Tag: Public transit (buses & trains)

The “right or wrong” on Fox Chicago news a couple nights ago was: “I agree with the survey saying CTA service has improved” 25% say right 75% say wrong This just in: 75% of Chicagoans are idiots. How in the…

Yesterday I rode six different buses, so I thought it would be fun to shoot one photo for each bus. To church: –49 Western southbound –66 Chicago eastbound To my sister’s: –8 Halsted northbound –22 Clarck northbound To my apartment:…

We all often sit like robots on the bus. I’m a reading robot. Being a robot can be good sometimes, because we respect each other’s quiet and space. But we don’t have to be totally robotic. This past Wednesday night…

Here’s a fun little video shot with my $20 Vistaquest VQ1005. Look for more videos to be posted here soon. I’ve been shooting more with this little guy. Riding around Chicago’s loop on a brown line train. I set the…

Many of the Reps in the Illinois House have Metra stations in their district. However, many of these Reps did not vote to pass funding for Metra. $400 billion is needed a year for Metra, CTA and Pace. Here’s a…

Jay Hoffman–a democrat and chairman of the Illinois House transportation committee–did not vote to support Metra, CTA and Pace in the initial vote for SB572. What’s wrong here? A) He’s a democrat and only the very very southern Democrats have…

Everyone’s talking about how it sucks that the Illinois legislature has not passed funding for Chicago’s transit system. 39 bus routes cut, fares increased, 600 employees laid off. The Illlinois House will be getting together again on Friday, November 2,…

Northeast Illinois is in desperate need of additional funding. On September 4, 2007 the Illinois House of Representatives voted on bill SB572, which would have raised $400 million for operating costs for the CTA, Metra, and Pace. But the bill…

Chicagoist recently made a long post about the photography rules on the CTA and how they are still convoluted. Here’s my short and simple interpretation of the rules: No tripods No cables No lights No obstruct transit operations No interfere…

Outside every subway and L station should be some sort of compass/directional device that points out which way is north. So often people come out of train stations all confused about directions. A simple item embedded in the sidewalk would…

After the two-hour delay Chicago commuters experienced this morning on the purple, red, and brown lines; I suggest you send an email to: [email protected] Here’s my letter. Feel free to copy and send it to the CTA. The more voices,…

On a quiet, loaded rush hour El (Chicago transit train), there were two older people that were networking, talking business, and exchanged business cards. The usual daily rush hour train in Chicago is a silent box filled with sleepy workers…

All aboard! «dõõ-oo–o°°°o-o°°°o-o°°°o-o^^^o-o^^^o-o±±±o-o—-o¬**** ============================================ Anyone have any neat ideas on how to do a different engine or boxcars or even caboose?

While waiting for the brown line train to arrive at midnight, I counted the number of spiders waiting in their spider webs with me. 97. And that wasn’t the entire platform, there was about 25% of the area that I…

The Chicago Transit authority is going to do some major service cuts if they don’t get $55-million from the Illinois government. (background stories if you haven’t heard about it: Chicagoist, Chicagobusiness.com, CTA.) I’m going to mail a series of postcards…

A letter I sent to the Chicago Transit Authority yesterday. ======== Dear CTA Customer Service, I’m writing to let you know that I appreciate what your customer service did for me on the phone today. My monthly CTA Chicago Card…

There’s a great website out there, dpchallenge.com For newbies and experienced digital photo buffs alike, this site offers weekly challenges on a wide variety of themes, some for paying members and some for anyone. There’s also a lively community. Paying…

This applies to Chicago’s mass transit system. (The metra has a different system) Front and back car: not in a rush, easy going Middle car (where most CTA exit stairways are): In a rush. Packed. On a mission–wanting to be…

It was funny to watch people on the Chicago elevated mass transit train watch a bouncy ball roll across the floor. It simply captivated everyone’s attention. Observing the ball roll up and down the floor of the train as it…

Metra trains should have one car designated for entertainment.* TV with movies or tv shows playing* Live entertainment* Board games, play a game of monopoly with a stranger* Discussion groups with certain themes* Vacation picture sharing* Book club Any other…

Cars really need to respect buses more. Buses carry many many more people than a car. So please don’t honk at a bus that cuts you off. Because you are honking at about 50 people that are saving the environment…

the Chicago cta buses and trains interior advertising areas have a lot of empty spaces lately. Looks like an ample opportunity for some artists to post their work

Sitting sideways on the bus makes it much harder to sleep than if you sat facing forwards. When the bus makes. When sitting sideways on the bus, the constant stop-and-go makes your entire body move. But when sitting facing forwards,…

This morning on my bus ride to work, I was standing below the speaker on a overstuffed bus with people. Every time the bus would accerlate, a weird high pitch buzz would emit from the speaker in the ceiling. Then…