Posted June 25 at 3:02 p.m.

Sometimes, even "Going Public" gets called out.  And it happened yesterday, for sure.   While tallying "Rotten Route" votes from my e-mail and this blog, I received a call from a woman who said she was a CTA employee and boy, was she mad and seemingly ready to let me have it.  She said she knows things aren't 100% with the CTA, but it infuriates her to constantly read rider complaints in the RedEye maligning transit agency employees when riders themselves are part of the problem.

"These people need to have a mirror put up to their faces," she told me during the approximately 10-minute conversation.  She pointed out, and rightfully so, that buses do not pull out dirty in the morning and that only happens once riders get in on the equation.  One particular pet peeve, she offered, in response to those who say bus operators are rude:

"We face bad attitudes all the time, especially from the ones who come in from the suburbs and think that $2 buys them the world."  By the time the call ended, I encouraged her to sound off on this blog with more stirring insights, and I hope she takes me up on that offer.  I got an ear full, but felt I learned something too.

Then, today, I got another note from a gentleman who said he is a bus operator.  His e-mail was very humble and I could totally sympathize with his situation, as he appealed to riders to get up on time, use the Internet to plan their routes, and use some restraint when taking out their system-inspired anger on individual employees. 

In closing, he wrote: "Thank you for this opportunity and I wished the best to all customers of Chicago and  others, and remember we will be there for you." 

So do you have empathy for CTA employees? Do the many get a bad rep due to the actions of a few bad apples? Or is the apple cart rotten through and through? CTA employees, we want to hear from you too.

I think the issue is that a small percentage of riders make everything unpleasant for the rest of the people. It only takes one person to dump a bag of French Fries on the floor - then everyone else has to walk through it. They thinks it's funny, they think they are big and tough.

Unless you're going to start teaching manners to children again, the only real solution I see is to put a cop on each and every bus.

"She said she knows things aren't 100% with the CTA, but it infuriates her to constantly read rider complaints"

Well, maybe if the CTA would get off their lazy butts and take care of these complaints in a prompt quick manner, we wouldn't gripe so much. As it is, sending complaints to CTA customer service is like talking to a brick wall. Nothing gets done.

As SLOW as the CTA goes about doing things, Jesus could return, or the world could end before the sloth-like people of the CTA do things.

It took seemingly forever for the CTA to replace the roof above the platform of the Thorndale Red Line station. But they have yet to do jack about the station entrance itself!

When it rains, pools of water cover almost every area of the station floor. And there are water leaks all over the place. Especially above the entrance doors to the station. Man, if the CTA added plants, they could turn the station into a "rain forest". As it is, the station is more like a sewer.

I'm sure there are many other people besides myself who are unhappy with the conditions of the Thorndale station.

It's tough crap this so called "employee" is infuriated with riders. Get on the ball and start taking care of your customers!

"Unless you're going to start teaching manners to children again, the only real solution I see is to put a cop on each and every bus."

Ha! Seeing the wide use of those kiddie harness "dog leashes", seems parents today can't even control their kids let alone teach them manners. It's really sad when parents can't control their child to the point of having to degrade the kid by putting a leash on it.

Some people are just plain ole filthy!!!!!

Hell yeah I have sympathy for CTA employees, especially bus operators. They are on the front lines dealing with all of the feelings that people can't direct at those who really deserve to bear the brunt of their angst. I live near a CTA garage and it's always interesting when employees who have just finished their shift board to ride back to the garage. They are usually happy to see another employee and their conversations are generally interesting. It must be very cathartic to be able to talk to someone who has an appreciation of what you deal with daily on the job. For every unpleasant CTA employee, I've seen at least five passengers who make the buses dirtier and more unpleasant. It's not a rolling garbage can and it's not your living room. It's a public space; respect it as such and have some appreciation for the people who get you from point A to point B.

I can see both sides of the fence on this one. Yes, some of the things that are wrong with CTA are at the fault of riders (i.e. dirty vehicles, graffiti and urine-smelling stations), but there is also fault that can lie with the CTA itself. I have to agree, most times the CTA can be slow at repairing, cleaning, or even holding a schedule, but we as riders need to take a small part of the blame game too.

The CTA is full of it! They can spend millions of dollars for a "super station" project downtown that ends up being a waste because the system is outdated. And all they have to show for those millions of dollars will only be laying a floor, and putting up a tunnel to connect the Red and Blue lines. Nice way to go CTA! No wonder why you're always crying broke, and asking riders to foot the bill all the time because the CTA doesn't know how to manage it's money.

How about using what money the CTA has to fix and repair stations we already have *COUGH* Thorndale *COUGH* instead of throwing it away on a "super station" that has become a over budget mess! But no, the CTA would rather come up with these waste of money projects & frills instead of using the money to take care of the stations we already have.

Maybe they can use the money to hire a REAL security service instead of hiring "dog walkers". If there was a real security service, maybe there would be less bums, hustlers, panhandlers, and ghetto thug gang bangers bothering us riders.

All in all, the CTA needs to get it's act together in terms of good prompt customer service. If the CTA is not going to care about it's customers, why should the customers care about the CTA?

Really, do you think other companies like say Best Buy, Target, Walgreens, McDonalds, or Starbucks would last long if they gave the kind of slow crappy customer service, and ran things like the CTA does?

I have some sympathy for CTA employees, especially the bus drivers who have to deal with inconsiderate, inattentive Chicago drivers as well as unruly, demanding passengers.

I waited at a bus stop once with a couple of bus drivers, and one of them said, "You know, this used to be a really good company to work for." The other said, "Yes, I've heard that." I think the rank-and-file employees probably don't get much support from the people in charge of the transit agencies.

The CTA employee who wrote should realize that there are some real problems with her agency, and people are generally just venting here.

I've been holding back on saying this, but James, if you're as angry in "real life" as you are on this board, you must not be a real pleasure to be around! Sheesh, get a grip!

James, with all due respect, what good would all of what you just ranted about do to HELP the CTA fix the real issues? For real man, you need to calm down (and grow up).

Aren't these blog posts supposed to be monitored for appropriate content? The post above, referring to a Grand-Theft-Auto-inspired transit game in which offensive transit riders are 'blown away' is frankly offensive and distasteful.

I do sympathize for the most part with CTA workers, because they have to deal with people like James on a daily basis, as well as other irate riders, who in all honesty would be better off staying off of CTA if it bothers them THAT MUCH. Drunk sports' fans bothering you? Move to another car. Crying/screaming kids? Move to another car if you can't handle it. It's not that serious. Really.

If passengers were a bit more considerate overall of each other, as well as CTA workers, and vice-versa, with budget issues aside, then maybe CTA would be a lot more pleasant for everyone.

And please, just clean up after yourself; that's INCLUDING the proper disposal of your newspaper.

If you don't like how the CTA operates, or it's riders, then don't ride it. It's pretty simple.

"who in all honesty would be better off staying off of CTA if it bothers them THAT MUCH. Drunk sports' fans bothering you? Move to another car. Crying/screaming kids? Move to another car if you can't handle it. It's not that serious. Really."

I can understand your point of view of this matter but I'm tired of having to do that. Why should I have to adjust myself due to the actions of a few people being rude.

I paid just as much money and the last thing I wanna do is have to move car to car just to get some peace. I just wanna get on the train/bus and get home without having to do the train car-to-car dance.

"If you don't like how the CTA operates, or it's riders, then don't ride it. It's pretty simple."

Actually, it's not that simple. Maybe if you can afford a car or a taxi to work everyday. Sure, why not. I, for one, can't buy a car nor take a taxi everywhere. Maybe you don't realize this but there are people who are dependent on taking the CTA whether they like it or not.

I'm tired of putting my money into a "business" where it's seems my value as a customer is not appreciated. It's frustrating and disheartening.

The people that need the mirror most of all is the CTA officials who are screwing their customers and their employees. Instead of these two groups arguing back and forth about who's at fault, we need to actually tackle the PROBLEMS with CTA.

Move to another car?! Screw that! Why should *I* have to move because of some drunken idiot Cubs fans, or screaming or crying hellspawn?

Here are better solutions. Like how police officers sometimes ride along on a bus, police officers should ride on the Red Line during game days and patrol through the cars. Then when these drunken idiot Cubs fans act up, they can be tossed from the train so the rest of us can ride in peace.

As for the screaming or crying hellspawn, parents need to start acting like parents and start taking control of their kids! Today's parents have *NO* parenting skills WHATSOEVER! They let their kids do anything. And these parents expect everybody else to watch out and take care of their kids instead of them doing it themselves. But instead of me moving to another car, these "parents" need to start telling their kids to shut up when they act up on the train. And if they can't get their kid(s) to shut up or calm down, then the parent and kid(s) should be the ones getting off the train to stop annoying the other riders.

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