CTA Transit Union Deserves No One’s Sympathy (Video)
The CTA’s union workers demand better hours and a raise to go with their health insurance and pensions. Are they living in a different economy than the rest of us?
Is RedEye the “New” CTA Tattler?
When ChicagoNow debuted in May 2009, Chicagoist called CTA Tattler one of the site’s most notable blogs. Predating ChicagoNow by several years, CTA Tattler came with a built-in reputation as the Windy City’s go-to online source for transit news. So why for the past several months has RedEye’s Going Public column been beating the Tattler at its own game?
Gov. Quinn to CTA Riders: Lower Fares More Important than Useful Service
I guess it must be something in the water. But as usual, another Illinois politician has decided that Chicagoans would rather have lower fares than useful transit service. Recently, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn brokered a deal to stop a 2010 CTA fare hike. My question is: who asked him to?
How Metra Lost a New Rider
Flagrantly ignoring your responsibility to inform your own customers of service diversions that could lead to them shivering in a 45-degree wind chill for an extra hour and then treating them with open contempt for daring to complain about it is a really good way to turn off of a potential new rider.
Navigating Oprah Winfrey’s Michigan Avenue Closure on CTA
Whether you’re an Oprah Winfrey fan or not, if you’re traveling through downtown Chicago and the Near North Side over Labor Day weekend and the first workday to follow, chances are you’ll be significantly impacted by Winfrey’s two-and-a-half-day closure of North Michigan Avenue–Chicago’s most important transit bus corridor–to tape the season premiere of her talk show. If you’re a CTA rider–and heaven knows you should be this weekend–here’s what you should know about the detours.
Urbanophile Blog Says Chicagoans Don’t Want Better Transit
Local urban-affairs blogger Aaron Renn says there’s a very good reason Chicago doesn’t have a world-class transit system: it doesn’t want one. Recently on his The Urbanophile blog, Renn began a multi-part series examining why Chicago never seems to be able to get its act together to plan, build, and maintain innovative public-transit infrastructure the likes of which other world cities have enjoyed for years. Even though Chicagoans love to complain at length about the CTA, could it be we actually think the agency is doing a good-enough job?
VIDEO: On Why Chicago Transit Authority President Richard Rodriguez Shouldn’t Be Driving to Work
Chicago Transit Authority president Richard Rodriguez canceled the free-car perq for dozens of high-ranking CTA managers. So why does the president of the nation’s second-largest public transit system continue to drive to work instead of riding his own agency’s buses and ‘L’ trains?
CTA Surveys Customers…Badly
This week, the Chicago Transit Authority is surveying riders on the front page of its website. As you might expect (especially in the still-turbulent wake of Ron Huberman’s exit), the agency is doing a rotten job of it.
Breakfast of Champions
From the goatee days, there’s a right way and a wrong way to spend a half-hour Metra commuter-rail ride. This is not the right way.
Why I Like the Chicago ‘L’
A visit from an NYC friend yesterday reminded me how much I prefer the Chicago ‘L’–and Chicago, in general–over New York and its (apparently) increasingly dangerous subway. Click above to view my premiere video blog and I’ll tell you my reasons why.