Kudos to CTA for Handling a Disrepectful Situation
December 23rd, 2010 by Shorty
On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, a young man was disrespected by a CTA bus driver on his way to school. Here is the situation as told by Young Man’s* Mother:
Young Man boarded the 4 Cottage Grove bus at approximately 7:35 a.m. going to De La Salle. He put in his reduced fare card and paid his 90 cents.
Female driver (in a tone louder than necessary): You gotta pay full fare. You don’t have school today!!!
Young Man (in an even, respectful tone): I have school today and I have to take my finals. Look at my Exam pass with the dates printed on it!
Female drive (in a loud voice): I don’t need to see that!!!
“She then told him to pay or get off the bus. A lady right behind him paid an extra 1.25 for my son to get to school and told him not to worry about it. He just told me this after noon, and I snapped. So The chairman, the president and the janitor of CTA are working on this.”
Yes, mom had the entire CTA staff from the boardroom to the janitor investigating this incident.
The results:
Mom spoke with the bus driver’s manager, and was informed that the President of CTA called to handle this situation. The manager said that the driver knows De La Salle’s schedule. AND, bus drivers are not supposed to do that to students. De La Salle even has bus service with CTA. The President is going to interview the driver and call Mom back.
“CTA is also going to have a supervisor on the bus stop in the morning to make sure he gets on with no problem.”
Shorty’s Thoughts:
It is great to see results in this situation. Many times such incidents go unreported results in no action and continuous disrespect. What is especially powerful is the mother’s action and the stranger’s kindness.
Have you been disrespected by a CTA bus driver? What happened?
Have You Ever Been Mistreated by a CTA Bus Driver?
August 20th, 2010 by Shorty
I had a conversation with an older woman with obvious limited mobility who said that a CTA bus driver would not drop the platform for her to step up. She ended up falling and still had a bruise. This bothered me because I have personally been left by drivers and I’ve seen drivers take off when they saw people running for the bus. But to mistreat people with disabilities is beyond evil.
She didn’t tell me which line it was. However, I’m sure she’s not the only person who has been mistreated. And, I’m sure she didn’t call CTA to report it. Like most people don’t.
Let us know your story if
- You have ever been mistreated by a CTA bus driver
- You have ever mistreated a bus driver (and are willing to admit it)
- You are a bus driver that has been mistreated
Can’t wait to read what happened!
Grace: The Nicest CTA Bus Driver Ever
May 8th, 2010 by ShortyToday, I was blessed with the nicest CTA bus driver ever on the Halsted Street bus today. Grace greeted everyone as they got on the bus, and wished them well as they exited. She was such a ray of sunshine on this chilly day. I just had to ask permission to take a photo and post it on my blog. Here she is.
If you ever encounter cool bus drivers, feel free to give a shout out on Shorty. Also, if you’ve ever had a pleasant ride with Grace, share that too!
Shorty’s CTA Transit Tale
April 15th, 2010 by Shorty
I left home to go downtown at 8:50 a.m. on Sunday morning. A bus passed me when I was walking to the stop. Since there wasn’t another bus in sight, I decided to walk to the Dan Ryan from 87th & Vincennes. I did not see another bus until 9:20! It was arriving at the train station as I was walking into the station. Horrible.
As luck would have it, an “L” train had just pulled off as I approached the station. The CTA schedule said that trains arrive every 7 to 10 minutes. That did happen.
Here’s the irony of my story, I did not take the METRA train thinking I would get to my destination faster. Nope. I should have just waited for it. There was a very small window between the time I arrived at the CTA station and the METRA train arrival.
There are two points to my story:
1. If you are close enough to walk to the nearest train station safely, do it. Even though my experience happened on a Sunday, I can’t imagine what service is like during rush hour.
2. You gotta love CTA!
