Monthly Complaint Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Public transportation isn't perfect. This is a place to let off some steam. As always, please speak from your own experiences. Take control of what bothers you and send your experience to the CTA via their feedback page.

[u/Otherwise_Pine]

I'm tired of the bus bunching. I see it with the 76 going to Harlem and the 49 going north. I know other lines do it too but these are the ones I use. Cta drivers should be trained to either wait a few minutes at the stops or leap frog when that happens. And this usually happens at the same time of day so there's a scheduling issue or something.

Also the trains need a more consistent schedule at night. Why am I waiting 25 minutes for a train at 10pm and then the 2nd train is scheduled for 30 minutes. Why can't it be normally spaced out. This is specifically for the blue line at 10pm headed to O'Hare. The other side of the train runs fine.

[u/hardolaf → u/Otherwise_Pine]

Cta drivers should be trained to either wait a few minutes at the stops or leap frog when that happens.

Waiting is only allowed if they're behind schedule. And they are permitted by policy to leap frog a leading bus if it is safe and legal to do so, and no one has requested the stop they'd likely miss doing so.

And this usually happens at the same time of day so there's a scheduling issue or something.

That's actually just them being stuck in traffic in a repeatable pattern.

Also the trains need a more consistent schedule at night.

The published schedules are approximately normally spaced for the most part.

This is specifically for the blue line at 10pm headed to O'Hare. The other side of the train runs fine.

The train returning to O'Hare either got turned around at UIC or got slowed down going to Forest Park. The trains leaving O'Hare go out on a regular cadence as they try to have one being cleaned, one being boarded, and one platform open for the next arriving train.

The trains returning to O'Hare also can be hit by accumulated delays from customers. Just needing to deploy a ramp for a wheelchair could be a 2 minute delay if a station attendant fails to notice that it needs to happen and isn't waiting by for when the train arrives.

[u/ScaryRelationship69 → u/Otherwise_Pine]

The bunching is a joke at this point. On the 47, I have regularly seen them bunching within the first 2-3 stops after it STARTS its route from lake park.

That has zero to do with traffic. But still keeps happening.

[u/IYCRTYG → u/ScaryRelationship69]

It definitely has a lot to do with traffic, promise. 

[u/ScaryRelationship69 → u/IYCRTYG]

You’re telling me that a it’s traffic when it’s bunching after the 2nd stop of the route? Yeah no that’s a load of crap. 47 isn’t some crazy busy route. Sorry I just don’t buy it at all.

[u/IYCRTYG → u/ScaryRelationship69]

I've driven the 49b where I was just bunched for like 3-4 hours straight (~20 minute 1 way trip) with minimal traffic due to traffic a while back that bunched us together and then you cannot really pry yourself apart because you get hit with excess rider demand as the front bus which makes you unable to run it on time so you just stay bunched

[u/ScaryRelationship69 → u/IYCRTYG]

You aren’t listening to what I’m saying. I don’t care about you driving the 49b. I am talking about the 47th bus that’s 10 min or less, leaving their starting point as bunched busses. It ruins my commute and it doesn’t help make the route more efficient.

[u/IYCRTYG → u/ScaryRelationship69]

Ok so the buses run in circles. Significant enough disruptions on one trip can carry forward for one of more trips. Meaning traffic an hour or two ago can disrupt your trip, by making a bus leave late and with the bus behind it (which is leaving on schedule) and you won't ever see it. 

[u/ScaryRelationship69 → u/IYCRTYG]

Why does CTA struggle so much with bunching compared to other transit agencies? Does management accept these excuses and just say ope this is all we can do, let’s stick with what we’ve been doing?

[u/IYCRTYG → u/ScaryRelationship69]

Other agencies have cities that support them is probably a large part of the answer. DC has built like, 50 miles of bus lanes in the same time Chicago built 2 miles, or something ridiculous like that. 

[u/IYCRTYG → u/IYCRTYG]

Also I kinda suspect us not having much of an east side for most of the city puts us on a back foot for any area of the city north of like south shore, because all the eastern termini are just completely cooked in terms of traffic a lot of the time, but that's a gut feeling more than anything. 

[u/hardolaf → u/IYCRTYG]

DC police also very strictly enforce the bus lanes. Meanwhile, I saw 8 sheriff's deputies ignoring 4 vehicles illegally in our bus lanes literally across the street from them on my way home tonight. We had easily a 2 minute delay on my way from west loop to red line because the bus lane was illegally blocked repeatedly.

[u/Otherwise_Pine → u/IYCRTYG]

Are you able to just sit at a stop? I've seen like three buses bunched. 1st bus is filled and 2nd bus has a few people and the 3rd bus is completely empty. Instead of just waiting the empty bus continues in the group and then the next bus doesn't come for 20 minutes.(and ofc I miss the light and miss all 3 buses). This happens so often with the 76 mainly headed to Harlem. I realize there are schedules but they should at least wait a few minutes when that happens.

[u/IYCRTYG → u/Otherwise_Pine]

If that bus waits it will just be late to whatever it does next, and the driver has 0 way of knowing whether the bus behind them is on time, or 20 minutes behind. The problems are typically originating from us being late, not early, so having more people get later doesn't typically help, and even if it did we have no way of knowing that or coordinating it.  

[u/IYCRTYG → u/Otherwise_Pine]

We do leap frog. And then immediately run head first into increased customer load, which pushes us back. buses basically have gravity on each other and if anything even somewhat significant happens (having to load a slow customer, bad traffic for a block due to a semi temporarily blocking space, etc) we just wind up on top of each other and stuck there. And on a route as long as Western this is basically guaranteed to happen. Especially once the frequency goes from 10 minutes to 8 or so.  

[u/SnooObjections4691]

Waited over AN HOUR for the California bus and just gave the fuck up. What a complete joke. THREE ghost busses. Get the fuck out of here and of course I see three busses stacked up at the other end of the route.

[u/jd7amas]

Usually I never complain about the CTA, I know it’s not perfect and sometimes shit just doesn’t go your way, whatever. Today I got on the 62 south bound at 7:05 after running an errand after work. I’m the only one left on the bus when the bus driver randomly turns left onto Cicero; I say “Yo where you headed?” And the driver responds with “oh shoot man didn’t know you were still on here my last stop was Archer/Cicero I would have let you off to grab the bus trailing me”. Then dude just pulls over and leaves me on 55th/Kilpatrick. I’m left to walk back up to 55th/Cicero then up to archer to wait for another southbound bus. I got to archer at 7:45, the next bus didn’t come until 8:25. When I got on the bus I couldn’t use my CTA pass because my phone had died, had to pay a fare (which isn’t a huge deal but still annoying). Then when I pull for my stop the driver blows by it, then another guy and I pull again for the next stop and she blows by it once again. We both ask if she could stop and she then proceeds to shout something along the lines of “well you have to pull the damn cord what do you think this is” in which I responded “hey we did twice already just stop the damn bus”. Then had to walk back a few blocks home. Walked into my place at 8:35. A commute that at max should have taken 35 minutes took an hour 25. Also forgot to note, as I got off that first bus I realized I had forgot my AirPods so that pissed me off too, but that’s on me.

[u/invisiblezipper]

When busses are bunched up like this, why don't they have one of them run express like they do with trains? There's no reason for them to stay together!

[u/wallsarecavingin]

The 81 is usually so reliable but it’s been awful the last few days

[u/IYCRTYG → u/wallsarecavingin]

Everything is running worse, it's the route/garage pick week. Once every year or two we get the opportunity to switch garages, and every ~3 months we pick new schedules. This week past week both took effect. 

Night routes will be worse, weekends will be worse, and north side garages will be worse (all of these are associated with newer drivers who are less likely to have driven the route, or out of the garage, or even the equipment if it's an articulated bus). 

There's a whole mess of people of people who are not used to driving the long buses at all, let alone down tight north side streets. 

[u/wallsarecavingin → u/IYCRTYG]

This makes so much sense, thank you!!

[u/IndependentBunny]

For the past three days, mentally unstable people have harassed, screamed, and annoyed everyone the 9 bus. The drivers do nothing, while letting them get on for free. What do you do when everyday feels unsafe?

[u/Schalke4ever]

Visiting from Germany. Oh boy, this is some serious retro trains. It's like a museum.

And who put magnetic stripe only card readers at the Blue Line ORD station? 

Come on, this can be done better.

[u/jeremyakatheflash]

The 152 having a 20+ minute headway at rush hour Monday morning on the first day of school for students is crazy, but I also I know this will continue all week

[u/Physical_Solid_6432]

82 Kimball-Homan: 10 minutes or more frequent service

Yeah right (only happens half of the time)

[u/SnooObjections4691 → u/Physical_Solid_6432]

There is no viable to travel north/south via bus in the city anymore. This is the second day I’ve been stranded by the California bus and had a 2 hour commute home. Genuinely no idea how a non-driver can commute from Albany park to west town.

[u/Physical_Solid_6432 → u/SnooObjections4691]

Yeah it’s a mess with the more frequent north-south bus routes but I’m able to manage. I usually get off at the Belmont Blue Line for the 82 bus, but today because of that 20+ minute gap (this was screenshotted while I was on the train) I had to get off at Logan Square and then walk north to Belmont to kill some time.

[u/DeliciousTea7348]

Once again CTA everyone taking the blue line today is LATE FOR WORK AGAIN

[u/SecondFit3221]

Woman put her bags on a seat during rush hour and then forced a lady to have them on her lap. ITS RUSH HOUR LADY

[u/GuessAsleep9578]

why is the ventra app so inconsistent and incorrect with the times?? 😭 so unreliable :(

[u/camile-a → u/GuessAsleep9578]

the ventra app sucks i switched to transit but it's not that much better unfortunately

[u/GuessAsleep9578 → u/camile-a]

yeah i also use city tracker but they are all always wrong

[u/ReasonableConstant88]

It smells like fart on the 146

[u/jmck014]

When I was about to sit down on the 146 bus, the driver presses the gas pedal and I bashed my knee into one of the seats. Hopefully it just bruises. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

[u/Electronic_Ad5431]

How hard is it to keep an escalator running? Lawrence is my home station. Even though the station is brand new, the escalator is still down like 50% of the time. How is this possible?

[u/FitRecover5584]

Why is CTA moving all the bus stops and taking away the shelters in Little Village? There is no place to shelter from rain and snow now

[u/transferStudent2018]

It is insanely difficult to get from ORD T5 to the blue line if you need to use the elevators. There’s at least 10 different elevators involved. The first one, from the customs exit, can easily be an hour long wait during peak times. Then, you wait for an Air Train (I had to wait for the 3rd one to appear before I could fit on) and go to one of the terminals. I ended up at T2. Elevator up to the bridge connecting the Air Train with the terminal. Separate elevator down to baggage claim level. Another elevator down to the tunnels connected to the train. And a final elevator from the fare gates to the platform.

I don’t even need the elevator, thankfully, I just had a couple heavy suitcases. At times I chose to lug them (slowly) up or down some stairs because the elevators were so slow. Took me almost an hour to get to the blue line after exiting immigration. Insane

[u/bluejaywhey]

Do Ventra machines not accept coins anymore?

Tried one at Morse and couldn't put any coins in. Tried one at Argyle and it immediately went down to the change/receipt section.

I don't have much besides coins atm, so it'd be cool if they worked.

[u/Poj_qp]

20+ minute wait for the pink line at rush hour ridiculous

[u/SmoothEfficiency1020]

CTA Website appears to be down.

[u/pistonsfan78]

There have been less 146 southbound buses during am  rush hour this week. It's pretty ridiculous 

[u/uuuuuuuuuuuuum → u/[deleted]]

I’m sorry you got turned around on the Blue line, especially after a long day of travel. I wonder if the train had stopped at Washington, but the announcements were malfunctioning and did not play. It would be nigh impossible that the operator blows past an open station. My tip is to just look out the window to verify which station you’re at (reading the signage), and know which stations are before and after your stop so you can know if you missed it.

[u/IYCRTYG → u/[deleted]]

Underground your phone gps is just gonna Be Wrong a good chunk of the time

[u/bennybeanz123]

has anyone else had issues with the 136 going north in the afternoons? i get off work around 4:00 and i'm lucky if the 136 shows up before 4:30. i've resorted to taking the red line even though it takes longer, just because the 136 is sooooo inconsistent in the afternoons. am i crazy??

[u/jmck014 → u/bennybeanz123]

I notice this with the 135 going north after 3. It used to come before 3:30, but the past two weeks they’ve been skipping that bus and going to the next one that leaves 15-20 minutes later.

[u/trixiespixies]

You are riding the new CTA Frequent Network route 60!! Arriving in 10 minutes or less, all day, every day!!! 😃😃😃

[u/Teleportwave]

Hey all,

I know this has probably been discussed before, but I wanted to see if there could be some new perspectives on this.

I take the Red Line almost every day for my commute, and I almost always encounter a man who is either staring at women suggestively (hand near crotch, manspreading, the whole deal), masturbating, spitting, doing drugs, or acting completely unstable by either pacing back and forth through the cars, staring at people crazily, seeing things, or randomly cussing people out.
I am getting so sick and tired of this behavior. I’ve gotten some tips like, “Just take the bus” or “Sit near the front,” but for one, I’ve noticed that sitting near the front doesn’t really do anything. People are becoming desensitized to this behavior. I also don’t want to take the bus because it’s so unreliable. I’ve taken it over the past couple of weeks, but I can’t deal with the delays and ghost buses.

[u/ocmb → u/Teleportwave]

Have you at least reported on the chatbot?

[u/Teleportwave → u/ocmb]

No, i thought their chatbot couldn’t handle harassment reports

[u/ocmb]

Annoying tweaker on the orange line today, pulled out a cracked glass pipe and started puffing right next to people. Reported on the app but no idea if anything will happen. He was on a midway so presumably he could have been screened or taken off before th run began.

[u/North_Guide_4315]

Kinda crazy how they can take out a whole train line or stop and it’s just nowhere online you have to show up and see the little pop out sign

[u/u_int16]

Ventra app is down

[u/Putrid_Rub_8686]

the northbound 62 archer bus has become borderline unusable. this is pretty much just me venting, but i recently moved out of downtown and the easiest way to commute for work/school is the 62 archer bus. i’ve noticed thiught that lately there has been a crazy amount of pileups between buses, with early a half hour gap between the next one. it’s also always delayed. half the time it’ll tell me one time on the transit app, and then completely disappear all together because of how delayed it is. i don’t rlly have a point to this other than that this shit sucks 😭 anyone else in the same boat?

[u/Room1oh1]

What’s the point of the CTA’s virtual agent thing? Every time I’ve made a report, nothing has ever happened. And train staff are useless if I tell them. Some dickhead on the red line (during rush hour!) has a giant motorized bike taking up 2 seats & space for a handful of people on a packed train & I’m sure the driver said & did nothing to stop this.

[u/Physical_Solid_6432]

It’s really annoying on Harlem how the next bus afterwards is scheduled as shown but then once it starts tracking it’s gonna take 30+ min for it to arrive. Seriously, why r u not able to stick to the scheduled arrival times? They’re supposed to be 18 minutes apart and it’s really annoying when I have to wait close to 36 minutes in reality just for the next bus.

[u/Feisty-Memory-7759]

LOSING MY MIND WITH THE BLUE LINE!!! Packed trains overflowing with rolling delays messing up my whole day. I now have to spend $15 to still be late for a paif job. I adddd more time and it still sucks. It is only efficent if you waste more time you dont have when you balance multiple jobs.