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.

A teen was arrested Tuesday at his Cicero home and charged with burglary after he was accused of stealing Chicago Transit Authority items from the Logan Square Blue Line Station. Francisco Vazquez, 18, was allegedly caught on video surveillance at the CTA station aiding another individual breaking into a station kiosk and stealing a CTA radio, among other items, on Nov. 24. Information on Vazquez's co-defendant was not immediately available. According to county court records, Vazquez served as lookout for his companion, who entered the kiosk without permission using a special key...

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.

When the CTA contacted Jeremy Capp late last month to ask why he had not yet transitioned to Ventra, the Bucktown resident told the CTA he was not planning to activate his Ventra card until the “last possible second.” Capp said he has had his Ventra card for months but has been waiting to switch from his Chicago Card Plus until Ventra vendor Cubic Transportation Systems worked out the glitches. “I was annoyed that they were making me get a new card when the one I had already did exactly what Ventra was going to do,” Capp, 35, told Going Public.

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.

The CTA has sent questionnaires to riders still using their Chicago Card Plus cards to solicit feedback on why they have not switched to Ventra, the CTA's controversial new fare payment system. The questionnaires, which ask participants if they have received the Ventra card and why they haven't activated it yet, are accompanied by tips on how to activate the cards. "The goal is to solicit ongoing feedback so that based on any number of answers provided, the CTA can then better assist customers with the information they need to complete the activation process,"...

The CTA Holiday Train kicks off its annual run Friday afternoon from Midway Airport, the CTA said. The train will depart the airport station at about 3 p.m. and travel on the Orange and Green lines. On Friday, the train will make one trip from Midway to Harlem/Lake, via downtown, one trip from Harlem/Lake to Cottage Grove and one trip from Cottage Grove to Midway, via downtown, the CTA said. In the annual tradition, the train is festooned with holiday decorations. There is no extra fare to ride the Holiday Train.

It's the most wonderful train of the year.  The CTA announced the 2013 Holiday Train schedule Tuesday, and the Green Line will be the first route it travels beginning Nov. 29. The CTA notes the decked out train is out on the tracks from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on select weekdays.  ( Click here for the full schedule on the CTAs website.)  The six-car train is decorated inside and out with thousands of lights, and pasted up with colorful seasonal images on the outside.

Tapped out on holiday gift ideas? Here are a few CTA token trinkets that harken back to the days of yore, the '90s, when riders could use tokens or magnetic stripe cards to pay their fares. The CTA eliminated tokens in 1999, while the magnetic stripe card, a mainstay for nearly two decades, was slated for elimination Dec. 15 before it won a reprieve thanks to problems with Ventra. Disposable farecard earrings $20 , UrbaneBeads shop on etsy.com Seller says: "I began collecting dropped and lost CTA transit passes and was inspired to...

CTA riders can take buses and trains for free for six hours on New Year's Eve, MillerCoors announced Monday. The CTA and MillerCoors inked the three-year, $1.3 million deal in 2012. The offer lasts from 10 p.m. New Year's Eve to 4 a.m. New Year's Day. The CTA has long offered a penny rides program, but no pennies are required to pay fares this year. MillerCoors is the first company to sponsor this program. The CTA has said about 150,000 rides have been logged on the holiday.

The CTA today released an assessment of the environmental impact of its proposed $160 million project to create express bus service on Ashland Avenue. The agency also announced it is holding public meetings next month on the controversial 16-mile bus rapid transit project that would affect Ashland Avenue between Irving Park Road and 95th Street. The public meetings will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 10 at Benito Juarez Community Academy, 1450 W. Cermak Road, and from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, 1419 W. Blackhawk St. Riders have a month to comment on the...

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...

It couldn't be spelled out more clearly.  "VENTRA SUCKS" reads a string of what appears to be more than 300 magnetic stripe CTA cards in a photo shared on Facebook late last night. It appears to be taped up with blue painters' tape at the Logan Square Blue Line stop. It's unclear if the makeshift protest is still hanging around, but it likely took quite a bit of effort -- and tape -- to express such emotion. "Saw this as I was getting on my bike at the Logan Station to ride home tonight," writes Deborah McCoy on Facebook.

A completely naked woman calling herself the "goddess of the train" snarled movement of a CTA Red Line train over the weekend.  The incident and very NSFW photos were posted to ChicagoNow blog CTA Tattler on Saturday afternoon. The blog notes the nude woman got on the train at Granville Avenue just before 1 p.m., and referred to herself as the "goddess of the train. " The Tattler notes the incident is what likely prompted an alert from the CTA.  " Some 95th-bound Red Line trains are operating with residual delays after a...