The prerecorded male voice announcing stops on Chicago Transit Authority buses is now reminding riders that a little common courtesy will take them far.
“Customers with backpacks–please remove them so they do not bump other customers,” says one of the 13 new messages activated on 1,300 buses in the last two weeks.
“Please be considerate while talking on your phone so as not to disturb other customers,” another kindly suggests.
CTA president Frank Kruesi seized the opportunity to reinforce passenger etiquette as a value-added afterthought to the transit agency’s $15.6 million investment in an automated voice-announcement system that calls out street names.
But is it going too far?
Some riders interviewed said the messages are precisely what they would like to say to inconsiderate passengers but wouldn’t dare utter for fear of sparking “bus rage.”
Other CTA passengers said it’s the height of arrogance for the transit agency to deputize itself as the politeness police.
Some of the new announcements are geared toward making the bus trip faster, such as a message asking riders to exit through the rear door so entering passengers can load and pay fares more smoothly.
The system also lets the CTA make live announcements on buses if emergencies or other situations warrant real-time alerts.
Most of the canned messages are directed at riders who the CTA thinks need a civility check.
Seat hogs who take up more than one spot are given a nudge over the intercom, as are people whose mothers apparently never taught them that it’s bad form to doodle or etch graffiti on windows.
The courtesy announcements are spaced 15 minutes apart to avoid deluging riders with too many do’s and don’t’s, officials said, adding that passengers typically hear one or two of the 13 messages per ride. The CTA also hawks its new Chicago Card Plus smart card in three of the announcements.
“You see people on the buses rolling their eyes when another passenger is talking on the cell phone too loudly or bumping a backpack against other riders,” Kruesi said. “Our attempt is to offer a gentle, polite and hopefully fun reminder that civility and manners are part of a good transit experience.”
Rider Chad Rubel said better behavior is badly needed on the CTA, but he isn’t confident the courtesy announcements will help.
Other riders said the CTA should mind its own business and stick to driving the bus.
“I don’t want–or need–Big Brother telling me to give up my seat to a little old blue-haired lady,” commuter Brian Ford said while riding the No. 14 Jeffery Express bus on South Michigan Avenue. “Just let me ride in peace and do your social engineering elsewhere.”
Bus driver John Woodlock likes the announcements. He said they take some of the burden off of him to be the “bad guy” when some lout doesn’t realize he should offer his seat to a pregnant woman.
“A lot of times when a bus driver will say, ‘Please remove your backpacks’ or ‘Please remove your package from the seat next to you,’ we get a lot of negative feedback,” said Woodlock, 37, as he drove a No. 151 bus to Union Station.
“Some riders will say, ‘Oh, you’re just being pushy or you’re being an ignorant bus driver. I paid for my seat; let her stand up.’ “
It’s all part of a bigger plan
CTA president Frank Kruesi thinks most customers will appreciate the canned announcements, which can be substituted with information piped in over the intercoms from the agency’s operations center.
“There could be a fire or another emergency requiring us to reroute buses and get information to riders as fast as we can,” Kruesi said.
About 500 older buses that will be discarded in the next couple of years do not have the announcement system.
Clarke Caywood, a marketing communications professor at Northwestern University, observed that the CTA has taken care of the outside of the buses with advertising, and now the focus is on the inside.
“It’s fun to see the CTA thinking a little outside the box–in this case literally a metal box that moves people,” said Caywood, a specialist in integrated marketing communications at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
The announcement system has been popular with many riders because it provides much clearer messages than in the past, when CTA operators mumbled their words, didn’t announce stops at all or otherwise couldn’t be understood.
The new automated bus announcements are linked to high-tech navigational aids. The vehicle’s location is determined by a combination of global positioning satellites, odometer data and a gyroscope that monitors direction changes. In addition to automated bus-stop announcements, electronic signs on board display the next stop, a particularly helpful feature to hearing-impaired riders.
The courtesy announcements are an extension of the CTA’s “Don’t be Jack” campaign, which started with train posters reminding riders that smoking, eating, littering, radio playing and soliciting are prohibited on the CTA. The “Jack” captions are meant to be short and simple, fashioned after the “Dick and Jane” books used in schools a generation ago to teach children how to read.
“Keep your snack in the sack, Jack,” says one poster. “See Jack spray. See Jack pay,” warns an anti-graffiti message.
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SELECT MESSAGES
– Thank you for riding the CTA.
– If you have a question or comment about CTA service, call customer service at 1-888-YOUR-CTA, or visit our Web site at www.transitchicago.com.
– Soliciting is prohibited on CTA vehicles. Violators are subject to fines of up to $300. If you see someone soliciting, please notify the bus operator.
– Please be considerate and give up your seat for elderly passengers, expectant mothers and customers with disabilities.
– Please exit through the rear door so everyone’s commute is faster.
– Please keep your personal belongings off the seat next to you so other customers may sit down.
– Customers with backpacks, please remove them so they do not bump other customers.
– Smoking, eating, graffiting, littering and radio playing are prohibited on CTA vehicles.
– Please be considerate while talking on your phone so as not to disturb other customers.
– Chicago Card Plus, the CTA’s new fare payment option, allows customers to board buses and enter through rail station turnstiles quicker than ever before.
Source: CTA
