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I-(didn’t)-GO: Why We Chose Zipcar

Though I don’t drive, my boyfriend and workmates do. Tagging along through their experiences with Chicago’s two car-sharing services, the for-profit Zipcar and nonprofit I-GO, it was easy to figure out which company offered the better customer-service experience. Hint: in the private sector, the customer is always right.

Another Dropped Ball by CTA Communications Staff

Four weeks ago, CTA communications staff told me the agency would adopt a suggestion of mine to make it easier for riders to find weekend service diversion information. I celebrated that decision on this blog. Trouble is, a month later CTA hasn’t bothered to actually make the change.

Bollards, and Bloodhounds, and Bag Searches, Oh My…

Since 2001, many of the security tactics we’ve ended up with on our nation’s transit systems in response to Homeland Security hype have been less than efficient. Now New York has implemented random bag searches at subway entrances. And how that stops terrorists from simply getting on at another station is anybody’s guess.

Super CTA Customer Service Response

Recently, I suggested a way for the CTA to improve the way it tells riders about weekend service diversions on its website. And to my surprise, the agency agreed with me.

Buh-Bye Now, Jeffrey Ladd

Perhaps we can be a public-transit region now. Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune decried the sorry state of repair of Metra’s Roosevelt Road station, and laid blame at the feet of anti-Chicago Metra Chairman Jeffrey Ladd. Today he says he’s resigning.

“The Shabbiest Metra Station in Chicagoland”

Ever wonder why the Metra station at Roosevelt Road looks like a big steamy pile of lactose-intolerant toothpaste poop while the rest of the Museum Campus area and the South Loop in general zoom along in their tony upswing? Three words: chairman Jeffrey Ladd.

Red Eye to Riders: Don’t Put Your Hands on CTA Handrails

Okay, that’s helpful, thanks. A scientist working on the Chicago Tribune’s dime was quoted today in the Trib regarding a Red Eye report on dirty CTA handrails and grab bars, saying, ‘It would be hard for the CTA to do anything about this. It’s best to keep your hands off these surfaces.’

Brown Line Bottle Blonde Blockhead

It’s a Friday evening outbound rush on the Brown Line. As the train leaves Merchandise Mart, a petite, 20-something, bottle-blonde DePaulite, balancing on a window seat with her impossibly pink stilettos barely reaching the floor, pulls out her cell phone, sucks her teeth, and dials…

“If the City of Chicago Can’t Find the CTA, We’re in Deep Trouble”

Last year the CTA amassed $20,000 in fines for buses running red lights. So Chicago’s Revenue Department billed the agency–by sending tickets to the wrong address. For a year.

Stupid Is as Stupid Drives

Dear idiots who groused about driving in Chicago in today’s Sun-Times: that’s why God invented public transit.