by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Visit The Weekly Breakdown on the web at http://www.urbanophile.com/breakdown/
A lot of the news I summarize here in the Weekly Breakdown comes from Jon Hilkevitch's columns in the Chicago Tribune. He writes a Monday column called "Getting Around", as well as various other transportation stories during the week. His beat is all transportation, not just transit. You can see his column on the net at:
http://chicagotribune.com/go/gettingaround/
Remember last year's fatal South Shore crash? The one where three people died when a train struck an overweight truck driven by a man with marijuana in his system and a forged log book? Well our friends at the NTSB have declared that the reason for the crash was the warning gate system. The driver was exonerated. [ Source: Usenet ]
A Metra conductor was killed last week in an apparent robbery attempt. The slaying occurred at 121st St. and Racine Ave. on the Metra Electric Blue Island Branch about 7pm last Saturday. The conductor, Wilbert Hooten, was 64 years old and only a few months from retirement after a 30 year career at the railroad. Metra has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the party responsible for the killing. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 19 July 1999 ]
Some new air conditioned buses are coming! But not until next summer. See below for more details.
Linda D. Stewart (nospam-LStewart@jenkens.com) wrote in to tell us about her commuting travails this week:
"A switch problem on the tracks at Wells Street near Lake caused a massive backup on the Brown and Purple Lines today. Trains were stacked up to where at least three to four trains were visible in the distance whenever a slight turn came up. It seems there is a problem on the Brown Line/Purple Line tracks nearly every day - whether it is a switch, Purple Line train breakdown or Brown Line train breakdown.
"The sign at the Kedzie/Lawrence stop indicates that it is a 25-minute trip to the Loop. What time are they taking this trip - 4:00 AM? It is at least a 35 - 40 minute trip during rush hour, if there are no delays. Where does this sign consider the Loop to begin - Chicago Avenue or Merchandise Mart or Sedgewick? At rush hour, you are nowhere near any of those stops in 25 minutes from Kedzie Avenue these days. Thanking me for my enforced patience when sitting on a train that is stopped on the tracks between stops is really annoying at times. I cannot get off the train and walk to the station, so I have no choice BUT to be patient.
"The Post Office and the CTA are the only businesses I know of that can raise prices and significantly lower service and still stay in operation."
Jonothan, our resident CTA bus driver, has more excellent things to contribute this week as well:
"I would like to start off this week by apologizing to you and your readers for that diatribe I wrote last week. Every word was true, but I know I sounded bitter concerning the CTA. You must understand that a lot of us CTA employees try to display some pride in knowing that we are working for the third largest transit system in the US. However, when our bosses do stupid things that make us look bad, it really lowers our morale (which is hard to do since morale is already low among CTA employees).
"Anyway, now on to an update on the subject I wrote about last week. I have been hearing through the grapevine that CTA management caught some major hell over their holding in buses last week. So much so that management is letting the bus operators work overtime again. But there is a catch. There is no longer "unlimited overtime", as restrictions have been put in place. Before I explain what this restriction is, let me explain to you about the CTA workforce. There are three types of bus operators: full-time operators, part-time operators, and special part-time operators. Full-time operators work full runs (a run is a driver's schedule - full runs are 8 or more hours a day). Full time operators are guaranteed at least 40 hours a week. Part-time operators work trippers (runs that are less than 8 hours). Per union contract, part-timers are not allowed to work over 30 hours a week. Special part-time operators also work trippers, but only on weekends and holidays. Before overtime was cancelled, full-time operators could work on their days off, and they could also work trippers in conjunction with their full run (for example, a bus operator that starts his full run at 2:30pm could come in in the morning and work a 3 hour tripper and get paid time-and-a-half for the tripper). Now, CTA is giving the part-timers available full runs and is allowing the full-timers to work trippers as overtime. So, full timers can still get overtime, but not as much as we were getting. This is causing problems with the part-timers, as they feel they are being used unfairly by CTA (that is a another story in itself). So, for the time being, things seem to be stable. CTA is still holding buses in the garages, but not as many as they were last week.
"Now, onto a different subject. A Sun-Times article several weeks ago told people which buses in the CTA bus fleet have air conditioning and which don't. You can tell which buses have a/c by the bus number. Every CTA bus has a four digit number, such as 5300 or 4400. The buses that are equipped with a/c begin with the numbers 5,6, and 7. The buses that don't have a/c begin with the numbers 1,4, and 9. For example, bus # 6110 has a/c, since it's number starts with a 6. Bus number 1610 doesn't have a/c, since it's bus number starts with a 1. Please note that even though a bus may be equipped with a/c, the a/c may not be working that day. Relief is coming next summer, as 150 new buses with a/c will be in service.
"One of your readers, Mr. Kuczaj, who rides the #152 Addison, wrote in with some questions about bus bunching. I would like to respond to them. The first question asked: Why don't bus operators pass the bus in front of them, even when people aren't getting off their bus? There are two reasons. One reason may be that the bus behind the other bus may be running early, and is staying behind the other bus to kill time. Running early (or "running hot" in CTA terminology) is a violation of CTA rules. The other reason is just pure laziness. Some bus operators don't want to work or want to do as least amount of work as possible. They will see that their leader (the bus in front of them) is running late and will stay behind them so as to not pick up many people. The CTA rulebook states that if a bus operator catches up to his leader, he must go around the lead bus and help him out. But of course, some operators are just lazy. A good bus operator will go around his leader and help him out. That's how you keep the street moving. Another question asked was: Why do bus operators insist on stopping at each stop when the bus is jam packed? Why not operate express until people want to get off? The CTA rulebook says that operators must stop for all intending passengers, even if there is no room on the bus. The passengers must make the decision to not to get on the bus themselves. Operating express on a local route is a violation unless authorized by a CTA supervisor or the control center.
"Well, that's it for this week. If anybody has any questions about CTA operating procedures, please send them to the Weekly Breakdown, and I will answer them."
Thanks a lot, Jonothan!
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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