Cta

Everyone's used to characters on the CTA. Now the CTA is using characters - about 140 of them - to its advantage. The CTA on Thursday celebrated the one-month anniversary of its Twitter and Facebook accounts. Since it launched its social media presence on Nov. 1, the CTA has garnered more than 3,400 Twitter followers and more than 4,700 likes on its Facebook page. "We believe this is a valuable resource for customers," said Brian Steele, the new CTA director of communications and media relations, who regularly updates the agency's social media outlets with a few other CTA employees.

"This is Sidekicks. Doors open on the right at Sidekicks. "  Give props to Thrillist this week for creating one of the most useful CTA maps since, well, ever. The site knocked together a map of the entire CTA system -- save for Skokie -- and renamed each stop to the name of the best bar in an under 10 minute walking distance.  That means Belmont Red becomes "Sheffield's" and the Ashland Green becomes the Cobra Lounge, and on from there. The RedEye offices collectively kicked ourselves and wondered why we didn't think of it first.  (Larger version here.)

Call 'em rail fails. Some Going Public readers have been railing against problems with CTA stations and train service lately. Next stop: Frustration station. No crown for Brown It seems that ever since the platform expansion was completed Brown Line off-peak trains (especially during the day and weekends) are only four cars. I feel that this is a problem because I have to stand every time and the trains are just packed. Especially with less frequent service it is quite inconvenient.

The CTA is soliciting feedback on its planned overhaul of the Wilson Red Line station. The agency last week released a draft assessment of the environmental impact of the project , which would make the Wilson stop a transfer point for the Purple Line and make the stop accessible for riders with disabilities. Under the CTA's $203 million makeover plan, other changes to the station could include: > > Longer and wider platforms > > Three new station entrances > > New escalators and elevators > > Additional bike parking > > Removal of some "L" columns on Broadway ...

The CTA today launched its campaign about stroller use on buses, reminding riders that priority seating is intended for the elderly and riders with disabilities. "Open strollers may be parked in this area if these seats are not in use, but must be moved if a customer with a disability or a senior needs the seat," says the placards on CTA buses and trains. Bus operators, who received retraining on the stroller policy, which has been in place for nearly 10 years, will pass out fliers with the policy to riders with strollers when they board the bus. The leaflets are available at rail stations, the CTA...

Six male riders - including a teenager - have been killed on CTA tracks since March, an increase from previous years, according to the transit agency's data. The most recent rail death was last week, when a 27-year-old ex-Marine visiting Chicago was electrocuted after touching the third rail at the South Boulevard stop on the Purple Line. Evanston police said he was on the tracks urinating and accidentally fell on the third rail. Zachary McKee's death was the second CTA rail death in April.

Gov. Quinn last week picked a longtime politico to sit on the CTA's board--and he doesn't live anywhere near a CTA stop. Quinn nominated Frank Zuccarelli, a 20-year supervisor of Thornton Township in south Cook County, to replace John Bouman, who is leaving the board after nearly four years. Zuccarelli, who resides in South Holland, did not return a request for comment. At least one of the members of the seven-member CTA board has to live outside Chicago city limits, according to state law. But every board member should have easy access to the CTA. The CTA...

Forget about rush hour. Every day on the CTA, it's crush hour - on men. For more than nine months, the website ctacrush.com has encouraged Chicagoans to submit photos of their CTA crushes. A new photo is uploaded about once a day. Sometimes they're of crushes on the buses, sometimes they're of crushes on the trains. The one thing all these crushes have in common: They are all men. Only one photo of a woman, a blond in a trench coat holding a pen and biting her finger in the back of a CTA bus, has been submitted.

Janet Martin loves to add a dash of honey to your commute. The CTA customer service agent greets many Brown Line riders with a "honey" and asks them about their day. If they need help getting to the platform, she's always there with an extra hand. The riders at the Kedzie stop in Albany Park, where Martin works from 6-9:30 a.m., don't just like her. They adore her. In a post last week on everyblock.com , a Chicago neighborhood discussion board, riders heaped praise on Martin, who has worked at the Chicago, Western and Addison stops in the past few years.

It's Valentine's Day, and you don't have a date? Don't panic yet; it's not too late. Several missed CTA connections are posted on RedEye's site. Some romantic, some funny, many based on sight. Going Public created a poem of some of the best pines. Orange, Blue and the bus lines. Each line is from a different submission. Check 'em out if you want love or if you're just out fishin': I first noticed you when we were walking through the turnstiles/ You had a bright pink phone, dark hair and nice smile.

After riding the No. 22 Clark bus last month, TJ Holly of Rogers Park noticed his pocket was a little lighter. Thankfully, his wallet was still there - but his Ventra card was gone. He logged onto ventrachicago.com Dec. 15 to report his card missing and request a replacement card. And then he waited. And waited some more. In the meantime, he walked instead of riding the bus. Then he bought a new card from a Ventra vending machine. His replacement card never came in the mail, though Ventra says normal delivery of replacement cards is seven to 10 business days.

It's time for change, Chicago. Or rather, it's time for Ventra. Change, tokens, magnetic stripe cards, Chicago Cards - the CTA's been there, done that over the past 50 years. Now Ventra is set to completely replace magnetic stripe and Chicago Cards likely sometime soon (though cash still will be accepted on buses). Fare payment system changes are rare, and the transition to Ventra hasn't been smooth. Ventra was supposed to replace Chicago Cards and magnetic stripe cards last year, but the CTA relaxed those deadlines so glitches could be fixed.

A play that showcases real-life CTA stories will celebrate its 100th consecutive Saturday show this weekend. "El Stories," a reenactment of interviews with CTA riders, has been performed every Saturday at the Greenhouse Theater in Lincoln Park since March 2012, play spokesman J.D. Ostergaard said. The show was performed several times before then, but not with the consistency it sees now. There have been nearly 150 total performances of the play, which rotates stories every few months.

Perhaps it's time to set up a red carpet outside CTA buses. Sometimes it seems like the amount of time it takes to tap your Ventra card to board a bus is equal to the time it takes to flash your ID to get into a club. The CTA, though, says split-second boarding is the norm. Recent data shows that about 60 percent of the time, Ventra taps on buses were processed in 0.5 seconds or less, but about 35 percent of the time, bus taps were accepted in 1.1 to 2.5 seconds. Less often, bus taps were processed in 0.6 to 1 second (about...

There's no such thing as a free CTA ride, especially not if you threaten the transit employees. A Chicago man was arrested Sunday afternoon at the Red Line Garfield train stop after he allegedly threatened to beat an agency employee who wouldn't let him ride the train for free, county prosecutors said. Travis Wade, 24, of the 1400 block of North Halsted Street, was charged with aggravated assault to a CTA employee and an unlawful weapons possession offense after police officers who were called to the train station found he was carrying a...

For five months last year, the CTA shut down the southern portion of the Red Line to rip up and replace track. Stations were closed and riders were ferried to the Green Line. This construction was to rid that area of the Red Line, long a magnet for stop-and-go service, of slow zones. When the southern section of the Red Line reopened in October, CTA Chief Infrastructure Officer Chris Bushell told RedEye that portion would require minimal maintenance for 10 years. Less than three months later, the Red Line South has a slow zone.

The Red Line, the backbone of the 'L,' has become more like a ball of nerves. Last week, the CTA touted a 3 percent increase in ridership from 2010 to 2011, but the southern portion of the Red Line saw a dip - perhaps due to slow zones. The case of Red Line slow zones may provide clues to how Red Line and Loop ridership could be affected in the next few months when two construction projects will likely bring similar slowdowns. The CTA will be working on renewing its track in the Loop this spring, and the agency will be improving stations on the northern sections of the Red Line this summer.

Listen up, riders. The CTA wants you to know that soon it will be switching to Ventra, its new fare payment system that the agency plans to roll out this summer. The CTA this week began audio announcements on all its buses about Ventra. There are two versions of the announcements, which run every 25 to 30 minutes. "They're basically educational recordings letting people know to visit ventrachicago.com," CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis said. "It's just kind of an awareness campaign right now. " The CTA has not yet announced a start date for Ventra except to say that it is...

The CTA is having trouble with large gaps in its bus service, according to performance metrics released this week. From April through November, the agency did not meet its monthly target for the amount of time between two buses on a route, according to a November performance report. A CTA spokeswoman blamed the shortfall on the five-month southern Red Line overhaul that required multiple shuttle buses to ferry riders to the Green Line and other stops. "You get one traffic jam and it causes a ripple effect," CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.

The CTA has selected nine artists to create work for eight South Side Red Line stations that underwent renovation last year. The works will join other artwork at the stations between 35th and 87th Streets. Cermak-Chinatown, meanwhile, will receive its first piece of artwork. All but one artist is from Chicagoland, and installation of the art will begin late this year. Two artists will be working on the 63rd Street stop. Nine Red Line stations south of Roosevelt Road were closed for five months last year so the CTA could install new...