I would call myself a pretty loyal customer. I take the train to and from work each and every day, Monday through Friday. Each way includes two transfers to different lines. I've noticed some things that I thought were worthy of pointing out.
- I'm not sure what exactll is going on with the track switches in the loop, but my pink line train sits (on average) five minutes when trying to enter the loop on the way home. There's one man that usually rides in my car (no matter which car I choose!) that gets pretty violently angry when this happens. He swears very loudly and says things like, "This train is already ten minutes late! Come on! Let's go! *expletive*". You can tell it makes the passengers uncomfortable, so if not for me, would you consider fixing whatever it is at issue?
- When your trains are late, they tend to get overcrowded. Duh, right? Well, also "duh" is that when that happens, it's going to cause (a) people to try and cram themselves into whatever little space there is in a train when one happens by and (b) an increase in the amount of time it takes at each stop. More people = more time getting around the crowd that has formed at each door. One thing that doesn't really help the situation is when the train operator comes on the loud speaker to chastise paying customers for trying to get on the train. Everyone just wants to get home.
- The phrase, "there's an immediate follower directly behind me" really means nothing to passengers. That's because (a) they've been waiting for probably 15-20 minutes already for a train, so the thought of waiting longer isn't terribly welcome news and (b) the "immediate follower" will be just as crammed full as the train sitting in the station.
- When trains get behind, one or more of them tend to run express to some stop that no one seems to want to go to. I understand you're trying to get things back on schedule, but seriously? During rush hour? You're going to run express from Belmont (major stop way before the end of the line) to the end of the line at Howard? Doesn't that just make the red line the purple line?
- I can't help but think things like "If the CTA was a restaurant, it would have closed in the first week after it opened!" when I ride your trains. That's because some of the people that work for you (not all, but some) are not very good at their jobs. Your employees are providing a service to the people of this good city. People pay to ride the train. So, that means that the people that work in the stations and drive those trains should at least pretend to want to help the people they meet. Let me provide a personal experience for you. One of my friends was in town a couple of months ago. We went to the station to get on the train and my fare card didn't work when I tried to pass it back to her. I pay monthly and know that my credit card is tied to my account just for such situations. When my card didn't work, instead of being helpful, the station attendant said I "wasn't using [the card] correctly". Really? Cause all you do is touch it to the little pad thing on the turnstile. So what wasn't I doing correctly, do you think? A helpful response would have gone something like, "I'm sorry for your trouble, sir. Please step through this gate since I know that you have an account with us and I'm sure something is at issue. Here is the number for our customer service folks so you can get that fixed. Enjoy your day!"
Thank you for your consideration in these matters. I truly do think that if you fix these (and similar) issues, we might actually get the Olympics in Chicago someday. Until then, let's focus on some smaller event -- like a Cubs game! But that's for another letter.
Yours in concern,
D
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