Nasty people on the CTA

[jajuan]

Now that Huberman is concentrating on improving service, hopefully more can be done about some of the nasty people who ride the CTA, and I'm not talking about hygiene. That's a personal problem people should be able to take care of themselves. I'm talking about people who think the trains and buses are supposed to be their personal trash cans.

The trains have gotten somewhat better, but some of the buses have looked like pig pens. I got on a 111 at the 95th/Red Line station last Sunday to visit a friend and it was disgusting. There were food wrappers all over the seats, as if everyone riding just went to the neighborhood restaurants and had a party on the bus. It was one of 103rd's higher numbered Flyers so the bus was only in service a month or two at most. I couldn't help but think to myself is this how people treat new buses when the CTA puts them in their neighborhoods to improve the quality of their service? It was a good thing this bus was ahead of schedule and another cleaner bus (another Flyer) was leaving right away. I don't think I could take the twenty minute ride in that mess.

And I'm not just dumping on the south side because I see it on buses in other parts of town. Just yesterday this teenage girl riding on the 12 sitting across from me was eating sunflower seeds and blatantly tossing the shells on the floor not really caring if they hit anyone or not. It's just totally ridiculous. I doubt they treat their homes that way, and if they did I wouldn't want to be inside.

[BusExpert32]

Now that Huberman is concentrating on improving service, hopefully more can be done about some of the nasty people who ride the CTA, and I'm not talking about hygiene. That's a personal problem people should be able to take care of themselves. I'm talking about people who think the trains and buses are supposed to be their personal trash cans.

The trains have gotten somewhat better, but some of the buses have looked like pig pens. I got on a 111 at the 95th/Red Line station last Sunday to visit a friend and it was disgusting. There were food wrappers all over the seats, as if everyone riding just went to the neighborhood restaurants and had a party on the bus. It was one of 103rd's higher numbered Flyers so the bus was only in service a month or two at most. I couldn't help but think to myself is this how people treat new buses when the CTA puts them in their neighborhoods to improve the quality of their service? It was a good thing this bus was ahead of schedule and another cleaner bus (another Flyer) was leaving right away. I don't think I could take the twenty minute ride in that mess.

And I'm not just dumping on the south side because I see it on buses in other parts of town. Just yesterday this teenage girl riding on the 12 sitting across from me was eating sunflower seeds and blatantly tossing the shells on the floor not really caring if they hit anyone or not. It's just totally ridiculous. I doubt they treat their homes that way, and if they did I wouldn't want to be inside.

Controlling the nasty people aboard the CTA is one problem that will most likely never be solved by Ron Huberman. Buses and trains are cleaned with more regularity at the tranit centers now and train stations, but what can anyone do about the trashed vehicles in service? Nothing really as the bus drivers or employees at train stations don't care about what anyone brings on board even if its against regulations, considering electronics and food. No matter what the CTA does, they must accept any paying customer even if their hygiene is nausiating or if they have food to make a mess. Unless they have a garbage can with them or some other stockpile of trash, then they'll definitely be allowed aboard anywhere. The only possible solution to this would be to actually control if anyone enters with food drinks, or bad personal hygiene. But won't wasting money and time for checking each person be fruitless if they just have sunflower seeds or wrapped foods? All of this can easily be sweeped and cleaned. Your experiences don't seem bad at all, considering what happens on the CTA. I've personally seen people eat fast-food meals on CTA vehicles and then leave their left overs on the seats or floor, and the drink usually spills all over, so food wrappers might be a little less disgusting then sitting and stepping on actual food.

[Guest]

Controlling the nasty people aboard the CTA is one problem that will most likely never be solved by Ron Huberman. Buses and trains are cleaned with more regularity at the tranit centers now and train stations, but what can anyone do about the trashed vehicles in service? Nothing really as the bus drivers or employees at train stations don't care about what anyone brings on board even if its against regulations, considering electronics and food. No matter what the CTA does, they must accept any paying customer even if their hygiene is nausiating or if they have food to make a mess. Unless they have a garbage can with them or some other stockpile of trash, then they'll definitely be allowed aboard anywhere. The only possible solution to this would be to actually control if anyone enters with food drinks, or bad personal hygiene. But won't wasting money and time for checking each person be fruitless if they just have sunflower seeds or wrapped foods? All of this can easily be sweeped and cleaned. Your experiences don't seem bad at all, considering what happens on the CTA. I've personally seen people eat fast-food meals on CTA vehicles and then leave their left overs on the seats or floor, and the drink usually spills all over, so food wrappers might be a little less disgusting then sitting and stepping on actual food.

I remember a few years ago CTA made the attempt to curb the trash problem on board the buses by installing portable trash containers near the rear door. you still found McDonalds trash, Sunflower Seeds and other trash all over the rear of the bus. Even with trash containers on board people still treated the bus like their personal garbage can. People just dont know any better.

[jajuan]

Controlling the nasty people aboard the CTA is one problem that will most likely never be solved by Ron Huberman. Buses and trains are cleaned with more regularity at the tranit centers now and train stations, but what can anyone do about the trashed vehicles in service? Nothing really as the bus drivers or employees at train stations don't care about what anyone brings on board even if its against regulations, considering electronics and food. No matter what the CTA does, they must accept any paying customer even if their hygiene is nausiating or if they have food to make a mess. Unless they have a garbage can with them or some other stockpile of trash, then they'll definitely be allowed aboard anywhere. The only possible solution to this would be to actually control if anyone enters with food drinks, or bad personal hygiene. But won't wasting money and time for checking each person be fruitless if they just have sunflower seeds or wrapped foods? All of this can easily be sweeped and cleaned. Your experiences don't seem bad at all, considering what happens on the CTA. I've personally seen people eat fast-food meals on CTA vehicles and then leave their left overs on the seats or floor, and the drink usually spills all over, so food wrappers might be a little less disgusting then sitting and stepping on actual food.

I probably didn't make it clear in my original post, but this was more than just food wrappers. There was still food left in most of these wrappers with ketchup and sauce leaking into some of the seats. I'm talking left over bones and half eaten fries. If it had been just food wrappers alone it probably wouldn't be as bad. As for the sunflower seeds, who wants to sit in the middle of the shells that's been in another person's mouth. Come on now. Whether you think it doesn't sound too unpleasant, it's just disgusting. But whether it was just sunflower seeds or wrapped foods, public vehicles are not people's person trash cans. I'm not saying the drivers should check every rider for food items. Of course that's a waste of time. My point is an attempt should have been made by the driver to at least check for the paper on the seats. I thought this was still part of policy for the drivers to check their buses at the terminals and pick up excess paper lying around on the bus. And as I stated I wasn't referring to people's hygiene issues because that's a personal matter for them to solve on their own. That's going above and beyond the call of duty for any driver, and I don't expect them to do hygiene checks. However, the paper lying around can be picked up whether some of us look at it as not too bad or not.

[Busjack]

I thought at first "nasty people" referred to the employees, but you meant the passenger. I sort of agree with BusExpert that unless you have police on all the trains or surveillance cameras with follow-up enforcement, you won't stop the slobs. The cameras on the buses might have caught a few graffiti jerks, but appear not to have deterred gunmen in the 103rd area. Obviously, the little black signs in the cars and buses have no effect. Also, there was some discussion in the newspapers whether the push to put paying concessionaires in the stations is inconsistent with not eating on the train. I'm sure that everyone who buys at the Dunkin Donuts in the 95th station finishes in the store. :D

[Guest]

I probably didn't make it clear in my original post, but this was more than just food wrappers. There was still food left in most of these wrappers with ketchup and sauce leaking into some of the seats. I'm talking left over bones and half eaten fries. If it had been just food wrappers alone it probably wouldn't be as bad. As for the sunflower seeds, who wants to sit in the middle of the shells that's been in another person's mouth. Come on now. Whether you think it doesn't sound too unpleasant, it's just disgusting. But whether it was just sunflower seeds or wrapped foods, public vehicles are not people's person trash cans. I'm not saying the drivers should check every rider for food items. Of course that's a waste of time. My point is an attempt should have been made by the driver to at least check for the paper on the seats. I thought this was still part of policy for the drivers to check their buses at the terminals and pick up excess paper lying around on the bus. And as I stated I wasn't referring to people's hygiene issues because that's a personal matter for them to solve on their own. That's going above and beyond the call of duty for any driver, and I don't expect them to do hygiene checks. However, the paper lying around can be picked up whether some of us look at it as not too bad or not.

When I was a driver for CTA I didnt have a problem if newspapers were left on board but when you have to deal with food that has been in peoples mouths and god knows where their hands were, thats where you draw the line. The drivers arent there to pick up after peoples digusting manners.

At Pace thankfully I havent had to deal with the food problem, newspapers occaisionally is a problem but one can deal with that but by god I wish riders would pick up after themselves. It not our job to clean up after ones mess. And if I do catch passengers attempting to leave their garbage I do get on them to make sure they take their mess with them.

[Busjack]

Somewhat related to this is the link on the home page to the Tribune story on gum busters.

Apparently, the pigs are forcing huge cleaning expenses on the CTA, but probably will be the first to scream if fares go up.

[BUSANGEL#1]

Problem #1-CTA employees are not doing their terminal checks(This is a big problem especially when that bus is in service from sunrise till sunset).

Problem #2-The CTA DOES NOT enforce its own policies. PACE does all the time and it works!

The solution to both problems is simple. Do your job CTA!

[trainman8119]

Problem #1-CTA employees are not doing their terminal checks(This is a big problem especially when that bus is in service from sunrise till sunset).

Problem #2-The CTA DOES NOT enforce its own policies. PACE does all the time and it works!

The solution to both problems is simple. Do your job CTA!

Don't believe that Pace does it all the time. I can tell you horror stories of complaints from passengers, primarily at South Division in the days of the 8700's and the cockroaches that covered seats, walls and windows of buses in service (quite often on the 355). Drivers at Fox Valley, in my day, were very careful where they would put there bags on certain buses for the same reason. I have seen these buses go through the clean cycle on pull ins, vehicles get clean...but I am willing to bet that there is still some problems out there. Don't go pinning this on the employees...they're operators, not janitors. I don't make it a habit of cleaning up on trains, and I don't consider it my job either.

[jajuan]

Don't believe that Pace does it all the time. I can tell you horror stories of complaints from passengers, primarily at South Division in the days of the 8700's and the cockroaches that covered seats, walls and windows of buses in service (quite often on the 355). Drivers at Fox Valley, in my day, were very careful where they would put there bags on certain buses for the same reason. I have seen these buses go through the clean cycle on pull ins, vehicles get clean...but I am willing to bet that there is still some problems out there. Don't go pinning this on the employees...they're operators, not janitors. I don't make it a habit of cleaning up on trains, and I don't consider it my job either.

Reminds me about a situation on the 82 Kimball/Homan a few years ago back when Kedzie still ran it with mostly Americanas during the week. It was on bus 4050 as a matter of fact. (I still remember the bus number because the situation was so totally unbelievable). About 15 minutes into my ride going northbound, the driver had to pull the bus out of service at Kimball and Bloomingdale because all of a sudden roaches just started darting back and forth throughout the whole bus. The ride was fine up to that point, then bam! There they were out of nowhere. To this day, it's unbelievable that the whole experience really happened. The driver he was leading made a comment about it's always some excuse for him to pull his bus out of service and give the riders to her, but if she had seen the inside of his bus, as far as the roaches running around, she would have seen that this one time was a very valid reason.

[BUSANGEL#1]

Don't believe that Pace does it all the time. I can tell you horror stories of complaints from passengers, primarily at South Division in the days of the 8700's and the cockroaches that covered seats, walls and windows of buses in service (quite often on the 355). Drivers at Fox Valley, in my day, were very careful where they would put there bags on certain buses for the same reason. I have seen these buses go through the clean cycle on pull ins, vehicles get clean...but I am willing to bet that there is still some problems out there. Don't go pinning this on the employees...they're operators, not janitors. I don't make it a habit of cleaning up on trains, and I don't consider it my job either.

It may not be your job as a TRAIN OPERATOR, however I stated before it is the responsibility of the BUS OPERATOR!

[BusHunter]

Reminds me about a situation on the 82 Kimball/Homan a few years ago back when Kedzie still ran it with mostly Americanas during the week. It was on bus 4050 as a matter of fact. (I still remember the bus number because the situation was so totally unbelievable). About 15 minutes into my ride going northbound, the driver had to pull the bus out of service at Kimball and Bloomingdale because all of a sudden roaches just started darting back and forth throughout the whole bus. The ride was fine up to that point, then bam! There they were out of nowhere. To this day, it's unbelievable that the whole experience really happened. The driver he was leading made a comment about it's always some excuse for him to pull his bus out of service and give the riders to her, but if she had seen the inside of his bus, as far as the roaches running around, she would have seen that this one time was a very valid reason.

Sounds like something similar that happened to me. Last summer, I was on the #76 Diversey. I started my trip at Harlem going east. I was on #5486. I sat on the back row over the engine. Almost instantly I saw a roach coming out of the vents in the rear of the bus. So I switched my seat to the side seats ahead of me. I saw more then. I decided to move to the front, thinking they were in the warm engine area. Next thing I know one was crawling on my leg. ( I was wearing shorts) I really felt nasty after that, like I needed a shower or something. So mildly freaked out, I decided I'll stand up. I then noticed babies crawling out of the vent below the first forward facing single seat on the right side. I starting thinking to myself the song "rockabye baby on the tree top" you know the song. At this point, I decided to exit the bus and wait for the next one, I could no longer stand what I was seeing. I vowed never to ride that bus again. Thank God #5486 was retired. I don't know if it ever got over it's problems, I never saw the bus after I rode it that day. The best part about it, the bus was crowded and people were sitting everywhere, you know they were being invaded to an extent. The driver didn't care and drove away from my untimely exit. Also do you think CTA employees are generally nice people. 99.9 percent of them are, but there is that one bad apple. He was on the #80 a few years ago. He had an empty bus parked on the side of the road in front of Dunkin' Donuts on Irving/Harlem. What I'm about to tell you is unbelieveable. The driver was taking a leak on the bus at the back door. His butt facing the left side. All I saw was a yellow liquid pouring out of the back door. What do you think was happening? I thought so. I know that is grounds for firing!! Why would this nut do this with cameras on his bus? One bad event happens down the street, managers pull the hard drive and watch the tape and he is busted. Another thing I don't do, exit the rear of #6814. That was his bus.

[jajuan]

Sounds like something similar that happened to me. Last summer, I was on the #76 Diversey. I started my trip at Harlem going east. I was on #5486. I sat on the back row over the engine. Almost instantly I saw a roach coming out of the vents in the rear of the bus. So I switched my seat to the side seats ahead of me. I saw more then. I decided to move to the front, thinking they were in the warm engine area. Next thing I know one was crawling on my leg. ( I was wearing shorts) I really felt nasty after that, like I needed a shower or something. So mildly freaked out, I decided I'll stand up. I then noticed babies crawling out of the vent below the first forward facing single seat on the right side. I starting thinking to myself the song "rockabye baby on the tree top" you know the song. At this point, I decided to exit the bus and wait for the next one, I could no longer stand what I was seeing. I vowed never to ride that bus again. Thank God #5486 was retired. I don't know if it ever got over it's problems, I never saw the bus after I rode it that day. The best part about it, the bus was crowded and people were sitting everywhere, you know they were being invaded to an extent. The driver didn't care and drove away from my untimely exit. Also do you think CTA employees are generally nice people. 99.9 percent of them are, but there is that one bad apple. He was on the #80 a few years ago. He had an empty bus parked on the side of the road in front of Dunkin' Donuts on Irving/Harlem. What I'm about to tell you is unbelieveable. The driver was taking a leak on the bus at the back door. His butt facing the left side. All I saw was a yellow liquid pouring out of the back door. What do you think was happening? I thought so. I know that is grounds for firing!! Why would this nut do this with cameras on his bus? One bad event happens down the street, managers pull the hard drive and watch the tape and he is busted. Another thing I don't do, exit the rear of #6814. That was his bus.

Maybe by some miniscule chance the responses from customers through the Mystery Shopper program will bring about some changes.