by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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Happy New Year!
Amanda Cohen, the ne plus ultra of chi.general personalities, wrote in with this transit tip:
Here's one for ya...Every stick your card in a machine at the L and get the error code 13 or 43? Well, guess what I learned.
I got on a bus and my card didn't work. No error code, no nothing. The driver was kind enough to run it through a few more times, and it still didn't work. But he let me stay.
Then I went to the L...the Red Line entrance on the south corner of Wilson. Once again, the card didn't work, and the error code was "43." Naturally this meant I had to walk the half block or so up to where the actual humans work at the Wilson stop.
Up there, a nice CTA employee observed my "43" error and told me to put my card in the payment machine and put a nickel or a dime on the card. It worked. He told me that adding money to a card will "break" a code 13 or a code 43.
Good to know...
Here's a response to complaints about slow zones from Sean M. Gash:
Many slow zones are due to track maintenance projects. For example, the slow zone northbound on the Red Line between Loyola and Morse is because CTA isn't finished working there, and the ATC has not been reset between these "Bonds". Same on the Blue Line, the elevated structure is under constant maintenance to keep it from collapsing, which is the reason for slow zones set by the cab signals. Between Belmont/Clark Junction and Addison has been worked on, and there are also curves and turnouts (switches) that restrict train speed. The real track trouble spots on the Cta rail system are: Red Line, northbound approaching Jarvis; Red Line, Howard station; and Blue Line North and Southbound between Clinton/Congress and UIC-Halsted. These areas are balasted with rail that is sinking, which creates "kinks". This causes your uncomfortable ride as the train weaves and bobs along.
An lastly some commentary from CTA bus driver "Jonothan" titled "The Crusade for Better Bus Service":
As seasoned, veteran CTA bus riders, we have all played out this scenario many times. You stand at the bus stop and look down the street to see if the bus is coming. It isn't. So you wait. And you wait, and you wait, and....well, you get the picture. After an eternity, here comes not only your bus, but a few other buses lumbering right behind it. It is enough to infuriate a saint. As a bus operator, my years behind the wheel of these buses has given me a behind-the-scenes view of the hows and whys. Why the buses are always late and bunched up, and how the management at CTA helps to contribute to this and how they have sacrificed service in the past to save money. As a CTA bus rider (yes, I ride the bus too - I do not own a car and ride the bus not only to work, but also anywhere else I have to go), I have experienced first hand the looooong waits for buses, the buses that are so packed with people that you can't even get on, and even I have been impacted by the service reductions that were made back in 1997 and 1998. In fact, because of those service reductions, I can not work past 7pm on weekends, or else I have no transportation home. And it just seems that each year, bus service gets worse and worse, despite the fact that some service has been added to some routes. So, what can we bus riders do?Let's jump ahead a few thousand miles to Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles has many problems with its bus system that are similar to Chicago. Buses out there are slow, overcrowded all the time (not just in rush hour), dilapidated, and very unreliable. This in the second largest city in the country that, until a few years ago, had no rail network. So what happened out in LA? Well, a bunch of people got pissed enough that they formed the Bus Rider's Union (BRU) and the BRU sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA - they run the bus system in LA) in court. The BRU and the MTA eventually agreed to a list of improvements, which were detailed in a Federal Consent Decree. Not only that, but the court also stated that the BRU had to be involved in the decisions made concerning the bus system and any future improvements to it. The BRU won big time, and since then, the MTA has added dozens of buses to busy routes to alleviate overcrowding. At the same time, the MTA has been adding new coaches to its fleet, thus retiring older buses and helping to add to the reliability of the fleet. The MTA also lowered the price of monthly passes and lowered the fare for certain bus routes, including all owl service (it actually costs less to ride the bus late at night than it does at any other time of the day). But there have been many problems since the victory by the BRU. For starters, the BRU has complained that the MTA has been pouring too much money in rail construction while neglecting the bus system (sound familiar?). There's a huge stink going on right now about the proposed discontinuance of several express bus routes once the North Hollywood extension of the Red Line opens in mid-2000. But despite the moaning from the BRU, the MTA does seem as if it is serious about improving its bus system. They are even experimenting with preempting traffic signals, and are set to start a new service called the Rapid Bus Demo Project, which is like an express bus service. So the situation is getting better slowly - but enough so that the MTA is actually marketing the improvements with the slogan "IT'S GETTING BETTER ON THE BUS".
So, maybe Chicago can take a lesson from what has happened out in LA. I really feel that it is going to take a strong group outside of CTA to convince CTA to make real improvements to its bus system. There are a handful of organizations out there that are constantly biting at CTA's heels, but these organizations are small and not very powerful or organized. But if they were to organize and take CTA to court, they may be able to convince CTA to finally listen to the customers and make improvements to the bus system. But I will tell you something - sitting around and hoping that the CTA will one day make changes to the bus service just isn't going to happen. CTA will try to get away with providing as little service as it can (this is a fact based on them holding in runs every day), and will continue to do so until it is forced to do otherwise. As history has shown, serious change often times comes from the actions of just one person or group of persons who are committed to making a change. And that's what happened in LA when a group of people took on the mighty MTA and won.
Gossip ...
What's going on with Ms. Bledsoe (the GM of North Park garage) these days? Every time I have seen her in the last few weeks, she is always smiling. This is very surprising, especially since Mr. Frank Kruesi recently took her over his knee and spanked her for acting like a dictator. I guess it did some good, because not only did Ms. Bledsoe authorize overtime, but she also bought the bus operators at North Park a ping-pong table, and she was seen enjoying the festivities at the recent Christmas party at North Park sporting a brand new hairdo. My my my, what wonders a spanking can do.
Rumor...
Heard through the grapevine recently that CTA decided not to renew Mr. Winston's (vice-pres. of operations) contract. If this is true, you can bet there will be more buses on the street soon.
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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