twyztdmynd Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Channel 2 had special report on drivers when it comes to the disabled....Pay special attention to most complained about routes and worst terminal... http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58754@wbbm.dayport.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Channel 2 had special report on drivers when it comes to the disabled....Pay special attention to most complained about routes and worst terminal... http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58754@wbbm.dayport.com Saw the clip. It's interesting that NP has the most complaints regarding leaving disabled passengers at bus stops. It's surprising considering a lot of the NP operators I encounter are so polite. I also found that line of NP having some of the oldest buses in the fleet interesting because that statement is false with the NABIs gone along with the 5800s and 4400s, some of which were at NP. NP's roster is all NF, both 1000s and 4000s. Even with the insane bus swaps that statement of NP having the oldest buses is false. All the other garages combined have buses that are older. Just counting the 1000s, Chicago, 74th, Kedzie and 77th has NP beat because each combined has 1000s, 1100s, 1200s and 77th some 1300s with the lowest at NP being some 1300s that had been at Chicago. Factor in 6000s at Kedzie, Chicago, 103rd, 74th and FG and 6400s at Archer, FG, and 77th and it shows how on that part at least it sounds like the reporters didn't do their homework. That aside though, the behaviors found by those operators that wanted to be bad apples and misrepresent the other operators who have a hard enough time on the job with rude passengers, traffic headaches and rules at CTA that defy commonsense is inexcusable. Why does there have to be some who make an admittedly hard enough job, from what I observe some operators dealing with, even harder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksone44 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Channel 2 had special report on drivers when it comes to the disabled....Pay special attention to most complained about routes and worst terminal... http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58754@wbbm.dayport.com Interesting Clip... How is it that the Vice President had no idea that these complaints increased over a two year period? Isnt it his job to create action plans to address the issue of what seems to be lack of courteous behavior? He didnt seem to confident that this was going improve even though this falls under his belt... another example of incompetent management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Interesting Clip... How is it that the Vice President had no idea that these complaints increased over a two year period? Isnt it his job to create action plans to address the issue of what seems to be lack of courteous behavior? He didnt seem to confident that this was going improve even though this falls under his belt... another example of incompetent management. On that I'll agree. In a time when we're all watching even more than before how our tax dollars are being used, it's aggravating to see that level of incompetency in someone of management level at an agency, which provides services we can't do without, that gets some of those tax dollars. It makes it tougher to get adequate funding levels for the agency when the time comes to put together government budgets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 On the other hand, the Tribune had an article that basically said complaints were down, and didn't mention ADA issues at all. Somebody must have handed Hilkevitch a press release. Although I don't see one posted on the CTA site, it sure reads like one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Im sure theres another side to this story. True, there is laziness among CTA operators, Ive seen it myself. Most times because drivers are worried about staying on time because as any North Park operator will tell you, the routes that are the toughest to run on time ARE the #151, #22 and #36 routes and as a former NP operator, I can also say this from experience. And when you do have to stop for a wheelchair passenger it does tend to take some time to load and secure the passenger. CTA can face a multitude of lawsuits for refusal of service and being non compliant with the ADA act. Theres no excuse for it, everyone is allowed to ride. But then the news reporters have no clue of what they report about sometimes. "North Park having the oldest buses in the fleet!" Gimme a break! So theres some false statements made in this report and I dont think some of these claims are justified. A bus operator knows they can be reprimanded for passing up a passenger. So why would a driver take the risk?, especially at a garage like North Park where there are spotters everywhere. By the way, I sent a strongly worded email to Mr. Savini about the state of the bus fleet at North Park garage. Just kidding, not strongly worded, but I did state to him that the statement is false. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 "North Park having the oldest buses in the fleet!" Gimme a break! So theres some false statements made in this report ...That's one of the hallmarks of entitlement politics. Ours is always the worst (except for everyone else we are ignoring at the moment). And, if we believe what we read elsewhere, people in other neighborhoods complain to someone other than Channel 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Im sure theres another side to this story. True, there is laziness among CTA operators, Ive seen it myself. Most times because drivers are worried about staying on time because as any North Park operator will tell you, the routes that are the toughest to run on time ARE the #151, #22 and #36 routes and as a former NP operator, I can also say this from experience. And when you do have to stop for a wheelchair passenger it does tend to take some time to load and secure the passenger. CTA can face a multitude of lawsuits for refusal of service and being non compliant with the ADA act. Theres no excuse for it, everyone is allowed to ride. But then the news reporters have no clue of what they report about sometimes. "North Park having the oldest buses in the fleet!" Gimme a break! So theres some false statements made in this report and I dont think some of these claims are justified. A bus operator knows they can be reprimanded for passing up a passenger. So why would a driver take the risk?, especially at a garage like North Park where there are spotters everywhere. By the way, I sent a strongly worded email to Mr. Savini about the state of the bus fleet at North Park garage. Just kidding, not strongly worded, but I did state to him that the statement is false. My first post in response to the clip also points out that there's got to be another side to the story just from the statement of NP having the oldest buses. The current oldest buses of the fleet are the 6000s and are divided amongst 103rd, Chicago, FG, Kedzie and 74th. Despite that I'm still aggravated with a top CTA official being caught like a deer in headlights not knowing what we would think is a basic function of his job. Though a lot of us can spot this and other areas where the media didn't completely do its homework, there are plenty who won't recognize that, and it doesn't help to have such a high-ranking CTA official looking so lacking in knowing his job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta_44499_FG Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Saw the clip. It's interesting that NP has the most complaints regarding leaving disabled passengers at bus stops. It's surprising considering a lot of the NP operators I encounter are so polite. I also found that line of NP having some of the oldest buses in the fleet interesting because that statement is false with the NABIs gone along with the 5800s and 4400s, some of which were at NP. NP's roster is all NF, both 1000s and 4000s. Even with the insane bus swaps that statement of NP having the oldest buses is false. All the other garages combined have buses that are older. Just counting the 1000s, Chicago, 74th, Kedzie and 77th has NP beat because each combined has 1000s, 1100s, 1200s and 77th some 1300s with the lowest at NP being some 1300s that had been at Chicago. Factor in 6000s at Kedzie, Chicago, 103rd, 74th and FG and 6400s at Archer, FG, and 77th and it shows how on that part at least it sounds like the reporters didn't do their homework. That aside though, the behaviors found by those operators that wanted to be bad apples and misrepresent the other operators who have a hard enough time on the job with rude passengers, traffic headaches and rules at CTA that defy commonsense is inexcusable. Why does there have to be some who make an admittedly hard enough job, from what I observe some operators dealing with, even harder? This just goes to show another prime example of a one-sided story. I operate the #151 THREE DAYS A WEEK...THREE! I have NEVER seen another bus pass up a disabled rider, NOR have I passed up one myself (and I rarely get any on my run to begin with). So I would really like to know where CBS gets their facts from. The media over exaggerates everything, this is a known fact. As far as being worried about doing to route on time, that is something that CTA management has been drilling into operators heads, instruction will tell you take your time and be safe. Of course, you also have the passengers who think they know the schedule better than you and consider it an intentional crime that you are two minutes late, remember, NOTHING ever happens out there of course (yeah right). All that aside....maybe one should place themselves in the seat of a CTA bus to really understand whats going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trey824 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 This just goes to show another prime example of a one-sided story. I operate the #151 THREE DAYS A WEEK...THREE! I have NEVER seen another bus pass up a disabled rider, NOR have I passed up one myself (and I rarely get any on my run to begin with). So I would really like to know where CBS gets their facts from. The media over exaggerates everything, this is a known fact. As far as being worried about doing to route on time, that is something that CTA management has been drilling into operators heads, instruction will tell you take your time and be safe. Of course, you also have the passengers who think they know the schedule better than you and consider it an intentional crime that you are two minutes late, remember, NOTHING ever happens out there of course (yeah right). All that aside....maybe one should place themselves in the seat of a CTA bus to really understand whats going on. right i totally agree and what the hell is the oldest buses in the city, np has all new buses hell every bus is basically new in the fleet with the exception of our flxs as we all know.the media really gets to me at how dumb and misinformed they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta_44499_FG Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 right i totally agree and what the hell is the oldest buses in the city, np has all new buses hell every bus is basically new in the fleet with the exception of our flxs as we all know.the media really gets to me at how dumb and misinformed they are. North Park at one point did have the oldest and probably worst maintained buses in the system....THREE YEARS AGO! This is 2009. And quite frankly, trey824, I've actually found the Flx to be one of the most reliable (the 6000s of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPTA42 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 North Park at one point did have the oldest and probably worst maintained buses in the system....THREE YEARS AGO! This is 2009. And quite frankly, trey824, I've actually found the Flx to be one of the most reliable (the 6000s of course). The article says the data was collected between 2005 amd 2008. Useless article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 The article says the data was collected between 2005 amd 2008. Useless article. Heres an update, Dave Savini wrote back to me an hour ago and says the very exact thing to me. "His information is from 2005 to 2008". Are you kidding me?, This story has no merit. Newspeople! They are so overpaid and yet they cant get their facts straight! Its funny because the very same people who cry tend to have a good idea of what CTA buses are new and what buses are old. But when its a negative angle towards CTA, ok now the buses are all old. A very useless story! In my seven years as a CTA bus operator working from three different bus garages, Ive never once witnessed a disabled passenger being denied service, especially the way it was portrayed in this report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 You mean the Tribune was right? Channel 2 must be more desperate than we think. Thanks to RIPTA for pointing this out. P.S. I also deleted my "to be somewhat fair" post, since apparently there is no reason to be so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ctafan630 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 Heres an update, Dave Savini wrote back to me an hour ago and says the very exact thing to me. "His information is from 2005 to 2008". Are you kidding me?, This story has no merit. Newspeople! They are so overpaid and yet they cant get their facts straight! Its funny because the very same people who cry tend to have a good idea of what CTA buses are new and what buses are old. But when its a negative angle towards CTA, ok now the buses are all old. A very useless story! In my seven years as a CTA bus operator working from three different bus garages, Ive never once witnessed a disabled passenger being denied service, especially the way it was portrayed in this report. I have two incidents that I like to share. I was riding the #56 Milwaukee from the loop to Jeff Park. There was an older gentleman with a two wheeled shopping cart trying to board the bus, a Nova, north of Belmont. He had problems getting on the bus and the bus driver said the lift was broken. The guy struggled to get on the bus and eventually fell backwards into the shelter. The driver did not even get out of his seat to help at all after this took place. (Not sure if he can or can't). A few passengers eventually helped the gentelman onto the bus. Another time I saw a person in a wheelchair trying to board a Flexible on Clinton at Madison. The bus driver had problems trying to line up the lift with the curb. After the fifth attempt the driver finally was able to line up the lift for the person. As some have mentioned there are drivers that go out of their way to provide good service, while others do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 The lift was broken shouldn't have been a valid excuse with a Nova, because the idea of the low floor bus is that the driver could manually flip the ramp if it wouldn't deploy on its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta 5555 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 The lift was broken shouldn't have been a valid excuse with a Nova, because the idea of the low floor bus is that the driver could manually flip the ramp if it wouldn't deploy on its own. Yea thats ok but some are not that easy. I had nf that u cant do that do and if u did that, u will be in the sick book after doing it! Of having a mess up back! Not all the buses are the same u can have one nova u can and one u can some are mess up more the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 A few notes if I may. There are 3 months out of the year where TV ratings are measured, specifically for the purpose of setting advertising rates. These months are referred to as sweeps months. The first one occurs in February, the last one occurs in November. Guess which one is in the middle? May!!! Guess what month this is? May!!! These are the months where you get those special reports on restaurants with mice drippings and bad things for your health, and this kind of stuff. It is meant to attract viewers and is mostly hype. All of the news outfits do it. As a rider, I have never seen any wheelchair passenger passed up on any route, even on a crowded bus. Sometimes there have been two wheelchair passengers on the same bus at the same time. Now supposed both wheelchair positions are filled and a driver encounters a third wheelchair passenger? Then what? Would the driver stop and inform the third person that there is no room for him so that he/she has to wait for the next vehicle? I once worked for the company that provided the coaches for the City of Chicago tours on Saturdays. One Saturday Channel 9 happened to be at the pick up location and asked if they could film our bus. Of course (as a supervisor), I said okay. But before the bus could take off, someone in a wheelchair handcuffed himself to the passenger side mirror (the mirrors sit low on that particular model motorcoach) until the police had to remove him. They were trying to bring attention to the fact that the buses at that time were not accessible. The company eventually got an accessible motorcoach for the tour, but guess what? The lift was never used on any tour that I could remember. That is not to necessarily say that the people on the newsclip were lying, but withthe shots taken, it can make one wonder how much, if any, was staged. To flip the script, let's not forget that the 151 operates out of 2 garages, Kedzie being the other, and Kedzie DOES still operate 6000 series Flxbles, even on the 151. Since we don't know exactly where these alledged incidents took place in regards to Sheridan, we can't completely rule out Kedzie garage. And even if they were all NP, the number of complaints could be skewed. I worked for a Pace contractor and I would get a call from Pace everyday about the same passenger complaining on the same bus about the same driver daily. Does that constitute a complaint daily or one complaint until it was resolved. If it is the same few passengers making constant complaints, then it may be them which would provoke some operators to "overlook" them, or say "I didn't think they wanted to board because they appeared to be rolling pas the bus stop." Even when I drove paratransit, there were some customers that I got assigned that I cringed to have to pick them up. You try to be nice and professional, but their rudeness made you want to do only what was required and I believe some drivers never bothered to pick them up and just no-showed them. I at least waited the required time and attempted to contact them before I did that. Truth be told, I would expect more validity on doing a paratransit piece than what this report was about. I don't know if this is still true, but if the ramp on the NFs did not deploy, you had to do it manually by pulling the handle in the floor. This was very hard to do, there was some type of release switch located just inside the right front bumper to make this easier. Usually the ramp became inoperable automatically if the front of the bus or the doorway made contact with a curb or something, knocing something off track. Maybe a CTA operator could verify this with the NFs and the Novas. that's my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trey824 Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 North Park at one point did have the oldest and probably worst maintained buses in the system....THREE YEARS AGO! This is 2009. And quite frankly, trey824, I've actually found the Flx to be one of the most reliable (the 6000s of course). oh i know that.the 6000s are the love of my life and i personaly would like to see them for another 5 years at least.all i deal with is flxs from 74th and fg and its a joy being on them and hearing the detroit deisel series 50 engine run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 The lift was broken shouldn't have been a valid excuse with a Nova, because the idea of the low floor bus is that the driver could manually flip the ramp if it wouldn't deploy on its own. For a CTA driver to say the lift is broken, on a NOVA! or any other bus other than a Flx, that is one sorry, good for nothing, lazy person. And they know who they are! If I was riding a bus and I saw this happen, I wont be quiet about it, thats for damn sure! Ill certainly say something to the driver about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rideonrulez Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 I heard about this at work this morning and had to see how they blasted the CTA this time. What a crock of $hit.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta5300 Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 it is stupid i mean if a bus has room for a person with disabilites they should stop cause it's not fair boarding passangers without disabilities but with it's dumb NP should fix that problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted May 21, 2009 Report Share Posted May 21, 2009 Yea thats ok but some are not that easy. I had nf that u cant do that do and if u did that, u will be in the sick book after doing it! Of having a mess up back! Not all the buses are the same u can have one nova u can and one u can some are mess up more the others. Yeah, I know what you mean. There was once this NABI #7500 that had a lift that wouldn't deploy, so the driver pulled up the ramp, but halfway up it got stuck and had to forcefully be pulled down to the street. The guy had to stand on the ramp to get it to fall to the ground. Now, if that was a woman driving, she probably would've hurt herself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVTArider Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Now, if that was a woman driving, she probably would've hurt herself. You mean all the female CTA operators are skinny and short No offense but you might want to change that part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pudgym29 Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 [edit] There are 3 months out of the year where TV ratings are measured, specifically for the purpose of setting advertising rates. These months are referred to as sweeps months. The first one occurs in February, the last one occurs in November. Guess which one is in the middle? May!!! Guess what month this is? May!!! These are the months where you get those special reports on restaurants with mice drippings and bad things for your health, and this kind of stuff. It is meant to attract viewers and is mostly hype. All of the news outfits do it. Ding, ding, ding. Follow the money. Can CTA (or most other transit agencies) afford to advertise on television stations? No, of course not. We would be amongst the vanguard complaining about such an expenditure. But guess who does have lots of money available to spend on TV advertising? Automobile dealer associations. Guess what gets very testy when it sees "news" coverage giving a positive spin to riding transit? Yes. It will pick up the telephone and call the station's general manager (and the call will be passed through), uttering something to the extent of, "We are re-evaluating our television spot purchase schedule for the remainder of the year. We will likely reallocate more of our limited funds to stations more in line with our mission." Guess what the station manager calls up as soon as that call ends? Yes. And the message which is sent: "Dig up some dirt on a transit agency and run it on the evening news four nights a week during sweeps month!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.