CTA Tattler

Yes, it's cold and "The Beast" is cool, with reservations

It's already been quite a year, with lots of news and lots of passionate comments -- 500 total in 15 days.

So I think it's time we chilled out for a day (when it's below zero) from the heavy stuff and just had a bit of fun.

Speaking of below zero, my Red Line motorman on the trip home last night -- when it was 9 degrees below zero -- urged his riders to "Be Cool." Ummm, aren't we cool enough right now?

A little later, he did reminded us: "Don't freeze outside." I do like a motorman who announces each stop, and this guy did. At Loyola: "Devon bus is downstairs. Make sure you have everything." Informative, and helpful.

Beast-ly Chicago locations. Last night I watched the series premiere of "The Beast" with Patrick Swayze on A&E. It has some of the best Chicago location shots I've ever seen. But of course, it takes liberty with the truth.

Such as: Dove boards the Red Line at Jackson, but boards a totally empty train car. Empty, at Jackson? But it turns out that's a good thing, since dudes with guns pulled board behind him. Now that would be scary -- to see people (plural) pulling guns on a train.

So, what are your favorite CTA TV/movie locations? And the ones that are so totally unreal....

"Performance management" yields big results in reliability, says CTA prez

The CTA's on-time performance improved in 2008 because it implemented a performance management initiative, CTA President Ron Huberman told his board Jan. 14.

The CTA uses performance management to "identify and track key factors that influence reliability" -- which certainly is a key strategic goal for the transit agency. Here are some ways the CTA says it improved on-time performance:

• Aggressive maintenance program to replace parts near the end of their useful life before they fail.

As a result, Ron said "with some rail cars nearing 40 years old, mechanical problems decreased by 16 percent and trains were able to travel an average of 38% farther before experiencing a defect. More reliable cars contributed to more reliable service: During rush periods, 83% of trains came within one minute of their scheduled arrival time."

This maintenance program also helped reduce overdue jobs by 45%. That means "the number of buses held in due to defective equipment has dropped dramatically since last year. CTA has experienced a 99.9 percent decrease in bus runs held in for defective equipment since August 2007."

• Accountability at the employee level.

The CTA says the number of runs cancelled because of manpower shortages caused by absenteeism dropped by 82% since August 2007. Managers are trained on how absenteeism affects reliability and held accountable for it.

• Slow zone elimination increased rail reliability.

Rail trips now are faster and safer, says the CTA, with slow zones on less than 7% of the system, compared with more than 22% in October 2007.Certainly gotta give 'em props for this.

• Bus gaps reduced.

Gaps between buses -- Ron says he prefers to look at gaps rather than bunches -- were reduced by 31% since fall 2007, "and the number of buses arriving within one minute or less of buses ahead has decreased by 24 percent." The CTA defines big gaps as 15 minutes between buses or arrivals that are double the scheduled headway, whichever is greater.

This is good progress. And good performance management just keeps building on itself as employees see the clear connection between PM programs and results against goals -- and presumably, their own future compensation is tied to performance via merit raises and/or bonuses.

Finally, from the press release:

"We are proud of these success stories, but we know we still have work to do to make  the CTA customer experience the best that it can possibly be,” said Huberman.  “Given the difficult economic environment, it is also paramount that we understand the value we get for every dollar we spend and make the most out of the resources we have available.”

In May 2007, the CTA implemented a performance management process that focuses on a data-driven management model aimed at improving operational efficiencies which in turn enhance the customer experience. All CTA departments are responsible for managing to targets based on key performance and financial metrics organized around five goals – safe, on time, clean, courteous and efficient.

Harper Reed: "The power is not the mashup. It's the data."

My brother Dan O'Neil is a data nut, which of course is a key job requirement for the co-founder of EveryBlock. (Dan also is creator of CTA Alerts and CTA Tweets.) So Dan found a kindred spirit in Harper Reed, and wrote at his Derivative Works site about how Harper parsed the data being slung about via the CTA Bus Tracker:

When most people go to the CTA Bus Tracker Web site and click on Estimated Arrival Times or the Bus Location Map, they see a way to find out when their next bus might get to the stop near them. Another nifty map mashup they can use to plot their trips daily.

When Harper Reed saw the same Web site last year, he saw every bus, everywhere, forevermore. And he wanted that data. "The power is not the mashup. It's the data. The data is the answer," says Harper.

So he set out to separate the data from the mashup. He used Firebug, the nifty Firefox add-on, to monitor that network traffic (the communication that goes between the browser window and the server) that was driving the data to the page. This way, he found the URLs of the "endpoints" -- a fancy word for URLs with special codes inside them -- that control the entire Bus Tracker system.

Read the rest of this fascinating post.

All hail Dan and Harper.

Still need a 2009 calendar? Check out CTA's cool historical calendar - and it's free!

An email from a reader alerted me to this cool historical calendar that the CTA has offered its riders for years for free download.

Here's the Calendar Web page, and here's the direct link to the pdf to download and print the 2009 version.

The calendar is ready for printout on 8.5x11 inch paper, and it features historical photos and captions for all 12 months. 

The world is saved! CTA to add #22 Clark, #36 Broadway to Bus Tracker on Jan. 26

The long-awaited and much-demanded addition of the Clark Street and Broadway buses to Bus Tracker will happen on Jan. 26, according to the Bus Tracker home page.

Routes to be added Jan. 26  are the #3 King Drive, X3 King Drive Express, 4 Cottage Grove, X4 Cottage Grove Express, 22 Clark, 36 Broadway, 49B North Western, 82 Kimball-Homan, 93 North California, 96 Lunt and the 97 Skokie.

After these routes are added, the CTA will have 86 of 153 bus routes live on Bus Tracker.

The absence up till now of the Clark and Broadway buses from Bus Tracker was actually the subject of one of Carole Brown's rare posts on her Ask Carole blog.

Now that these much-traveled routes plus a few others like the Western bus are ready to go live, what route would you nominate to be in the next rollout?

Video from CTA No Pants Day Chicago 2009

Improv Everywhere enjoyed another successful No Pants Day on the CTA in Chicago Saturday. I uploaded this video from Improv's Facebook page. Good stuff. Congrats to all participants on a cold, snowy day.

Daley gets a glimmer of hope on BRT funding

Buried deep in a Sunday Tribune story about Daley's reaction to Blago's impeachment was the mayor's announcement that he had convinced U.S. transportation officials to hold over funds for a Bus Rapid Transit pilot program until the Obama administration takes office in just over a week.

As reported here Friday, the city missed a key deadline last month to keep the BRT pilot moving forward.

From the Trib story:

The mayor also repeated his insistence that the federal government needed to be more flexible after the city failed to make a deadline to apply for a $153 million transit grant to help ease traffic gridlock

Daley said he had spoken with U.S. transportation officials, who agreed to hold over the grant money until President-elect Barack Obama's administration takes office.

Daley said the city missed the deadline because it was forced to delay bidding for a 75-year parking meter lease deal to allow bidders to "get their financial situation in order."

"That delayed any proposal we had for the congestion fee," he said.

As I suggested in the Friday post, this story is not over yet, in spite of the wishes of many commenters here who wish that it were.

City misses deadline, loses $153 million in BRT funding

It seemed so fortuitous, so fabulous that New York's failure to miss make a deadline was the CTA's opportunity to use $153 million in federal funds for a Bus Rapid Transit Pilot. Until the city missed a deadline itself. And the CTA lost $153 million in free money for the BRT project.

And it gets better. Former CTA President Frank Kruesi plays a key role at the heart of the story as the city's chief Washington lobbyist.

And just to be clear here: This is not the CTA's fault. Blame the dysfunctional city politics. Crain's explains it well in this story:

"The administration this week quietly pulled back a pending ordinance that would have hiked fees and taxes for off-street parking in garages and on surface lots downtown by as much as $8 a day. The measure was supposed to be the stick for a big carrot: a $153-million federal grant announced last spring to begin a pilot express transportation system known as bus rapid transit.

"But the measure, which arrived in the wake of large hikes in parking-meter fess, drew strong opposition from business groups. And even if the mayor had put down the opposition, the ordinance was not approved by the Dec. 31 deadline mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation."

But all may not be lost. It's common for the outgoing administration after a presidential election not to issue a deadline extension as a courtesy. And let's not forget that Chicago may get the Olympics, and the incoming president just happens to be a Chicago resident.

So this story is not over yet. Stay tuned.

No pants day returns Saturday to the CTA

Burnish your best boxers. Polish your pantaloons.

It's winter, so it's time to drop your drawers for the annual No Pants Day on the CTA, part of an international group effort.

The Chicago pantsless contingent will meet at noon Saturday near the Granville Red Line station at the Barr Funeral Home parking lot, in the rear of 6222 N. Broadway. See the Facebook update, for the event sponsored by Improv Everywhere. (I will refrain from comments about being pantsless at a funeral home.)

I'm hosting an out-of-town guest or I would be there. Have fun. Get some good photos to post to the CTA Photo Pool on Flickr so they show up here on the right.

Here's coverage from last year's event.

Digital signs get test run at 47th Street station on Red Line

For the past few weeks, the CTA has been testing its new digital signs with next-train arrival info at the 47th Street station on the Red Line. "She's got moxie" shot this pic and posted it at her Flickr account.

While the CTA debuted these signs in September on the #124 Navy Pier bus route, this is the first pilot site for rail stations. It shows arrivals info for the next three trains, alternating with advertising. The CTA plans to expand the bus pilot test later this month to other routes.

The CTA expects to generate about $100 million in revenue from the signs over the next 10 years in the deal made with Titan Outdoor. Titan will be responsible for installation and upkeep on the more than 1,500 digital signs. The CTA will install them on 100 buses and all 144 rail stations.

The signs will be installed on the curb-side of buses. The CTA is finalizing which buses will get the signs. Buses that travel on Lake Shore Drive or expressways will not be considered.

Look for more information coming soon from the CTA about this.

(Thanks to Jessi for the tip.)