by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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CTA President Frank Kruesi admits that the agency should have done better during last winter's snow storm. He's given additional details on how the CTA plans to be better prepared for this winter. The 2600 car rehab project has been accelerated by 18 months and will now be completed in 2002. Unrehabbed cars are getting additional protection from the elements for their electronics. The CTA has also decided to start testing L cars early and often, rather than assuming the cars will work. Internal communications and policies have been enhanced to deal with winter weather. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 18 November 1999 ]
Kruesi also wrote another letter to the editor this week defending the City of Chicago's miserly $3 million annual contribution to the CTA. He cited several examples of how he claims the city helps out the CTA, such as providing police protection, and lobbying for funds. He also claims that Metra and PACE get more than their share of the RTA sales tax based on ridership. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 16 November 1999 ]
Give it up, Frank. The city's CTA contribution is a joke. Kruesi routinely blasts state and federal officials for not giving him more money. It seems so very odd that his boss is exempt from this. As for police protection, what kind of a sick joke is that? The Chicago Police Department provides polices protection throughout the city to all residents. This is not some special and unique thing done for the CTA. And if Kruesi really thinks that money should be allocated based on ridership, perhaps he can explain why he's pumping the bulk of the CTA's capital funds into the L, when the bus system carries more riders and has a ridiculously obsolete fleet of coaches.
Cheryl Powell wrote in to say:
I was on the Blue Line last week and got to hear the new automated announcement system. I got on the Douglas train at Polk going north. The taped (?) announcer said the next stop would be 18th Street. Since I could see downtown, I realized that I didn't get on the wrong train but the tape was wrong. It continued to be wrong for my entire ride (to the Montrose stop). Not only were the taped announcements suitable for someone going the opposite direction, but it never stops talking. If it isn't telling you the side of the train the doors open on (which were also wrong most of the time, since it was announcing then wrong stops), but in between stops it would remind riders that radio playing, littering and soliciting were illegible on CTA trains. At one point (when it also told us we were at Cicero instead of Clinton) it reminded riders to familiarize themselves with emergency procedures in case of a breakdown. I heard a rider somewhere behind wonder if our seats could be used as flotation devices in the event of a crash.
Mike Pietrusinski also wrote in this week with add oddly similar tale:
First off, did you know that there is a CTA Farecard machine elsewhere besides the train stations? There is one located in the new Northwestern Hospital building on St. Clair between Huron and Erie. I used to work here and can tell ya that hardly anyone uses them to my knowledge....its up on the 2nd level near the cafeteria, so actually its closer to the corner of Huron and Fairbanks.Ok some Blue Line stuff....
I do a reverse commute thing...go out to O'Hare in the morning and come back into the city in the evening. Yesterday (11/1) it was funny cuz not only did they have the conductor announcing the stops, but at least downtown the automatic announcer or whatever its called was annoucing Green Line stops on the south end....did not even realize they had electronic announcers...
2nd thing....this evening, 11/2, about 5:40 pm I am gettin ready to catch the Blue Line back to downtown, go thru the farecard reader, says error 43, and I am stuck....tried it at a couple machines knowing full well I just put money into it last night. Went to the conductor who looked like she did not know what what the problem was. Luckily a techie or repairman was in the station. He said that sometimes the strip gets screwed up and read wrong and what you need to do is put the minimum amount of $$ in to get it to work again. Sure enough it did but this was the first time this ever happened....Oh yeah this was at the Cumberland Station.....
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. The views expressed by contributors are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the publisher.
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