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More Bus Moves


sw4400

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I would have quoted you directly, but the reply function is going bonkers.

 I was on an articulated non-hybrid bus today (not sure what model; I'm not familiar with the busses. The number was 4399) and saw a marking on the dashboard labelled "NEW FLYER CONNECT DMAS". What's DMAS stand for and what's the indicator mean?

 This one can be looked up, and New Flyer's explanation is here. It means Driver Maneuver Awareness System, and apparently is similar to the Snapshot that Flo is promoting for Progressive Insurance (see a review of it).

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It looks as though Tracy Swartz, on her way out to become an entertainment critic, had some new pieces of advice. One that may not be so intuitive is to have an alternate travel plan, because if things break down, everyone is going to be heading for something else and Uber will have surge pricing.

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It looks as though Tracy Swartz, on her way out to become an entertainment critic, had some new pieces of advice. One that may not be so intuitive is to have an alternate travel plan, because if things break down, everyone is going to be heading for something else and Uber will have surge pricing.

​I saw that. I wonder who replaces her tomorrow. 

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​I saw that. I wonder who replaces her tomorrow. 

​Considering that Tribune had 3 transit reporters (also Hilkevitch and Wronski), I wouldn't count on anyone. She sort of also indicated that her work was done.

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​Considering that Tribune had 3 transit reporters (also Hilkevitch and Wronski), I wouldn't count on anyone. She sort of also indicated that her work was done.

​Perhaps but things haven't ceased happening on CTA simply because she reached her individual limit of reporting. 

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​Perhaps but things haven't ceased happening on CTA simply because she reached her individual limit of reporting. 

​But are they sufficient that the Tribune needs 3 reporters on that beat, one who was technically "RedEye" but had the stories also on the main Tribune?

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I'm not really a Trib reader.  What does Wronski report?  I know Hilky does most stuff related to transit as did Tracy for RED Eye. 

I know the Dallas Morning News has 2 aviation reporters/bloggers.  Dallas -Ft Worth is also home to two major airlines.  Even though we have two airlines with hubs here, it doesn't appear that either paper is really heavy on aviation or transit.

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I'm not really a Trib reader.  What does Wronski report?  I know Hilky does most stuff related to transit as did Tracy for RED Eye. 

...

​Hilkevitch technically has Transportation, which is also the airport and roads.

Doing a search, Wronski seems to have a similar beat, but apparently mostly railroad, and my recollection of CTA was mostly of accidents.

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​But are they sufficient that the Tribune needs 3 reporters on that beat, one who was technically "RedEye" but had the stories also on the main Tribune?

​No perhaps not, but my original question was more along the lines of will RedEye keep up the Tuesday CTA columns because like Art not everyone is much of a reader of the main Trib. It's more likely I'm going to see more folks board the bus and train in the morning with a RedEye in hand than the main Tribune.xD

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They finally turned off the beeping sound from the Clever Devices login portals. I also found it interesting that the operators can now select a PSA to play. The operator on #3 yesterday decided to manually select just about every PSA to play like "please hold on" "please move to the rear" etc...

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Heard a very welcome rarity on the red line last night. The driver said, over the strangely clear PA system, something along the lines of "Good evening passengers. Welcome aboard red line run <don't remember the run number>. This is a northbound red line train en route to Howard. Our next stop will be North and Clybourn. Please remember all of your belongings and watch your step when boarding and exiting the train. Have a wonderful evening and thank you for riding the CTA."

First time in a long time I've heard a driver actually wish his passengers a "good evening!" Reminds me of one time when I rode the orange line early in the morning and the driver sounded like a flight attendant, saying "Good morning Chicago. It's currently <time>, the weather is <weather>. Thank you for riding the orange line today and have a wonderful morning."

I wish more drivers would do this. Makes it feel more personal.

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Heard a very welcome rarity on the red line last night. The driver said, over the strangely clear PA system, something along the lines of "Good evening passengers. Welcome aboard red line run <don't remember the run number>. This is a northbound red line train en route to Howard. Our next stop will be North and Clybourn. Please remember all of your belongings and watch your step when boarding and exiting the train. Have a wonderful evening and thank you for riding the CTA."

First time in a long time I've heard a driver actually wish his passengers a "good evening!" Reminds me of one time when I rode the orange line early in the morning and the driver sounded like a flight attendant, saying "Good morning Chicago. It's currently <time>, the weather is <weather>. Thank you for riding the orange line today and have a wonderful morning."

I wish more drivers would do this. Makes it feel more personal.

I think I know who you're talking about!!!

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Heard a very welcome rarity on the red line last night. The driver said, over the strangely clear PA system, something along the lines of "Good evening passengers. Welcome aboard red line run <don't remember the run number>. This is a northbound red line train en route to Howard. Our next stop will be North and Clybourn. Please remember all of your belongings and watch your step when boarding and exiting the train. Have a wonderful evening and thank you for riding the CTA."

First time in a long time I've heard a driver actually wish his passengers a "good evening!" Reminds me of one time when I rode the orange line early in the morning and the driver sounded like a flight attendant, saying "Good morning Chicago. It's currently <time>, the weather is <weather>. Thank you for riding the orange line today and have a wonderful morning."

I wish more drivers would do this. Makes it feel more personal.

​I got complimented on my Chicago Elevated Railways bag yesterday, but that was on Metra.

The best operators here on the Green Line are the ones that actually respond to someone saying "Thank you." as they get off the train. :P Otherwise they're just doing their job. No complaints here, but you've certainly got me beat.

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​I got complimented on my Chicago Elevated Railways bag yesterday, but that was on Metra.

The best operators here on the Green Line are the ones that actually respond to someone saying "Thank you." as they get off the train. :P Otherwise they're just doing their job. No complaints here, but you've certainly got me beat.

​I saw a driver on the Purple line one day, very atypical driver. She looked like she could be somebody's grandmother. She said "good morning, have a good day" to every person who got off the train, which was amazing. I really love it when drivers go beyond their scope of duties to try and make people's commute a little better.

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​I saw a driver on the Purple line one day, very atypical driver. She looked like she could be somebody's grandmother. She said "good morning, have a good day" to every person who got off the train, which was amazing. I really love it when drivers go beyond their scope of duties to try and make people's commute a little better.

​Wow, I need to take the northern lines more. Actually I do remember a nice Brown Line operator. I had left a friend's house and was at Southport going back to the Loop to transfer to the Blue Line. I had just paid my fare and was going up the stairs and heard a train coming, so I started putting in more effort to climb the stairs. At that point I was about halfway up and the train had arrived at the station so I was like "Screw it, I'm not going to make it." so I slowed down, but when I got up to the platform the train was still there. The driver had just closed the doors, but he saw me and reopened the doors, so I waved at him and got on! I know it happens a lot, but it made me feel a lot better.

I agree, those "above and beyond" drivers are the best. I actually felt bad for my driver because I got off at Belmont (just one stop!) to try to get on a Red Line.

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​Wow, I need to take the northern lines more. Actually I do remember a nice Brown Line operator. I had left a friend's house and was at Southport going back to the Loop to transfer to the Blue Line. I had just paid my fare and was going up the stairs and heard a train coming, so I started putting in more effort to climb the stairs. At that point I was about halfway up and the train had arrived at the station so I was like "Screw it, I'm not going to make it." so I slowed down, but when I got up to the platform the train was still there. The driver had just closed the doors, but he saw me and reopened the doors, so I waved at him and got on! I know it happens a lot, but it made me feel a lot better.

I agree, those "above and beyond" drivers are the best. I actually felt bad for my driver because I got off at Belmont (just one stop!) to try to get on a Red Line.

​I wouldn't blame ya...it may only be one stop but Southport -> Belmont is still a long ways to go! Especially compared to Jackson -> Monroe, which I've been guilty of once or twice... :ph34r:

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​I wouldn't blame ya...it may only be one stop but Southport -> Belmont is still a long ways to go! Especially compared to Jackson -> Monroe, which I've been guilty of once or twice... :ph34r:

​Yeah, and Southport to Belmont is justifiable because that's a transfer station and not the end of my journey. Whatever gets me to the Blue Line faster. :P Imagine if someone got on at the northern part of Jackson and exited at the southern part of Monroe...

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​Yeah, and Southport to Belmont is justifiable because that's a transfer station and not the end of my journey. Whatever gets me to the Blue Line faster. :P Imagine if someone got on at the northern part of Jackson and exited at the southern part of Monroe...

​Yeah, that's literally one block :P I've only done Jackson -> Monroe if I'm going to Target and the weather is terrible, which has only been twice. A third time I just used the platform instead of the sidewalk but walked the whole way :P Thank goodness for U-passes!

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It looks as though Tracy Swartz, on her way out to become an entertainment critic, had some new pieces of advice. One that may not be so intuitive is to have an alternate travel plan, because if things break down, everyone is going to be heading for something else and Uber will have surge pricing.

​This indicates how Swartz is now putting together transportation and entertainment. However, she doesn't say that GPTC is providing extra service.

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​Wow, I need to take the northern lines more. Actually I do remember a nice Brown Line operator. I had left a friend's house and was at Southport going back to the Loop to transfer to the Blue Line. I had just paid my fare and was going up the stairs and heard a train coming, so I started putting in more effort to climb the stairs. At that point I was about halfway up and the train had arrived at the station so I was like "Screw it, I'm not going to make it." so I slowed down, but when I got up to the platform the train was still there. The driver had just closed the doors, but he saw me and reopened the doors, so I waved at him and got on! I know it happens a lot, but it made me feel a lot better.

I agree, those "above and beyond" drivers are the best. I actually felt bad for my driver because I got off at Belmont (just one stop!) to try to get on a Red Line.

​Then there's the one motorman who got a call from a passenger way back in the 7th or 8th car about something & he was gone for maybe five minutes while we sat at Lawrence. When he finally returned, we got a 10 minute spiel about how wonderful he is & won't tolerate gambling on his train & that he threw them off, etc, etc......

Then there was another one that had a rhyming poem for every station from Garfield [where I boarded} to Loyola. ARRRGGGGHHHH!  That one I called up & complained about!

Just shut up & run the train! Even a boom box is more pleasurable!

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