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.

Posted July 28 at 12:07 p.m.

Greetings "L" and bus buddies. Sorry I've been out of pocket with fresh posts, but I was attending the UNITY convention here in Chicago.  Journalists of all hues gathered at McCormick Place and other venues to discuss diversity in the news media and to learn a few new technology tricks.

But I digress.

While attending several events, including Sen. Barack Obama's CNN interview on Sunday, I couldn't help but notice that No.3-King Drive service along the convention center was on point.  I don't know if it's some vast conspiracy by the CTA to show out for our visiting journalism guests, but it seemed the time between buses was much shorter. 

Over the past five days, I've overheard out-of-towners remarking about the great bus service of the CTA and even expressing some envy at our mass transit system.  Is it just me, or do you sometimes think certain routes are rigged to make tourists think the CTA is ab fab?  I know riders are always telling me they think that CTA Prez Ron Huberman is fixing up the stations that he uses for his commute.

Let's get all X-files and explore this possible conspiracy theory.

Posted July 14 at 11:03 a.m.

Happy Monday, fellow commuters.  Hope your ride in wasn't too much of a public transit pain this morning. 

Speaking of pain, I had an interesting experience on a bus lately, during which a man decided to sit cross-legged on a crowded bus, as if he were in some kind of yoga class that nobody else knew about.   I was sitting in a seat facing west, and he was adjacent to me facing the direction of travel, but his knobby knees jabbed me at least three times.

I kept moving over, but didn't want to land in the lap of the gentleman to my left, so I just endured slight CTA suffering until Cross Legs finally exited the bus.  Ridiculous. 

His actions even influenced me to ponder the most irritating public transit poses:

(1) The Lean: Where a rider sits in one seat but then leans on the one next to him, essentially blocking a seat. To sweeten the pot, some put their whole arm across the back of the seat.  What, are the rest of us riders in your personal car?

(2) The Side Sit: This is where a rider places his or herself in the outside seat and then swivels -- only slightly-- if someone else wants the window.  Here's  a tip: Move in, or get all the way up to allow others to pass.)

(3) The Sprawl: Rotten rider take up two seats, sprawling out on bus or "L" seats as if he or she were at home on a couch.  It's worse if Sprawler falls asleep and snores.

(4) The Stance: Men usually affect this pose where they sit with their legs spread wide, as if daring you to graze them when you try to sit beside them.

Seen any annoying public transit poses lately?  Heck, if you've got a photo of one, send it over too.  Those camera phones can be pretty handy. 

Posted July 2 at 8:00 a.m.

"Going Public" is going out of town, but puh-leaze don't let that stop you from posting your public transit thoughts and observations.  Feel free to add any kudos, complaints or even artistic expressions.  And I'll be back on track come Monday, July 7.

Posted June 23, 2008 at 2:15 p.m.

This morning while waiting at the 35th Street Red Line stop, I looked down and marveled at a mass transit mess.  It's not that I've never seen litter on the tracks before, but this amalgamation of items suggested just plain slobby behavior from riders.

There were plastic bottles.  (New recycling plan?)  There was a Sox cap.  (Disgruntled fan from the Crosstown Classic, I'm guessing.)  And most ridiculous of all: a Harold's chicken bag.  I took some photos with my BlackBerry...you can make out the telltale green label, though I didn't want to fall onto the tracks trying to get more detail.

Now, we know that litter can be a factor in small track fires, so what's up with all this trashy conduct?  Do you see some rubbish on the rails?  E-mail me a phot and I'll post it. 

Let's shame these CTA riders into finding a trash can or recycling bin.

Posted April 14, 3:40 p.m

I took a brief hiatus from public transportation last week while on vacay, so maybe I was unusually thin- skinned, but I wanted to throttle a guy on the Red Line today.  This fella was sitting next to what I can only presume was his girlfriend, cleaning under his fingernails with (get this) his fingernails, and making a loud clicking sound as he did so.  She tried to stop him, but he resisted her efforts and clicked even louder. 

That sound is second only in annoyance factor to someone scraping two knives together.  Yeesh!  Ever heard of a nail brush, clown?  Just when I was thinking he was the biggest nuisance in the car, two men board with a Chihuahua.  That's fine, as CTA rules allow small animals to be brought on trains and buses as long as they are in a non-cumbersome carrier. 

Too bad, the Dog Mommy decided to hold the carrier in one hand while allowing the dog to stand on a seat.  At one point, the dog may have licked the seat cushion.  Niiice.   

At this point, I opted to stare out of the window and ignore the dog-on-seat, fingernail-click-in-ear action going on around me.  Seriously, I realize there are way bigger problems in the world, but what makes people behave so rudely on the rails?  What's the rudest act you've ever seen? 

Posted April 14, 8:59 a.m

OK, you caught me.  "Going Public" took a break last week and ran off to killer Cali to hang out with my younger sister, Kozi, and my mother.  I shopped a lot, ate way too much (big ups to the shrimp and crawfish at "The Boiling Crab" in Little Saigon), and I even went to the O.C.  Sadly, "Hills" fans, I didn't look up L.C., Heidi or Spencer.

But what I did look into was transit in Los Angeles.

I've ridden buses in L.A., which I call Orange Crush, due to their mandarin shade, and I just wasn't as impressed as I was by rides on the NY and D.C. systems. The buses appear to run more sparsely in L.A. and even inspired a carjack justification monologue from Ludacris in the critically acclaimed "Crash." 

But I couldn't help but notice that L.A. transit got props from the American Public Transit Association, or APTA, as advertised on the tops of buses I saw.  I looked into it, and found the transit was named the best in the nation by APTA in '06, according to their Web site.  I'll look into this more, but it appears the buses are still riding off this success.

I wish native or former resident Angelenos would let me know what's so hot about the Orange Crush. I've heard a lot about positive public transit from D.C. and New York riders, but not so much from the Los Angeles crowd.  Did I miss something? My ride wasn't so hot, but I'd love to hear whose was...

Posted March 14 - 5:28 p.m

Sorry, I haven't been as blog-tastic today, but I was out all day with a CTA employee in preparation for an extra special "Going Public" column for Tuesday. Make sure you grab the RedEye out of your neighborhood or CTA-bound boxes, heck, even out of someone else's hands. I plan to offer up some exciting details and insights into the black hole that is sometimes the CTA, so get ready.

In other news, whilst commuting on an eastbound No.65-Grand -- which oddly, seemed to be running like clockwork around 5 p.m. today-- I ran into one of the rudest riders ever. This person was not so much talking on his cell phone, as he was SCA-REAMING, threatening to shatter the bus's exoskeleton by his sheer volume.

I am not ashamed to reveal what he was babbling about, especially since he showed no shame. But I will refrain from such an outing. Instead, I will tell you that new CTA buses need to be outfitted with an ejector seat and/or trap door for such occasions.

So loud was this gentleman (the term gentleman being used loosely) that I and another rider locked eyes, forming a single-serve friendship through our joint outrage. Finally, this loudspeaker stepped off at State. Hopefully, his cell phone lost its signal on the stairs, or some poor train riders were in for a similar treat.

What is wrong with people? Don't you loudspeakers see the glances of disapproval you're getting? Do you really want everyone to know the details of your latest doctor's appointment, probation officer visit, or break-up?

Riders, what are we to do with these surround-sounders?

Posted by Jimmy Greenfield - 3:14 p.m., March 21

There's been some great advice provided to RedEye's Tracy Swartz after she wrote about her trouble getting to work on the Blue Line.

So I've decided to share the details of my commute and see if anybody can give me tips on shaving time. I'm pretty sure I've got it down but, hey, you never know. If you can cut some fat off for me it'll be worth the ten minutes it takes to write this post.

Morning

- Catch the 86 bus down Ridgeland to the Green Line Ridgeland stop. I hoof it some days if I don't time the bus right. That costs me about ten minutes right there.