Posted May 14, 12:15 p.m.

Outsourcing.

It's a touchy topic and trend that has entered our American society, with more and more companies handing off duties and responsibilities to employees outside of this country. 

Some welcome this as part of growing globalization while others see it as a negative force, bleeding America of industry and jobs.

But I have to say, outsourcing seems to be a solution for some riders, most recently a customer named "Tim" who has boldly suggested another type of outsourcing: handing the CTA over to another country.

Tim says:

"The RTA should be handed over to whoever runs the system in Tokyo, Germany or another country/city who are able to run their systems competently. At least bring in advisers from those systems to help guide the RTA to competency. It is crazy that the US/Chicago is so far behind everyone else.The systems in Japan are amazing... Why aren't ours?"

Excellent question, and in "Going Public" discussions with CTA President Ron Huberman, he has told me he is modeling mass transit improvements and features after cities in other nations, including Shanghai.  A little closer to home, I always point out Washington D.C. as a train that serves, as OutKast might call it, the "prototype" of public transit.

This goes out to all my traveling transit buddies:  Give me some best-class examples of transit you've seen in other cities -- outside or inside the nation.  What should the CTA adopt from those places?  Me, I'd love to see a rough-and-tough CTA-originated police force a la Washington D.C.   

Barcelona: trains run every 3 minutes during the day. Signs tell you how long you'll have to wait. The frequency is fantastic of course but something about knowing the next train is really "2 minutes 35 seconds" away makes the wait seem not so bad.

You know, we want these massive improvements. We want the CTA to be a model of shining aluminum and steel efficiency. We want digitized signs counting to the second a train will be here. We want this, and we want that.

But you try raising our fares a cent -- or, as a Chicagoan, you try raising my tax even a notch -- and I will scream bloody murder until the cows come home.

Because, you know, Mr. Huberman, y'all should be funding this out of magic money from the Land of Gummidrops.

"GOING PUBLIC" SAYS: That's true...look at some uproar about the tax dollars bailing out doomsday. But I do wish that Gummidrop Land existed. I'd certainly like to make a withdrawal. :)

Why is the CTA so different, I'd have to say because our transit system is 100 years old. How old is Washington's? What about those slick lines in Barcelona and Shanghai? When/If tehy rebuilt their lines, did they close them completely or leave them operating, a la Belmont and Fullerton?

-Brian

As a reply to Brian, there are some changes that can be made...regardless of the age of the CTA system.

Better communication. I won't even go there; we ALL know how poor communication is from the CTA to its customers.

More Customer-Service-Oriented Employees. We've ALL experienced the lack-of-customer-service some CTA employees give on a daily basis. (There are some employees that are "on it" though.)

That's just two short examples. I could give you at least a dozen more.

Out sourcing without risk is a bit complicated but not impossible......

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