“Unsolved Mysteries” could’ve taped a special CTA edition, because riders have plenty of questions they want answered about the city’s buses and trains. New mysteries flooded our inboxes a day after Kyra Kyles answered a few of your questions in Tuesday’s “Going Public” column (“CTA: The truth is still out there”).
Check back Tuesday for more on the CTA, and keep sending your public transit opinions to kkyles@tribune.com. We’ll consider them for publication on Wednesdays.
Hard to swallow
I am writing in response to the CTA spokeswoman’s comment on the flimsiness of the Chicago Card. With the implication that it’s stronger, she stated: “The thickness of Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus is .035 inches compared to a .03 on the typical credit card.”
This comment is ridiculous! The strength of a material is not only dependent on the thickness. In fact, if the material was, let’s say, a Kevlar composite, it can be as thick as a sheet of notebook paper and still be stronger than a credit card.
Maram Kittaneh, 22, Albany Park
Bump, bump, bump
I ride the Blue Line train to Forest Park every day, and sometimes in the evening the train hits these certain spots and it feels like a bomb is exploding right beneath you. It feels worse than riding a bike all day. When you get up, you just want to run off the train.
I asked the conductor why, and he said that those hard spots are sensors. I’ve never felt that on the Brown Line or Red Line. Can the CTA explain why that is?
Jamilah Wallace, 35, Maywood
The heat is on
As a follow-up to your column: “Why are many CTA bus windows ‘nailed shut’?” (“Bus windows are kept closed to seal in the AC that now comes standard on all buses, said CTA spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler.”) I have a corollary question:
Why is it when the windows are nailed shut, the air conditioning is not working? CTA’s standard answer: Please let the CTA know when a bus is not working properly. Please know that by that time, it’s too late, and I’m sitting all sweaty at my work station.
John Fagiolo, 42, Andersonville
Stop and save
The CTA always seems to be on the brink of financial disaster, yet the buses stop at nearly every street corner. This means signs at each street corner and the wasted gas associated with stop-and-go city driving.
I have never understood why CTA doesn’t cut the number of stops in half or set a certain minimum distance between stops.
Mary Beaudry, 35, Lakeview
Slow going
What baffles me is the slowdown to a crawl on both the Brown and Red Lines between Fullerton and Diversey. At the speeds those trains putter along at, believe me, I could get out and push the cars faster. Is the infrastructure between those two stops just that decrepit?
Dennis Mahoney, 29, North Center
A big ‘thank you’
Usually we bitch and complain about the CTA, but today I want to thank a CTA employee! I have a happy story I’d like to share. I hope the bus driver sees it!
I usually feel that CTA employees are remiss about us commuters. [On Friday] I was proved wrong. Just as I was about 200 feet away from the bus stop, a bus was about to fly by. You know the routine: You see bus, you run, flail, scream, the bus driver pretends he doesn’t see you, and you are left standing there in the bus’ exhaust.
The driver happened to see me and motioned, “You getting on?” I nodded, “Yes,” and he pulled over and waited for me. That has only happened one other time in my 20-plus years of taking the CTA. But [on Friday], driver No. 39732 on the No. 74 Fullerton bus made my day! I just wanted to say thank you.
Ariel Biscan, 32, Lincoln Park
