A historic day
By now you probably know that the House and the Senate have passed, and the governor has certified, a bill that finally gives our region a long-term funding source and gives
Finally, of course, I have to thank the Governor and the General Assembly, particularly Rep. Julie Hamos and her bipartisan House Mass Transit Committee members (both past and present), Sen. John Cullerton, Speaker Michael Madigan, President Emil Jones, and their Republican counterparts. I know what an enormous challenge this was to overcome, and I know that you have put your lives into improving regional transit. I am confident you will be remembered fondly for doing so. This was a long process, but in the end you and our entire region has a win.
posted by Carole Brown | 1/18/2008 04:22:00 PM
57 Comments:
Carol, indeed hopefully this is a long-term solution and we won't go through this next year and the year after.
I just have a few comments about waste. As I wrote a couple of days ago, why are there duplicate bus lines: 144, 148, 135, 136 and the 120bus lines which seem to go the same route.
Can't some of the duplicate lines be dropped;
or can't they be merged into one comprehensive shuttle route?
When people complain about waste at the CTA, we don't mean personnel waste, we mean some of the bus routes. I see the 124, 125 and other bus routes with empty seats, hardly no one rides them. That's gas being used and salaries paid for a useless route.
This is just my opinion. But it seems the 125 Water tower express can be eliminated since there are tens of busses that go to the Water tower. Seems that a lot of these bus lines are being used as shuttles for the Gold Coast crowd. Many of whom take cabs and walk to their destination.
Now about the free rides for seniors. Since it's going to happen, the state should definitely have a means test. What is the income threshold to qualify for free rides?
I think the Governor has setup a division between the generations. It's something we will have to get used to. And I really feel sorry for the outer counties who don't have public transportation, they have to support through taxes what is mainly a Cook County transit line.
Just my opinion.
Carole, with some of these budget issues at least temporarily over, hopefully someone can start to look at the efficiency of the bus system.
Riders are on the verge of getting hostile over the inadequate number of buses on clearly highly desired routes, such as the 156 LaSalle.
After just reviewing the bus schedule, I'm shocked to see that extra buses aren't allocated on routes towards the loop for morning rush hour, and out of the loop for evening rush hour. Yes, buses run a little more frequently during those periods, BUT you have the same number of buses running northbound and southbound at ALL TIMES! Doesn't it make sense to allocate more buses to the busier direction based on the time of day???
When traveling southbound towards the loop in the morning (156 LaSalle bus), I consistently see northbound buses pass that are 90% empty. I get to watch several of them go by because I have to wait 30 minutes at LaSalle and Schiller for a bus to come that I can actually fit on! Usually 1 or 2 packed buses go by first.
I understand you need northbound buses in the morning too, but do you need multiple back to back to back buses that are completely empty? This is a daily occurance. There is not as much demand for the northbound route in the morning. How about some more efficient capital allocation??
The same is true in the evening heading out of the loop...no one is on the multiple southbound buses.
Please look at where fares are being paid, and allocate your resources appropriately!!!
When coming home tonight, I (and about 75 other people) waited at LaSalle and Madison for 45 minutes and watched 6-7 virtually empty northbound 135,134,136 buses go by and 4 empty southbound 156 buses go by as we all waited for 1 northbound 156. Sure enough, it finally came...but it took 3 more buses by that point before we could all fit on. There was almost a riot.
Thanks
As I wrote a couple of days ago, why are there duplicate bus lines: 144, 148, 135, 136 and the 120bus lines which seem to go the same route.
What exactly is duplicative about these routes? Just a glance at a system map (and look at the entire route, not just downtown) shows they serve vastly different areas. The 144 goes along the lakefront, while the 148 runs to Ravenswood. The 135 mostly takes care of people from Lakeview, while the 136 handles from north of Lakeview to Edgewater. It's true they end up at the same place downtown but that's just because the point of those routes is to get people downtown from different parts of the city faster than a non-express route. And have you ever been on those buses at any time? They're packed. Even if they were exactly the same route, the capacity would still be needed.
Same thing with the 125... it may end up at Water Tower, but it takes a different route than the other buses and serves different areas, as do the other 12x routes.
By your logic, the Evanston portion of the Purple Line should be shut down just because the express portion overlaps with the Brown and Red Lines.
Anon 714:
Your suggestion that those busses are inefficiant are way off base on all counts. I told you that prior to your two new posts (in this thread and the last thread) in a very detailed manner. I have now responded to your other new post in an even more detailed manner in the last thread. I suggest you read it. I'll just add here that I really find it laughable that you say hardly anybody rides the 124 and 125. Both of those are extreamly busy routes that generally carry around 50-60 passengers at its peak periods.
"Just a glance at a system map (and look at the entire route, not just downtown) shows they serve vastly different areas."
In fact, I suggested a few days ago that he look at the system map. But he obviously didn't do so. There probably is not any way that anything anybody says will get through to this person.
156 Lasalle Rider:
You do understand that busses cannot be beamed from the Loop to outer portion of the 156 route, and vice versa? If we lived in a world where science allowed us to instantly transport objects miles away there would be no need for the CTA at all. If you live in Chicago (which you certainly seem to) you should notice that over 80% of city residents who use the CTA to get to work travel in the peak direction. But once the busses complete a peak direction route during rush hour they must get back to do another peak direction route. Since they cannot beam themselves back to the beginning of the route (and there is not any other area where there is any higher demand for reverse direction service), it must travel back in the less busy direction. It can either just not service any customers (which some busses do) or it can pick up the few customers that are travelling in that direction. The fact that the busses are over 90% empty means they travel faster and will get back to serving people like you. So seeing them 90% empty is something you should be happy about. Obviously nobody who likes efficiancy enjoys 90% empty busses but that is something that is neccessary since the transporting device shown in Star Trek has not been invented and the city does not have anything close to the huge employment center of the loop on the north side.
Thank you for expalining to me that buses cannot beam to starting locations. While your sarcastic remark was amusing, it doesn't make sense if you think it through. There is still a lack of efficiency in bus schedules.
If your arguement is that buses must first drive nortbound before they can go southbound in the morning...that's fine. That may be true. However, there shouldn't numerous (6-8) empty buses driving northbound at 8:00 - 8:30am. These buses should be northbound much earlier, so that they can be heading southbound for rush hour. Rush hour will be over by the time these virtually empty northbound buses turn around.
Seeing empty buses run northbound, while numberous people are waiting for southbound buses, simply means that the northbound buses COULD HAVE been released earlier in the morning, and COULD BE picking up people on busy southbound routes by now.
I don't know where the buses start..and it doesn't really matter. There is a way to have more buses runing southbound, rather than northbound, from 7:30 - 9:00 am, someone in charge of the schedule just needs to think it through a little better.
Another solution would be to have some of those empty buses start midway through the southbound route (say North Ave. for the 156), rather than traveling all the way to the starting point. Yes, that wouled mean they couldn't pick people up heading northbound, but the other half of the empty northbound buses could pick people up.
Rush hour ends earlier the further away you get from the loop. It makes sense to start a few buses closer to the loop, rather than making them start from the beginning.
There is a better way. Someone just needs to take a closer look, and maybe actually stand at the stops to see how they are working.
Carole and Ron:
Can you spare a few coins to install security cameras in the south exit only stairwell at the Addison Redline stop to hopefully prevent people from urinating in the stairwell? It smells like a sewer!!!
Planning to take early retirement this spring after working at CTA 20-years. Recent State Mass Transit Legislation changed pension plan for single CTA retiree’s. According to my read the new health insurance trust will eliminate 100% paid single retiree health insurance. By 2009 retirees could pay up to 45% of insurance premium. Most disturbing was legislative bill language requiring 90/ 70 PPO health insurance. Gone is 100/ 80 coverage. I don’t know about finances of most CTA employees except to say I live paycheck to paycheck. Now I’ll be unable to afford to pay 10% non-covered medical charges. A few years ago a top CTA executive was out for over 6-months after hip surgery yet had 100% paid by 100/80 PPO plan. That same CTA official retiree under new rules could have been liable for over $85,000 uninsured cost.
When Ron Huberman renegotiated contracts he eliminated grand fathering of retiree health insurance benefits. My girlfriend is hoping a class action lawsuit answers questions regarding union leaders authority or CTA’s actions that reneges on promised retiree benefits for employees hired before September 2001.
RTA & Ron Huberman must to take care of CTA exempt workers
April 2007 CTA exempt workers expected pay for performance salary raises promised by Joyce Colman and Frank Kruesi, then president of the Chicago Transit Authority. May 2007 Ron Huberman was appointed CTA President. Hub, as CTA workers know him, deferred exempt pay raises. During 2008 exempt workers payroll pay dates were modified to delete one pay period of twenty-six scheduled during 2008. This lowers exempt employees yearly wage and pension credits. Ironically program was called “Positive Pay”, a title chosen by new Human Resources Vice President. Losing two weeks pay is not positive for struggling workers.
Exempt workers request that RTA begin oversight of CTA’s use of exempt worker wages to fund other CTA general spending. RTA, Pace Bus, and Metra have had bonus and regular salary increases to pay their exempt workers. No CTA employee should be subjected to unpaid furlough days, modified pay dates, or other smoke and mirrors to eliminate salaries required to meet inflation. Federal Government and State of Illinois workers see regular pay increases, why not CTA?
On another matter many single exempt employees are upset recently passed mass transit legislation did not grandfather in paid single retiree health insurance premiums. Speaking as an average CTA manager I live paycheck to paycheck. Car payments, rent, childe support, and costs to visit my significant other take every penny I earn. My retirement plans have become insolvent, or I’ll be broke if I ever retired.
Mayor Daley spoke of historic CTA union agreements neglecting to mention union workers did not vote on agreement Ron Huberman and a handful of union leaders forged last June 2007. Exempt workers are now considering joining professional unions so that Ron Huberman and his Performance Management teams cannot do further financial damage to work and retirement life cycles.
If you don't like your pay at the CTA, get a new job elsewhere like the rest of us ordinary folk.
Anonymous at the top of the page:
To educate yourself about bus routes, go to the CTA bus ridership pages at transitchicago.com.
You mention the 144, 148, 135 and 136 as 'duplicative', but all 4 are above average ridership for the city, and two are WAY above the average. If you eliminated one, you'd just have to run that many buses on the other one to handle all the riders, but they'd be less happy, because they'd have to walk further or ride longer.
The mere fact that for part of the distance they cover the lines on the map are next to each other is irrelevant.
I agree that the Navy Pier and Water Tower routes are underused, and if they're not being financed by the financial interests involved, they should be dropped.
156 Rider,
You could benefit from a look at the ridership figures, too. You'd see that the 156 is slightly better than average, but not by enough that you have any room for complaining that you don't get enough buses.
But what you really need is some common sense. Those NB buses at 8:00 are NB because they went Southbound at 7:30, which is actually part of rush hour.
And the CTA already DOES turn some of them back southbound at Fullerton/Stockton in order to get them quickly back into the pool heading downtown.
You'd have known this if you looked at the schedule at transitchicago.com.
Please, people, try to know a little of what you're talking about before complaining.
Two commenters back to back say they're living "paycheck to paycheck." Just a coincidence, or is it really the same poster?
Anyway, with 20 years service, the lowest paid CTA employee is making about $50K/year. That's not making anyone rich, but it's not bad, either.
If you're concerned about finances, I have an excellent suggestion for you. You say you're planning to take early retirement. Don't! Instead, continue working to make money till normal retirement age. That's what most people have to do.
The whole early retirement thing in Illinois is an incredible scam. Why I should feel sorry for anyone who could retire at age 60, make 60% of his pre-retirement salary in pension, and pick up another job, I do not know.
Anon 707:
You are correct on all points except for your suggestion that the Water Tower and Navy Pier busses are underused. I'm not sure where you are getting that information. If you observe the 125 during rush hour you will see that all of the peak direction busses (which are usually the large articulated busses) have nearly all their seats full. They are not as busy as the Lake Shore Drive routes which have people standing in every available space, but they are very busy nonetheless. I'm also not sure what route you would suggest people would use if they were to elimanate it like you suggest. There is no good substitude for the route for most riders. The closest alternative might be the 151 but it takes at least twice as long (and would be even longer if many people who use the 125 were to start riding that). And what exactly would be the "special interests" involved in this route? The employers whose jobs the riders are travelling to? The entire purpose of the CTA is to make it easy for people to get around and make the city more attractive, for employers and employees. It is counterproductive to expect employers to finance bus routes. The bus routes are one of the top factors that encourage firms to locate downtown. The Navy Pier route also is very busy. You are looking at the wrong place if you are judging them as "underused" from the ridership reports on the CTA website. You cannot judge by that. For one thing, the Navy Pier route operates in the mid-days and evenings, which is included in the total (and in which the "duplicative" routes that the other poster referred to do not operate). And, as you pointed out, busses need to go in the non-peak direction to operate in the peak direction. Those runs are included in the total and, in the case of the Water Tower route, have even less ridership per bus than the reverse runs on the Lake Shore Drive routes (and the Lasalle bus).
"Two commenters back to back say they're living "paycheck to paycheck." Just a coincidence, or is it really the same poster?"
Not to mention that several posts have used the phrase "recently passed transit legislation" or some very close variation. It is really not difficult to conclude that most, if not all, of the posts complaining about the benefit reductions are from the same person. Everybody has a unique writing style and it is almost never easy to trick people into believing you are seperate people. If I wanted to take the time to do so I probably could determine with at least 90% accuracy which posts were made the same people for the entire blog.
You are looking at the wrong place if you are judging them as "underused" from the ridership reports on the CTA website.
That's an interesting point, though you carry it much too far.
It's true that it's not a perfect comparison between the Navy Pier and Water Tower routes and the Lakeshore express routes.
But it's a fair comparison with other routes in service all day, and by that standard, the Water Tower and Navy Pier routes aren't worth much.
If the CTA published rush hour ridership figures and off-rush ridership figures, it would be a lot more useful than the riders per hour numbers averaged over the whole time of a route is in service.
All I know is that, based on my observations, during rush hour the #125 bus runs around every three minutes and each bus has nearly all the seats filled. And these are usually the large articulated busses. Any notion that this route should be elimanated is absurd. Basically, all CTA busses that run downtown are pretty full in at least one direction. Not just during rush hour but also at almost every time of the day. And like you said (assuming you are the same person as Anon 707), if they were to elimatate certain routes, it just means they would have to add busses to other routes. The people who commute from the train stations to the northern half of North Michigan Avenue are going to have to get there somehow. If you elimanate the 125, it means they would take a less efficiant route that takes longer (which would likely neccessitate them to add more busses to those routes), take a cab (which adds to traffic congestion and is not cost effective), or decide that spending at least twenty minutes travelling for just this tiny portion of their daily commute (remember these riders take the train to the suburbs) is not worth it and therefore employers will be discouraged from locating in this area. Needless to say, any money the CTA saved from cutting the route would be lossed by the city's decreased economic activity if that were to occur.
hey all you anonymi (multiple anonymous posters) --
Give yourselves a name!! You don;t have to use your real name if you are unable to stand behind what you write /think. But please give yourselves some sort of identifier: Poster "A", "B", "Yellow", "Green", "South-Sider", "Monkey", whatever. It's really hard to follow a discussion or a rebuttal to an opinion, when everyone is "Anonymous".
Just put your unique moniker in the nickname option. And don't worry, they can't track your identity any better than if you post as Anonymous. (It doesn't mean they can't track you - it's just the same as anonymous.)
Hi Carole,
Chicago City Council still needs to vote on the property transfer tax increase from $7.50 to $10.50 per $1000. These funds (est. $100M) apparently are to go specifically towards the CTA pension plan.
1) If this is voted down by City Council, what happens next? What is CTA's contingency plan?
2) Educate me - why does CTA feel compelled to continue offering a pension plan? Is there a legal obligation? I've worked for several companies that don't have a pension plan, and unsure why my tax dollars need to go towards this benefit.
Congrats on the funding. I really hope that you and Ron can make some big improvements to the system.
I love all the jealous pension haters. Upset that your 401k plans will be totally worthless if the stock market keeps dropping?
And a note to those telling people who are living paycheck to paycheck to find other jobs, what other jobs would those be? In case you haven't noticed we're just on the cusp of a recession and jobs are hard to come by now.
I agree with Stanley about the pension. if you go outside the CTA and govt agencies most companies have a 401K with matching funds. I suggest the CTA start doing something similar.
BTW, can someone tell us what exactly the retirees get when they retire from CTA? Is it a pension + fully paid health benefits?
And as someone said $50,000 after 20 years is still a lot of money, although it took 20 years to get there.
People -- we have to live within our means don't you think?
Dear Anon 10:31,
You referred to me as a "jealous pension hater"...I'm simply pointing out that not only is this benefit tremendously costly to fund, but also (like Sally stated), most companies have done away with this type of benefit and replaced it with a 401K match. I have worked for companies that offer pensions, and ones that don't, so it's not like I speak of something I don't know about.
Quite honestly, I get paid a wage to perform a job and my personal view is that no company or government should be on the hook to ensure that my retirement is funded. It's my responsibility to work hard and save, simple as that.
Also, your point about my "401k plans will be totally worthless if the stock market keeps dropping" is rather misguided, as pension funds are certainly not immune to market conditions. Don't think that CTA pension money is tucked under someone's mattress and not partially invested in the same markets as 401K plans!
It seems to me that it wouldn't be that hard to short-turn some of the 156 buses at North Ave in the AM, and at say Madison in the PM.
I just thought I'd add a compliment related to the report on slow zones. If I'm reading the map right, not only have you eliminated several miles of slow zones ...
but you've cut the 15 mph slow zones by 20,000 ft, from 56,000 to 37,000 (if I remember right). To me, that's a huge thing. The 25 and 35 mph zones will be great to get rid of, but trains only get above 35 mph for fairly short distances anyway. It's being held at 15 (or worse, as it was in some cases on Blue) that really killed you.
Good work.
I remain skeptical of the decision about putting bus tracker on Madison w/o putting it on Madison Express, but I wanted to show I can see the positives too.
- the bus tracker troll.
The subway trains in Barcelona have a much better interior design to accommodate people than what you just agreed on purchasing.
Dear Anon 8:32,
Good for Barcelona. This is Chicago.
How about an "EL" tracker, electronic signs in stations, to let passengers know when the next train will be arriving ... like they have in other cities?
Yeh like they have in Barcelona and San Francisco
...and Washington, DC
I like the ones in Moscow, which tell you how long since the last train departed.
Carole:
As found on CTATattler, I also want to add my name to the list of those thanking the track workers. Three-tracking hell, while almost half-over, hasn't been all that hellish.
And the work on the slow zones has been fantastic.
I like the ones in Moscow, which tell you how long since the last train departed.
In Russia, train tracks you!
What on earth would be the purpose of that, Anon 1045? You can tell when the last train departed by how many people are on the platform.
On WTTW, it was said that at age 55 and only 3 years of service, a worker could retire and receive health care free for life (prior to the recent reforms). Is this true? One recent post complained about a 10% co-pay (versus zero). Hello, has he/she been living on Fantasy Island? In the private sector, continued health care coverage after leaving a financially viable firm is becoming rare. Also, 20% co-pays are standard for in-network rates for company plans- meaning you are still doing twice as good as others.
Of course the CTA is in a financial mess with those kinds of benefits. Most people work until a normal retirement age because they still need the health insurance and also the additional cash to get them through their senior years.
From ctabrownline.com
Construction Schedule
CTA Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project
2 Week and 3 Month Look Ahead Schedule
Date: 12/17/2007
This had been updated weekly since the brown line construction started,it's been stuck on the 12/17/2007 schedule for a month now.
" Hello, has he/she been living on Fantasy Island?"
Of course. That is what happens with government employees. They generally feel a sense of entitlement for absurd and unusual benefits and act as if it is evil for people to advocate even a slight movement towards what is comparable in the private sector. And a lot of these people probably are the same ones who complain about tax increases, when much of the reason they are implemented is to deal with these benefits.
While I'm painfully aware that we don't even have bus tracker for buses yet (kinda cold last week, no?), I'm wondering why the tracker technology can't also be used on trains? CTA trains are above ground virtually all of the time, and so you'd think it would just be a matter of putting one of the GPS devices on one of the train's cars?
And even when the train is in the tunnels, they aren't there for very long, so even without installing any special transmitters in the tunnels, the prediction technology should be able to predict arrivals pretty accurately based on when the train entered the tunnel.
Just a thought.
Thanks for the update on the Brown Line Construction Schedule (1/28/08)
Carole and/or knowing bloggers:
The Red line tracks have had the slow zones removed, for the most part, in the subway heading North.
Does anyone know why it is stop and go through the tunnel? I get frustrated when we start to accelerate out of a station, then brake, stop, start up, slow down, speed up, slow down, etc.
I know there hasn't been a train in some cases for at least 5 minutes, so I'm not certain what the slow down could be. Is it bad signals?
Carole,
It's nice to see that the Red Line is so much cleaner lately, but now the Orange Line--which used to be one of the cleanest lines in the system--seems to have been forgotten. The trains on this line have become utterly disgusting with graffiti in everywhere: on the walls, the ceilings, the seats, and windows. I dare you to find a single Orange Line train that does not have excessive amounts of vandalism.
For all you bus tracker fans out there - Check out the Helsinki, Finland bus tracker. It includes real time minutes to the next 5 stops.
http://transport.wspgroup.fi/hklkartta/
Anon 442:
There are still slow zones from Clark/Division going north. However, you do raise a good point because I have noticed that the speed going northbound from Chicago to Clark/Division is not remotely close to the southbound speed in that area. The northbound speed seems to be around 20-25 miles an hour at most. There seems to be a curve just south of the Clark/Division station so obviously you would not expect it to go full speed the whole time. But this is only a small part of the time between these stations and the curve certainly seems to be in the same place on the southbound side. I know someone else asked this quesion a while ago. It would be nice to get an answer.
Folks:
In light of a few extremely inappropriate posts, I want to once again remind you that I created this blog for CTA stakeholders to communicate with me and with each other about transit. Once again, please do not use foul language or engage in ad hominem attacks. I will exercise my right to delete inappropriate posts and ban certain users who cannot abide by these very simple rules.
Carole,
Thanks for providing this blog for us to communicate with you.
I'd like to offer an idea(if your planners haven't already thought of it) for providing more AM capacity on the Red, Brown, Purple Track 1 Single-track, aka "Southbound" Three-tracking at Belmont and Fullerton starting at the beginning of April:
All Brown line stations from Kimball to Southport that are open as of April '08 will be able to berth 8 car sets, and most stations from Belmont south will be able to berth 8 car sets.
What if during AM rush ONLY, every other Brown line set runs with 8 cars, followed by a 6 car set? Before and at Belmont, an announcement on the 8 car sets would indicate express service from Belmont to Fullerton. Every other Brown line set would skip Wellington, while the remaining Brown line sets(6 cars) and all Purple line sets(6 cars) would still make that stop, giving that station frequent service.
Of course, something like this would only work if there is only 1 (or 2) station(s) that are currently open and cannot berth 8 car sets.
And this temporary "AM crush/every other Brown line 6 car/8 car sets" would only be used until the corresponding stations are open for 8 car service. For instance, Diversey opening/Wellington closing later this year and Chicago platform extension come to mind. (not sure about the Armitage platform extension)
The idea is that this will help during the worst hours of southbound AM service through Belmont and Fullerton on a single track. After the "height" of AM weekday rush, 6 car sets making all stops would be used throughout the rest of day. The PM rush will not "need" 8 car sets due to northbound dual tracks being completed AND the current practice of keeping an extra 6 car Brown Line set(s) in the South Loop pulling into Adams/Wabash at the "height" of the PM rush.
Of course, this requires a lot more car movement and coordination in the Kimball yard/station in the AM to keep trains running frequently, but it is possible.
Please look this over, and see if this is an option for increasing "capacity", as AM service "frequency" gets reduced this April.
Don't think small (and convoluted), JohnT.
I bet the CTA could come up with an even better plan -- without all the labor- and time-intensive cutting and switching (and ticking people off) that you propose.
Anonomyous 1/31/2008 4:42 PM re: trains in the red line subway tunnels that are stopping/starting:
Thanks for noticing that we've restored higher train speeds in the Red Line subway. As you are of course aware, there are still occasional slow zones in there (slow zones are a problem to manage--whether construction or safety-related) and won't be eliminated entirely). Whenever workers are on or near the track, trains are required to operate at restricted speed (6 mph). Further, depending on the nature of the work, trains may be required to stop before proceeding past a group of workers. Without a specific time, date and direction, we can't know for sure if the stop/start ride you experienced is signal-related, but a wayside or carborne signal defect could result in a stop and go ride.
The new roof on the Bryn Mawr Red Line station has done nothing to stop the water from streaming down onto the stairs and flood the station. The water is pouring down from the embankment under the platform. When will this get fixed? The new roof was a waste of money.
The Thorndale station is in the same boat--literally! Water still pours down the stairway, and I've seen the station manager sweeping water out of the station daily.
Carole, I have a complaint about bus service this morning (no, not about the mercedes that hit the 147 just south of Belmont), but it IS about the 147, though, however.
This morning when I boarded the card reader was not working and the driver was getting belligerent with the passengers, insisting it was working, while people were pointing out it hadn't worked for ANYBODY boarding the past stops. At this point, Thorndale, the driver basically made everybody get off and get on the bus behind. While we all piled onto the following bus, the bus we had been on (#7631, by the way, at about 7:00-7:10 AM)) continued on ahead - AND TOOK ON NEW PASSENGERS! You can imagine I was rather peeved by this, it would have been one thing had the driver taken the bus out of service, but continuing on was very irritating.
Thanks in advance for looking into this Carole.
The deed has been done, but I am still peeved that seniors will get free transit rides throughout Illinois. The Gov reported last week that 32,000 seniors had signed up -- 32,000! out of about 1 million seniors in the State. This shows that not all seniors are on board with the free rides.
I once again want to bring to your attention the #124 (#123) bus is running empty. I left the AMC this week at 9:30 and a 124 went by totally empty. I see this a lot in the nighttime hours while I'm waiting on Michigan Ave. Seems you would do one of two things: 1) limit the hours it runs, example -- not after 9 p.m. or 2) put the little biddy bus on the line to save fuel.
Some of these things are just so easy to do and seems like a no brainer.
"I once again want to bring to your attention the #124 (#123) bus is running empty. I left the AMC this week at 9:30 and a 124 went by totally empty. I see this a lot in the nighttime hours while I'm waiting on Michigan Ave."
In which direction? You obviously wouldn't expect an eastbound bus to have many passengers at that time. But it is not physcically possible for busses to go only one direction. You also have to realize (if you are talking about westbound busses) that a #124 nightime bus is going to have the lowest ridership this time of year, especially at the spot you are observing it. I sure hope I don't have to explain why and that you can figure it out for yourself. But it really doesn't make sense to have different hours for just two months of the year. If the CTA (or anyone else) set different hours of operation for every month of the year it would be so complicated that nobody would be able to figure out when something is operating. Just about every business has a different level of demand at different times of the year. But, by and large, you don't see them changing their hours every month(the only real exception is the holiday season and even then at least half of all stores keep the same hours). This is because they would lose more money if people can never figure out if something is open at a certain time or not. It costs virtually nothing to operate one bus route for an hour or two longer than may be worth it for a couple months of the year. And this specific route encourages tourism and therefore generates economic activity and tax revenue for the city of Chicago.
You know, I just realized that I'm pretty sure the street in front of the AMC theaters is a one-way eastbound street. That suggests that you are talking about eastbound busses. Unbelievable. Do you have any common sense at all?
You know, I just realized that I'm pretty sure the street in front of the AMC theaters is a one-way eastbound street. That suggests that you are talking about eastbound busses. Unbelievable. Do you have any common sense at all?
Good sleuthing. That street is one-way eastbound. That's hilarious. What'll that poster whine about next? That el trains aren't carrying enough passengers while circling the loop at Howard to turn around and go southbound?
Carole-
It's freezing out. What ever happened to expanding the bus tracker? The expansion was supposed to start last summer! Kind of a let down if the CTA only gets around to starting it just as the weather starts to get warm again.
I suppose we should all be resigned by now to the CTA just ignoring questions about this, but I figured it was worth a shot.
Carole,
It sounds like the CTA is really working to increase capacity wherever possible during the upcoming southbound single-tracking. The 8-car Brown Line trains and the North/Clybourn "sneaker trains" are good ideas.
But I haven't heard any plans to have Purple Line trains stop at Sheridan to help relieve the crush of Red Line passengers north of Belmont. Purple Line trains are relatively empty at Sheridan and could carry Red Line riders waiting at Sheridan and thus make more room on the Red Line for riders waiting at Addison. This would also reduce the number of people standing and transfering at the busy Belmont platform.
I know this has been suggested before by readers here. I think it is a good idea. Hopefully it will be implemented as another way to increase capacity.
I think the southbound single-tracking will be more painful than the northbound has been. Trains are almost alwasy more crowded in the morning than in the evening as most people start work at about the same time, but leave work over a more spread out period of time and may not go home right away.
I hope for the best. So far, CTA has managed the 3-tracking very well. Good luck!
Anon 2/06/2008 10:57AM, re: the Bryn Mawr canopies
Sorry for the delay in responding. CTA replaced the canopy but in the spring we will be doing more work at the station and at that time we will be able address all issues. The bad weather has hindered our moving forward at the pace we would like and need to. Our VP of Facilities has sent her staff to look at your concerns to see what can be repaired now. I expect to receive CTA's plan to complete the work (both what can be done now and what must wait until the spring) soon.
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