Results tagged “cta”

It's almost spring, the season for bicycle commuting, leisurely weekend bike rides, longer bike trips - and sudden afternoon rainstorms. In these situations, you have three choices: suck it up and get wet, leave your bike wherever it was and seek shelter, or haul yourself and your bike onto a CTA bus or train. Here's a handy-dandy list of rules and some tips for all of your emergency biking needs this spring and summer. more ›

The Illinois Rail Museum will host a fundraiser Sunday, March 28, with a chartered ride on nearly every rail line of the CTA, as well as "non-revenue" lines and rail yards, on a four car train of 2200-series cars built by Budd, the oldest CTA cars in service. (Just like riding the Blue Line to work!) Those cars are scheduled for retirement, to be replaced by 5000-series cars. The event, which costs $42 a ticket, will raise funds to pay for indoor storage of the IRM's cream-and-green 2000 series L cars from the 1960s. more ›

So far this year, while you've been fulfilling - or breaking - your New Year's resolutions and waiting for spring, you've also (hopefully) been working to pay off your transportation costs for the year. According to the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, it has taken the average Chicagoland resident until today, 70 days from the beginning of the new year, to make enough money to cover transit for the year. more ›

This morning, the Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch reports that the highest pay for CTA bus drivers ranks third in the nation at $28.64 per hour and, when adjusted for the city's cost of living, comes in first. The top bus driver pay in the nation goes to Boston's MBTA at $30.18 an hour; New York comes in sixth overall at $27.99 an hour. Top pay for Pace drivers is $24.93 an hour, 17th overall. The report comes at a time when the CTA is trying to draw the CTA unions to the negotiating table to reconfigure contracts in an effort to save the city money. (The current contract runs through 2011.) Hilkevitch reports: more ›

The Chicago Transit Authority has received a $1.5 million federal grant from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to construct electrified vehicle stalls that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and unnecessary fuel consumption. more ›

• Iraq war vet Joseph Jesk has been ordered held on $1 million bail in connection with the weekend shooting death of his wife, Heather Jesk.
• The battle over red light cameras continues tomorrow in Springfield.
• Fellow blogger (and our occasional sparring partner) Mike Doyle of Chicago Carless posted on his experiences blogging for the Trib's Chicago Now network and a huge discussion over what Chicago Now has allegedly done wrong and right has commenced over at the Windy Citizen.

Just as with last week's Facebook page incident, a group of student's has found themselves serving a suspension for something that occurred off of school grounds. This time, though, the suspension was at least backed by a portion of the school's conduct code as the students were caught ripping off the CTA for a free ride. Last week, CBS 2 aired video of people - the teens included - exploiting a design flaw in revolving doors at the Kedzie Brown Line stop. This week, a dozen Von Steuben High students found themselves suspended for a day for violating part of the magnet school's conduct code: "Students may be subject to disciplinary action for violations of inappropriate Behavior that occur either on or outside of school grounds." The CTA is in the midst of fixing the door to prevent such shenanigans in the future. more ›

• Illinois has made the next move in the game of chess over the Asian Carp Crisis.
• The State House voted today to limit those free CTA rides for seniors; seniors whose income comes in above a certain threshold will have to pay half-fare.
• Religious leaders enter the video poker fray.

Three men accused of attacking another man on the CTA Red Line probably thought they were home free after a judge at Cook County Criminal Court dismissed their misdemeanor assault charges yesterday. Instead, it turned out their troubles have just begun -- upon leaving the courtroom, the trio were re-arrested for the attack, but this time they were charged with felony hate crimes. more ›

Your CTA Bus Tracker may estimate an even longer wait time, and this time service cuts wouldn't be the only reason. CTA's union president is threatening a work slowdown by having drivers follow CTA rules "to the letter" in protest of the service cuts put into effect on February 7, Chicago Breaking News reports. more ›

Folks coming into the city from Schaumburg may find themselves riding the Good & Plenty Express if a Metra idea goes through to start selling naming rights to lines, train stations, and bridges. Metra recently raised fares to try and close a projected $60-70 million budget hole that they claim are due to a drop in sales tax revenues, the free rides for seniors program, and a decrease in ridership by workday commuters because of high unemployment rates. Selling naming rights could bring in needed revenue and help prevent more fare hikes in the near future. more ›

Next time you're at a CTA train station, If the rail cars you watch zoom by look somehow shinier and newer - the old route map and destination signs have been replaced with electronic versions, there's a surveillance camera on board, and the seats all face center - they probably are. The CTA is testing new, upgraded rail cars that will eventually replace in-use cars that are 30 or 40 years old. more ›

We've said it before but some of the best recent reporting on the CTA's doomsday service cuts has been done by the Tribune's/Red Eye's Tracy Swartz. And today the Windy Citizen has pulled in Tracy for a Q&A on the CTA cuts. Head over and pitch Tracy your questions and track down the latest on what's happening with the cuts, negotiations, and any potential restorations of services. more ›

There were fewer trains and buses and the ones that did run were more crowded, but CTA President Richard Rodriguez called the first full work day with reduced CTA services a "typical Monday" and the CTA reported "no major delays." more ›

The Chicago Transit Authority's "Doomsday" schedule was implemented yesterday, but today is supposedly the day where riders will feel the cuts in service. I'm of the opinion CTA wasn't doing a bang-up job maintaining its bus routes and schedules when they had a full service schedule — a friend Saturday called CTA the "Chicago Tardiness Authority" — but I have to say that my trip from Bridgeport to my day job in Evanston was none the worse for wear. Now ask me again after the return trip home. more ›

The day has finally come. No, not the Super Bowl, but CTA service cut day. Starting today, nine express buses will be eliminated, 41 bus routes will see their start and/or end times change, and 78 buses will see less frequent service. All rail lines except for the Yellow Line will also see less frequent service. In addition, 1,057 CTA employees--including 903 bus drivers and 116 rail operators--will be laid off. more ›

CTA Board Member Jacky Grimshaw made it to Governor Pat Quinn's election night party, but not without a few scrapes. According to the Sun-Times, Grimshaw's car was hit on North Lake Shore Drive by a taxi cab that had temporarily lost control in the snow. The cab changed lanes to regain control, hit the shoulder of the road and then hit Grimshaw's car. She said she had taken her car out that day to run some errands. Sporting a neck brace, she told the Sun-Times that next time it snows, she plans to take the CTA. more ›

While searching Flickr for some photos, we stumbled across this collection from user Eric Fischer. These are some great old photos and brochures we had to share. Links above go to large versions for easier reading pleasure. more ›

By now you've probably heard: the CTA is planning big cuts in service and jobs beginning Feb. 7. That means nine express bus routes will be eliminated completely, 119 bus routes and every rail line except the Yellow Line will run less frequently, and 41 bus routes will have reduced hours of operation. And that's not to mention the more than 1,100 CTA employees who stand to lose their jobs. If you're like us, you're dusting off your bike even though it's February; if you're like some of our readers, you may be getting fed up with the city altogether. more ›

• Mayor Daley said there's no reprieve coming for the impending CTA cuts.
• More developments in the Alexi Giannoulias/Broadway Bank matter. Meanwhile, opponent Cheryle Jackson has called for Giannoulias to bow out of the race.
• That new Blago indictment could be coming by next week.

With those big cuts looming on February 7, the CTA's biggest union is threatening a strike. Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 241, told WBEZ, "At some point you have to draw a line in the sand. Thanks to Mr. Rodrieguez and Mr. Peterson, that line has been drawn. I'm not sure what they want, but what they're asking for is definitely not going to happen." Over 1,100 CTA workers - mostly union - are slated to lose their jobs with this round of cuts. more ›

The CTA's plans to have at least one high-definition camera installed at every rail station by this summer continue moving forward. This week, the org came a little closer to that goal by installing cameras at 24 Green Line stations. The system now has 1,657 cameras installed at 73 rail stations; there are 144 total stations. The CTA is also launching a pilot program this spring to determine how feasible it is to retrofit existing rail cars with cameras. New rail cars come equipped with cameras already installed. more ›

It was the slightest of dips, but a dip nonetheless. CTA ridership was down one percent in 2009 over 2008. Rail ridership was up in '09 by two percent (just over 202 million) while bus ridership was down by three percent (around 319 million rides). But the CTA is upbeat about the small decrease, saying they expected it to much worse because of the economy and point to an overall double-digit growth over the last decade. We still wonder, though, what spin they'll put on the numbers next year when there's an even larger decrease thanks to those service cuts. We're all dusting off, tuning up, and winterizing our bikes. more ›

Significant bus and train service cuts and employee layoffs and are still set to begin on Feb. 7 for the CTA, despite an offer it made to labor unions today. The CTA offered to reduce the impact of the cuts in two weeks if its employees give back the 3.5 percent pay raise they received this year. The labor unions said no -- employees hadn't received a raise in four years. more ›

Among the usual photos we see from visitors to the city are shots of CTA trains pulling up to platforms. If you flip through our Flickr pool, you'll even see plenty of them from readers. But the CTA is now looking to crack down on what's being called "excessive photographing/filming" and some people aren't too happy about it. Besides being an alarmist call to report your fellow rider, Carlos Miller points out the contradiction of the new call to action with the CTA's own original guidelines which allow the public "to use hand-held cameras to take photographs, capture digital images, and videotape within public areas of CTA stations and transit vehicles for personal, non-commercial use." [via Gapers Block] more ›

A Rogers Park man who'd come to the aide of another passenger being hassled on the CTA Red Line was brutally attacked early Sunday morning, sustaining injuries that landed him in the hospital, the Trib reports. more ›

An allegedly intoxicated South Side man, 21, was not hurt when he stumbled onto the tracks at the Howard Red Line CTA station at 12:59 a.m. early Sunday. According to police, the man allegedly vomited on himself and fell forward onto the tracks. A CTA employee saw him fall and immediately cut the power, police said. Although the man was not injured, he was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he is being held until Sunday morning for observation. He is not expected to be charged, police said. [Chicago Sun-Times] more ›

Mayor Richard Daley was hesitant to make racism an issue as he spoke about the federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Illinois Department of Transportation, the RTA and Metra of discriminating against minorities, but he does feel the CTA is getting short changed on state subsidies. more ›

Did you use a Chicago Card while taking the CTA on New Year's Eve when the agency was allegedly giving people rides for a penny? There's a chance that they over-charged you and now you're getting refunded. Reader Steve Koo forwarded us an email the CTA is sending out to customers who were mistakenly charged a full $2.25 fare for their NYE rides. more ›

Check out the full 22-page ruling here.) more ›