My letter to the CTA; Tribune
August 30th, 2007 9:05 am
The Tribune has a publication they distribute during the week called RedEye. It’s free and generally found outside train stations and bus depots. It’s actually a good publication, geared toward those in the 18-34 demo.
They have a weekly column in which people complain about the different problems with the CTA. Below is mine, sent today. I wanted to be more vulgar, but I knew if I did that it wouldn’t get printed. I want to see if this gets printed.
The letter after the jump.
Going Public:
I am replacing my third CTA Chicago Card Plus in three years. One was lost (yeah, I was an idiot) and the other two were “damaged.” My current card has a small crack in it that’s making it difficult to use at turnstyles and on buses. It still works, but it’s obvious I need a new card. And before the CTA apologists cry user error, I’ll have you know it just sits in a window sleeve on the outside of my wallet and is never taken out. What do they make these things out of, toilet paper? I mean, that’s about all they’re good enough for. If you look hard enough you can actually see THROUGH the card. Try it!
But I digress.
My issue is the CTA’s “replacement” program.
The problem is once I put in for a replacement they cancel my current card and charge me $5. So, let’s do some math here. I have already paid them $75 this month for an UNLIMITED card. They charge me their $5 BS fee so we’re up to $80. Since my current card is worthless, I have to purchase ADDITIONAL fares. Let’s say it takes 5 days for the card to get to me. (That’s wishful thinking). I ride the CTA twice a day for work. So, $4 day in fares times 5 equals another $20. They’ve now got $100 of my money this month for a card that I pay $75 for.
I don’t even mind the $5 replacement fee so much as I do the fact I have to pay additional fares for a card that was cheaply manufactured to begin with. If I maybe lost the card, I would understand. Seeing as I never remove the card from my wallet I don’t feel I am to blame in this situation. I feel the CTA should refund me for all the additional fares I have to pay during the time I am without my card or they should credit that amount to me the next time they charge my account for my 30-day pass.
Neither will happen and I’m sure I’ll be replacing my card again in the next year, because, you know, I like a good beating, yeah?
I’m so sick of hearing the CTA whine about funding. Maybe if they’d spend some time offering more conveniences to their riders, ridership would increase ten fold and they could make money the good ol’ fashioned way: by offering a quality product backed by top notch customer service.
Our public transit has been in the shits lately too, funding issues and overspending etc. It sucks, esp because this place pretends to be a big city, after all, it is the most livable city in the US haha
But yeah, I think most of their problem stems from qc and customer support too. The drivers are rude, mean, unresponsive, bad drivers, the community hates the bus and with good reason. They overcharge, it’s 1.75 one way, and 2.25 for a good for one use transfer, and we are talking only good in like a 5 mile radius too. I could almost take a cab for that price, yeah?
However, instead of pointing the fingers at themselves, they’d rather blame the social programs like reduced fares for the elderly, and rising fuel costs, instead of the real facts that they reduced service to the poorer areas who actually pay full price for their rides and need it for work/commute, but also, nobody wants to ride the bus other than the people who fuck well have to anyways. And even then…
I hope they print your letter though.
The column is published every Tuesday, so next Tuesday is the earliest shot I have at getting my letter written.
See, the thing with the CTA is they do this EVERY year. They threaten to raise prices, cut service, etc if they don’t get funding from the government. And then they usually do right before “doomsday” hits.
But yeah, they do the same things, blame the government, blame fuel costs, blame decreased ridership. The last one is always the best, as if they, god forbid THEY do something to increase ridership.
I have a car.
lol
You also live in the sticks, Scott. THE STICKS.