CTA gripes (Chicago, Granville, Forrest: price, train, budget)

[Bird4Prez]

Just looking to vent a little. I am well aware of the fact that the CTA is an easy target, but none the less there have been a few things that have driven me up the wall over the last few months:

The new cars are not set up properly at all. The bench style seating actually causes less space to sit than the older models with the two by two format. It is like the cars were chosen by someone who never actually uses the CTA.

Obviously, the fare hike has been ridiculous.

The escalator at my stop (Granville) was out for over 4 weeks. I understand that walking the stairs is the better way to go, but the way the platform is set up makes walking the stairs a challenge because of how thin the exit portion of the platform is (hope that makes sense).

The new digital schedule flat screens do not seem to work during any adverse weather conditions.

Am I missing anything?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

The new cars are not set up properly at all. The bench style seating actually causes less space to sit than the older models with the two by two format. It is like the cars were chosen by someone who never actually uses the CTA.

They did the ability to stand additional people as well as improve circulation.

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

Obviously, the fare hike has been ridiculous.

Was it? Do you work every year and never expect a raise?

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

The escalator at my stop (Granville) was out for over 4 weeks. I understand that walking the stairs is the better way to go, but the way the platform is set up makes walking the stairs a challenge because of how thin the exit portion of the platform is (hope that makes sense).

Register a complaint via the website. They do use feedback to prioritize projects.

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

The new digital schedule flat screens do not seem to work during any adverse weather conditions.

I've not noticed this at any of the stations I frequent.

[Bird4Prez]

I would LOVE to get a 16% raise. That was what the % increase was for the 30 day pass. Or a 21% raise......which was what the 7 day increase was. They spend years being mismanaged and pass the financial burden on to us. And I called and registered online complaints at least 5 times during the month of inactivity. Are you a CTA employee? Are you Forrest Claypool's secretary?

[ChicagoMeO]

I think they based the seats based on New York trains.. however, we are not New York. We have different needs and are used to different things.

I would not like the new seats that everyone faces the aisle because you have more chance of staring into crotches and also people stealing stuff of your lap. when you face a seat, you at least can hold that in better.

[marothisu]

As someone who actually commutes via train to work almost everyday, the new trains are great for the busy times. Too often, the old trains get full too easily. The new ones can fit more people which means I dont have to wait for another train to go home. I can understand people being weird for other times but I honestly have no problem with them, especially for my commute

[Ace Rothstein]

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

I would LOVE to get a 16% raise. That was what the % increase was for the 30 day pass. Or a 21% raise......which was what the 7 day increase was. They spend years being mismanaged and pass the financial burden on to us. And I called and registered online complaints at least 5 times during the month of inactivity. Are you a CTA employee? Are you Forrest Claypool's secretary?

Since fares don't increase every year, they are going to have a large percentage increase when they do go up.

[mjtinmemphis]

The new trains don't bother me. Like previous poster wrote it allows for more passengers due to standing capacity. One thing I cannot stand is a half empty train with 6people standing at the door pecking on their iPhone looking scared that someone may rob them of it.

When looking at transit fair cost and consider the quality of the overall system CTA isn't bad at all.

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

I would LOVE to get a 16% raise. That was what the % increase was for the 30 day pass. Or a 21% raise......which was what the 7 day increase was. They spend years being mismanaged and pass the financial burden on to us. And I called and registered online complaints at least 5 times during the month of inactivity. Are you a CTA employee? Are you Forrest Claypool's secretary?

It's not a 16% annual increase though. They went many years with no increases. Look at it this way, back in the mid 90s, the monthly pass was $88. Fares have increased 13.6% over 17 years, an annual increase of 0.75% per year since 1995. Would you be happy with a 0.75% raise every year? Probably not. Would you be happy if gas, rent, food, etc only went up 0.75% per year? Sure you would. Why should CTA fares be any different?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Bird4Prez

I would LOVE to get a 16% raise. That was what the % increase was for the 30 day pass. Or a 21% raise......which was what the 7 day increase was. They spend years being mismanaged and pass the financial burden on to us. And I called and registered online complaints at least 5 times during the month of inactivity. Are you a CTA employee? Are you Forrest Claypool's secretary?

I'm not a CTA nor city employee. I've never worked for any public agency, preferring to work in the private, for-profit sector.

However, I am a rational, logical person who works from facts. If you'd like to do more than just spout things off the top of your head, with no context or understanding, then maybe one thing to get some background is by reading this report provided during the discussion of the 2004 fare increase. It's far from the only thing you need to read to actually have a good background, but it's a good start that covers a lot of areas.

Here is a chart showing growth of fares since 1980, along with the ratio of a monthly pass price to base cash fare. Keep in mind that over that state subsidies for operations have fluctuated wildly, and federal subsidies were eliminated.

Chart by me, using historical data

In that you can see that while the past 8 years or so have been unusually good deals for monthly pass users, even with the increase last month the overall value of the pass is not above the trendline.

Here's another chart, this one showing the ratio of monthly pass price to the CPI. In this one, the higher the number the better.


Chart by me, using historical data.

I moved to Chicago in 1995, so based on my personal timeframe, there's still a long-term trend of the monthly pass price improving, even after last month's increase. But even looking at the longer trend since 1980, the mid-1990s were a terrible time to be a CTA customer - it really was the nadir for the CTA by almost every measure - but it recovered by 2000, and since then it's been more or less bouncing around the same value ratio as it was before the terrible times of the mid-1990s.

So, your tantrum aside, the CTA isn't out of line with the pricing change.

[chicagobear]

I think that the seats are too small. Even non-fat people don't want to sit in empty seats next to another person since you are too close to him or her and they will stand instead.