's back!

Two thoughts: 1) Bob the Builder would have his hardhat at all times. 2) A good clunk on the head might help Hilkevitch write something other than a somewhat carefully worded recycling of CTA press releases. Unfortunately, there was no video of that.

I always wondered why don't they use this glow in the dark paint on streets? ie. Crosswalks, lanes, etc.

Bob the builder might have hit hat, but what about Joe the Plumber?

mememe: probably the paint is more expensive, possibly less durable. So it's okay for a rarely used emergency situation but not high usage situations like the ones you mention.

Remember, the answer to any question beginning with "Why don't they..." is usually "Money"! :)

"2) A good clunk on the head might help Hilkevitch write something other than a somewhat carefully worded recycling of CTA press releases."

LOL. You are so right about that. God do I hate him. And, of course, if he isn't recycling press releases (or, as in this case, obliging when the CTA decides to give him something "exclusive" instead of actually issuing a press release, knowing he will regurgitate exactly what they tell him) he is attempting to engage in "gotcha" journalism about something completely trivial. I still remember an article from probably around seven years ago where he acted as if he was exposing something horrific by mentioning that the transit cards (not the Chicago Cards, the transit cards) expire. He interviewed some customers who expressed annoyence about this and then found a professor (or a think tank guy or something) who stated that the CTA shouldn't have cards that expire. I would guess he probably went through at least two or three of these so called experts before he found one who gave him a desirable quote. And I don't believe any of the customers he interviewed actually let their cards expire and lost money. Then around a year ago when there was the controversy because the CTA wasn't originally going to transfer remaining money when the Chicago Cards expired he completely lumped that issue into his earlier rants. He gave no indication that there was anything different such as the fact that the transit card, unlike the Chicago Card, are generally not kept by passengers for a large amount of time or the fact that the transit card has an expiration date on it while the Chicago Card doesn't. In fact, I don't believe he even used the words "transit card" or "Chicago Card". He just said "fare card". And he incorrectly stated that the money left on expired cards is "money the customers lose" and actually gave an exact number despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of this is obviously not anything that anyone had any intention, at the point they expired, of using. For example, they were transit cards that had perhaps 15 cents on them that people thought it wouldn't be worth it to reload. Or tourists who didn't quite use up everything. Or people moved out of the city and still had a few bucks left on the card.

He also did an article towards the end of Kruesi's tenure where he made a huge deal out of the fact that many of the board members rarely used the free CTA pass given to them. Of course, that proves nothing because most of these people are very well-off and probably would think it was more trouble than it was worth to look for this pass instaad of paying for the fare when they used the system. And heck, some of them might even feel guilty if they didn't pay. Yet he acted as if this was conclusive proof that the board members generally didn't use the system. And many people feel for that. Buried in the article was the fact that the actual top leadership (including Kruesi) used these passes quite often.

I pay quite a bit of attention to the media and I think that Jon Hilkevitch is, without a doubt, the worst reporter I have ever come across (I don't believe I ever came across Jayson Blair's articles before he got caught). He is the epitomy of the laziness that is very rampent across journalism, although not to his extreame. It is unfortunate that his bosses still let him have a job, especially considering that many good reporters have left throughout the last few years because of job cuts. If I were the editor and I was told to reduce jobs the first thing I would do is get Hilkevitch in my office and tell him "There are going to need to be cutbacks and many difficult decisions will be have to be made. Some good reporters will need to be offered buyouts and be let go. But before that happens, I need to make the easiest decisions. You are the worst journalist here. You're gone. Get the f... out.".

You all don't really think the Tribune would hire a transportation writer who'd challenge the status quo, do you?

If you want to read a good transit & traffic column, read Mr. Roadshow in the San Jose Mercury News.
He writes six days a week, covers everything, get things fixed, answers questions from readers & even causes flame wars in print!
http://www.mercurynews.com/mrroadshow
The Sun-Times might even get a few more readers if they copied this.
Nah, they're too stoopid over there!

I guess this explains why the lights are always on in the southeast exit tunnel at Roosevelt - I get off the train around 4:00am and it's easy to notice all the light coming through the edges of the hatch.