by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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The CTA has decided to borrow an idea from other cities and issue an unlimited ride pass to area college students. This would be a discounted pass, but would be funded from mandatory student activity fees instead of being voluntary. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 5/15 ]. [ The CTA is on the right track in trying to build ridership by college students, but forcing them to buy a pass whether they want one or not is most likely to provoke anger, not goodwill toward the CTA - AMR ]
Charles Spears of Metro Seniors in Action wrote the Chicago Tribune on 5/15 to urge caution in privatizing CTA routes. He pointed to the conflicts of interest and the HMO experience to show how companies can enrich their shareholders at the expense of customers. [ Maybe he's also concered about losing those senior citizens discounts! - AMR ]
I forgot to mention last week that the CTA won an arbitration hearing against the union over pension contributions for union activities. When a CTA union rep performs a union duty (such as helping an employee file a grievance) he is paid by the union, but the CTA contibutes towards his pension as if he were on CTA time. The union had a policy of paying a minimum of a half day's pay for union service, no matter how little time was spent on a union related activity. The CTA matched this half day towards pensions. This lead to some union reps getting very large pension credits, oftimes for substantially more than a full day's work, even when that worker did not work that many hours. An arbitrator ruled that the CTA only had to pay up for the actual time worked, but declined to award the CTA a refund of previous amounts paid.
The CTA's fare card technology was adapted from a swipe card system called MetroCard used in New York City.
5/11 7:14am - Last week an Evanston Express train was two minutes early and stood for a minute at Main St. to get back on schedule. This week a train arrived two minutes early and did not wait around at all, with the result that I missed my train by about 30 seconds.
The 5/15 Chicago Tribune has this story from Jeff Mitchell. He arrived at the Bryn Mawr L stop to find all fare card vending machine broken and the change maching out of change. When has asked the CTA's "customer service assistant" for help, he was told to walk to the next station so he could purchase a far card before boarding. our friend Jeff is now scoping out the cost of parking space downtown.
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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