Posted Aug. 11, 2008 at 2:35 p.m.

I have to admit I didn't have high hopes for the CTA this weekend.  On Saturday, my 7-year-old cousin came to visit from Mississippi and her eyes were all atwinkle about riding the bus and the train, specifically the subway.  After standing in the drizzle during the Bud Billiken parade, I will admit that I wanted to drive downtown, park in the lot for Trib employees and then faux commute back and forth along the Magnificent Mile.

But who was I to deny my cute cousin the authentic experience?  So we took the "L" and several buses on Saturday during the course of our trips to Navy Pier and Millennium Park.  She enjoyed riding the "L," mostly because we had a very funny rail operator who -- bucking the trend of insufficient communication -- kept shouting "this is a Red Line train, this is a Red Line train" for those who were confused by it running above ground. 

At one point, the gravelly voiced CTA employee humorously chided a rider who dropped something, but was too busy gabbing on the phone to hear the operator letting him know the item fell.

All in all, it was fun and my young traveling companion thought buses and trains were "awesome" as they arrived on time and were, for the most part, filled with kind riders who smiled and spoke to her.

So I have to say "thanks, CTA" sans sarcasm...for once.

That's funny.

I was on an elevated Red Line train on Saturday, and as we pulled into Merchandise Mart, the announcer also berated someone waiting on the platform.

"This is a Red Line train. This is a Red Line train traveling southbound to -- My GOODNESS, don't stand so close to the train!!"

The train car filled with laughter.

There used to be an operator who took very seriously the need to be clear about which train his was, especially for the visually impaired or the stuck-in-old-habits people not paying attention. When his Red Line train was running over the Loop elevated tracks, at every station he'd attempt to say the word Red about a million times: "This is a Red Line train northbound to Howard, Red Line, Red Line, Red, Red, Red, RED, RED, RED! Red Line! Red Line!"

Unfortunately, I think he's the guy some others and I complained to the CTA about, as he used to shriek "ALL AVAILABLE DOORS!" at ear-splitting volume at about every stop, kept having delays where he'd storm down the platform to investigate something and look important, and generally acted scary and unstable. Last I saw him he was on the (probably dreaded among operators) Yellow Line.

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