CTA riders often complain about bus bunching, refuse to pay fares or are just downright rude–for many bus drivers, their job feels like a case of …
After a few months on the job, 40-year-old Michelle Cox wondered how she’d ended up behind the wheel of a CTA bus.
The Calumet City resident didn’t even like to drive and initially resisted when a friend who is a CTA bus driver told her that her outgoing personality would make her an ideal employee.
But Cox–then a single mom–applied. Four years later, Cox is a full-time driver with routes on the South Side.
“I enjoy my job … but it is very stressful,” Cox told RedEye. “People always say we make all this money, but we’re expected to drive a big bus, keep everyone safe, act as police officers and baby-sit all at the same time.”
And those aren’t the only stresses on drivers.
They say they deal with increasingly rude riders who complain about crowded buses and slow service, and who call in to report drivers who are simply doing their job.
After a stream of rider rants about slow, crowded buses and snappy drivers were published in RedEye, three bus drivers said they felt compelled to tell their side of the story.
Their beef: Riders rarely consider the traffic congestion, tight schedules, dangers and stress that come with driving a bus.
And it comes from all angles, said Robert, a longtime bus driver who asked that his last name not be published for fear of retaliation from the manager at his bus garage.
“We get mistreated by managers, mistreated by supervisors, mistreated by CTA, and then we get it from riders,” Robert told RedEye, adding that CTA bus schedules are unrealistic and drivers can get written up for minor service delays. “We get blamed for everything.”
Bus drivers are held accountable if their actions delay service, CTA spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said, adding that schedules are updated periodically and reflect a number of factors, including traffic congestion and actual distance between travel points.
As for the bad attitudes that riders complain about, they’re not limited to drivers, one part-time driver told RedEye.
“I used to be disappointed when I said ‘good morning’ to passengers and nobody spoke back,” said 26-year-old Dachae Newbern, a South Sider who said she drives downtown and Near West Side routes. “I keep trying anyway, but a lot of drivers get to the point where they build shields around themselves just so they can keep working.”
Cox, too, has gotten used to rude riders. She has been screamed at, threatened with violence, cursed at, or called profane names by riders who want her to let them off between stops or board without paying full fare, she said.
One man cursed her out–and was backed by other riders–after she warned him it wasn’t safe to run in front of the bus.
“People don’t understand we’re holding their lives in our hands,” Cox said. “I’m looking through six or seven mirrors, trying to collect fares, watching traffic and dealing with people yelling at me or banging on the bus to be let on.”
Robert said he gets an earful from riders about bus bunching–the arrival of several buses at once after significant route delays.
“It used to be simple many years ago,” Robert said. “If you were driving and you found yourself too close to the bus in front of you, you went around and passed them, picking up passengers so they wouldn’t have to wait so long. Now, that isn’t allowed.”
Not true, according to Ziegler, who said bus drivers are permitted to pass one another, when traffic allows, to alleviate bus bunching.
Robert and Cox said schedules also lag because communication with the CTA control center is flawed. Control center employees use a two-way text messaging system–which drivers can access via a blue box mounted near the driver’s side window–to alert drivers about emergencies, according to Ziegler. But drivers said that communication doesn’t happen as often as it should due to system glitches.
Ziegler said it is “an older system that does have its limitations.”
The transit agency is working to identify and solve service problems with newer technologies, according to Ziegler, who cited the No. 20-Madison bus-tracking pilot, which uses satellite technology to provide bus locations to riders via the Internet and to bus supervisors in the field via the control center.
Cox said riders also contribute to lateness by not having their fare ready or “holding” the bus for others who are blocks away from the stop.
“We have a schedule, and we have to keep to it,” Cox said. “We don’t like full buses any more than you do, because that makes it more dangerous to drive because people are blocking our view.
“We can’t tell anyone not to board, and then we have to make a lot more stops when a bus is packed.”
There are no capacity restrictions for buses, according to CTA policy, so bus drivers must stop for any riders who wish to board. Drivers also must collect fares, said the president of the local union that represents bus drivers.
“Bus drivers are told by the CTA to strongly request fares and then act like they’re some kind of police writing a physical description of any customer who refuses to pay,” said Darrell Jefferson, a former bus driver and current president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 241.
Cox and Robert said they are always aware that an undercover CTA employee or another rider might turn them in if they don’t collect.
Cox said her job has taught her a lot about people.
“I’m no longer shocked by the things people say to me,” she said.
Robert, too, said he has become numb over the years, but sometimes a rider can still get a rise out of him.
“I had a guy who got on my bus and said, ‘Man, I wish I could sit on my ass all day and get paid a lot of money,’ ” Robert said.
“I wish this guy could trade seats with me for just one day and see if he still feels that way.”
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BY THE NUMBERS
The CTA employs 3,572 full-time and 840 part-time bus drivers, according to CTA spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler. Here are more figures, courtesy of Ziegler and Darrell Jefferson, a former bus driver and president of the bus drivers union. — Kyra Kyles
$14-$25
Average driver’s wages per hour
143
Number of bus supervisors
8
Number of bus garages
2,100
Approximate number of buses, but the CTA receives new bus orders on a regular basis
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BE A BETTER RIDER
Want a better, faster bus ride? Bus drivers Michelle Cox and Dachae Newbern said it’s possible if you follow their bus riding tips.
— Kyra Kyles
Know your route
Cox said she tries to assist people with directions, but drivers juggle multiple routes and system maps and often are not available to help. “It’s better if you go online and plan your trip or call 1-888-YOUR CTA,” Cox said. “That way, you also get the schedule and know when to expect the next bus.”
Newbern reminds riders that not all operators are from Chicago and may honestly not know directions beyond their route. She said, “I live in Chicago, and I work for the transit authority, but if you don’t know where you’re going, how would I?”
Leave your house earlier
Traffic is an unavoidable evil, Cox said, and buses will come late. So try to catch the bus arriving just before the one you actually want. But most importantly, don’t leave late, Cox said. “If your bus is due at 6:56 a.m., why are you leaving the house at 6:56 a.m.?”
Be ready to board
Drivers are on strict schedules and could be written up for being too early or too late, so be ready. “Be at the stop, looking like you want to board, or drivers pass you up,” Cox said. “And please don’t run behind or cross in front of a bus trying to get it to stop. It’s distracting and dangerous.”
Prepare your fare
Riders who board while talking on cell phones or taking a last drag from their cigarettes hold up progress, Cox said. Get your fare card ready so you can board, and move back for other riders, Newbern added.
Don’t eat or drink on buses
“There are roaches and, I’ve heard, even rats on some buses,” Cox said. “But why is that? There is food and litter all over the bus. If you stop eating and drinking, the bus will stay clean, and we’ll all be happy.”
Keep conversations low
Cox said she is battling traffic, peering into multiple mirrors and trying to listen for stop requests. That’s hard to do when riders sitting behind her yell to one another or through a cell phone.
Don’t just call to complain
“Riders call in on me if I ask them to add a quarter to the fare box that is saying ‘add a quarter,’ ” Cox said. “It’s not our fault. We have a big, thick book of standards to obey. Can’t someone call in about something positive? Isn’t that the way you’d like to be treated? We hold people’s lives in our hands every day.”
TELL US
Hey, bus drivers: Do you agree or disagree with the drivers’ complaints? Tell us at ritaredeye@tribune.com. Please include your full name, age and neighborhood.
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kkyles@tribune.com
