Tag Archives: CTA

Unified Fare Payment and Chicago Bike Share

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There hasn’t been a lot of recent news about the bike share system coming to Chicago (hopefully) this spring. As Twitter user @JustinHaugens points out, Alta Bike Share (a consulting firm) only recently posted management positions for Chicago (here’s one).

At this point, we really have no idea what the stations will look like, but we can look to Capital Bikeshare in DC and Nice Ride in Minneapolis to get an idea, since Alta played a role in both systems’ development.

Capital Bikeshare station. Credit: Bike Arlington.

We also don’t know what the “key” will look like, but here’s another idea:

Capital Bikeshare key used to unlock bicycles. Credit: Mr. T in DC

Ideally, the “key” used to unlock a bike at a station should not be a unique, distinct key, but instead should be integrated with the rest of Chicago’s transportation payment methods.

It’s a bit of a stretch to believe this would have happened initially, especially since not every transportation option in Chicago currently has the same payment system. But this is exactly how it should be. Everyone in the Chicago region should be able to use one card to pay for all public transportation in the region: Metra, Pace, CTA, and, soon, bike share.

I’m not in the position to suggest who exactly should oversee such a payment system or ensure that payment makes its way to the correct transportation entity, but the point is that it should exist in the future. So many American cities have disconnected transportation payment mechanisms. New York in particular is pretty awful at this: On a recent trip visiting a friend in Jersey City, a trip to Manhattan requires taking the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail ($2.25 per ride), then a PATH train ($2.25), and, depending on the destination, a ride on the Subway ($2.25). All require different farecards. Indeed, New York and New Jersey are different states, but we should expect more cooperation among transportation networks in the country’s largest metropolitan region. This is not unique, either; many cities across the country require different fare payments on their different transportation systems.

We’ll go across the Atlantic to—you guessed it—Paris, where transportation in the region (Ile-de-France) is spread across different brands, service levels, and government entities but is unified by one payment mechanism, including the bike share system, Vélib. The Syndicat des transports d’Île-de-France (STIF), or “Transport Organization Authority”, oversees the transportation in the region (similar to RTA in Chicagoland). You can get a ride from the suburbs on a regional Transilien or RER train to central Paris, where you can transfer to the Metro, and finally grab a bike from a Vélib station, all using just one card: The Navigo pass.

Wireless Vélib card used to unlock bike at staion.

You can, of course, still buy paper tickets (which are still unified across modes) for the Metro, RER, or Transilien, or get a Vélib card if you don’t use public transportation often. Paying the fare doesn’t get one a ride on Vélib, though: a separate annual subscription is still required, it’s just loaded onto the same card. In the future, you’ll likely be able to use your phone to do the same thing.

It should be noted that Paris is perhaps unique in integrating all modes, for even London’s Cycle Hire has not integrated its payment system with the Oyster card. If you’re aware of other cities that do integrate their bike share systems with their public transportation payment systems, let me know in the comments.

If CDOT were to talk with CTA and find a way to integrate the future bike share system with the forthcoming Ventra card, it could reduce a significant barrier to using the bike share system. If we assume the Chicago system will be similar to Minneapolis and DC, it means having to register online to receive a key or pay-per-day at a kiosk. By offering an option to pay an extra few dollars per month or year on the unlimited Ventra card in order to use bike share, a new connection could be made between CTA and a user’s final destination, and increase use of the bike share system. When the day comes where Metra integrates Ventra, it could create even more options. Could we see the day where denser suburbs, like Evanston and Oak Park, have their own bike share systems that also integrate with Ventra?

Aside from the payment mechanism, how the bikes are released is also important – if it is to be like Nice Ride, where the key is inserted into a slot to release the bike, it means there is no immediate possibility to implement wireless cards at the stations to release a bike. If wireless cards were implemented instead, we could see people unlocking bikes using smartphones, RFID-enabled credit cards, Ventra, or the bike share’s own card. It could even go so far as to wireless hotel keys being linked to the system – 24-hour memberships paid by hotels to help their guests get around, or single-use cards being issued for certain events.

Without a doubt, Alta has looked around the world at the best practices for bike share and has created some amazing systems. The fragmented organization of our city governments has also ensured that many of our transportation systems are inefficient. Smart transportation networks bridge the gap between these inefficiencies and create systems that are easy to navigate. A major part of this is ensuring that people can use the different systems with a common payment system. Hopefully, we will see more of this in the future.

EDIT: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Alta manages Nice Ride in Minneapolis. Alta merely provided assistance in station location and site design guidelines.

What’s the most irritating thing about riding transportation?

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A while ago I wrote a quick post about enjoyable encounters on public transportation, because not all encounters on the train or bus are really that awful, and I think in some cases the opportunity to talk to strangers is a great feature of riding the train. Sometimes, though, one person can ruin it for everyone around them.

I’ve been reading a lot about Paris lately (not at all because I want to move back, of course), and stumbled again across the Restons Civils campaign on the Métro/RER. Here’s what’s most annoying to Parisian riders:

  1. 86% of riders say they saw someone speaking too loudly on their phone
  2. 83% saw someone jump over the turnstile to avoid the fare
  3. 80% saw someone leave a newspaper on their seat
  4. 78% saw someone enter the bus/train before letting departing passengers off first
  5. 75% saw someone standing on the left side of an escalator/moving walkway
  6. 75% saw someone not validate their ticket on the bus or tram (bus passengers can enter at the rear if they don’t have to pay in cash)
  7. 73% saw someone eating
  8. 73% had someone follow closely behind them at the turnstile (two for the price of one!)
  9. 71% were pushed/shoved without hearing “excuse me” (when boarding/exiting)
  10. 69% saw someone sitting in a fold-down seat during a peak travel period

I’m assuming that these are similar annoyances in many other cities. Personally, I am annoyed by people talking too loudly on the trains, period (not just on their phones). A bigger problem, somewhat unique to Chicago, is that people tend to crowd around the doors without “filling in” the rest of the space on the train. Probably because there isn’t much to begin with.

CTA 5000-series/RATP MP 05

It bears repeating: The CTA car is wider, yet it always feels more cramped.
Left: CTA 5000-series car (Credit: Steven Takaki/Chicago-L.org)
Right: Paris Métro MP 05 car (Credit: Wikipedia)

I couldn’t find a nice graphic like the one RATP has, but through Google searches and stumbling across some Yelp forums I’ve found these to be the most-cited annoyances (in addition to the Top 10 on the RATP):

  • People with large bags blocking the doors/aisles
  • Tourists
  • Begging
  • People (mainly men) spreading their legs wide to take up two seats

  • “Pole leaners,” or people that lean against the entire poll, rendering it useless to anyone else
  • People stopping on the stairs/escalator/in front of the turnstile
  • Body odor (and to break the stereotype, I have never experienced this problem in France)
  • Ill-preparedness, or waiting until the doors open to emerge from your seat at the end of the car to decide to get up
  • And just for Chicago summers, Cubs fans (I had to say it!)

I don’t think any one of these is reason enough to not ride the train or bus, but you can bring these issues to light through a nice public civility campaign like the RATP did. The CTA did put up these announcements about strollers recently:

CTA tried. Credit: CTA Tattler.

The problem with things like this is that it’s all words. Nobody is going to read that. I like the public civility campaigns that focus on images and short, simple messages:

Tokyo Metro public civility campaign. Credit: The Verge.

The Tokyo notices are simple and image-heavy. I don’t know exactly what it says in Japanese. Maybe it rhymes?

“Pay the fee, travel with ease” is probably the best English translation. Literally, this says “He who validates [his ticket] travels without worry”

And some smaller stickers to remind stone-faced Parisians to smile:

“2 strangers’s smiles lasts for a while” is a good way to translate this, otherwise literally “Exchanging 2 smiles lights up 1 day.”

I haven’t come across any surveys regarding the most annoying habits here in our cities, but I don’t think we need them to create more awareness of how to behave properly on public transportation. There seems to already be a consensus about the most annoying occurrences.

What do you find the most annoying part of riding public transportation, and what do you do about it? Have you seen any other public civility campaigns around the world? Leave it in the comments or tweet @transitized.

 

CTA Next-Train Displays Arriving in More Stations

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One of the best ways of improving the rider experience when using public transportation is to give riders more information. CTA has done a good job in giving riders more information about the location of the bus or train they’re waiting for, both by placing displays on bus shelters and in train stations, as well as opening the data to developers to create apps for smartphones and SMS information services.

Before, I’ve complained that some of the displays on train platforms aren’t that great (specifically at the Belmont and Fullerton stations) because they spend only 1/3 of their time giving useful information; for the rest of the time, they show a standard “Thank you for riding” message or train arrival times that will be irrelevant for the waiting passengers (since other trains will arrive first). Other displays throughout the network, such as the Titan displays, show everything but important information, like the weather or news and other things we don’t really need to see on a train platform.

Finally, there is the latest type of screen, which was recently installed in the Chicago (Red line) station on the mezzanine, just before going down to the platform.

Spotted at the Chicago Red line station. Credit: Rodney LaBauex.

Spotted at the Chicago Red line station. Credit: Rodney LaBauex.

I like that the screen is on the mezzanine for a few reasons:

  1. You can grab some food or drink on the mezzanine if you see that your train isn’t coming for a few minutes (yes, I know, you’re not technically supposed to eat on the train).
  2. Since you can’t see the trains from the mezzanine, you can only hear them, it would avoid the running rush that happens when you hear a train coming and it ends up being a train going in the opposite direction.

I don’t know if they will be putting these screens up on the platform either. If they already have them on the mezzanine, I don’t see the point of adding more (except perhaps to notify passengers of train delays or express-running trains). Of course, some stations (Grand on the Red line comes to mind) already have displays on the platform that do nothing but show the current time and the “Thank you for riding” message – those could be retrofitted or replaced. I do think it would be nice if some of the elevated train stations had signs on the outside of the station, hanging over the sidewalk, showing the next train/bus arrival times on one screen. Certain stations that are near certain attractions, like Wrigley Field or the airports, could have these screens located at unique locations as well.

I asked the CTA if they had a list of where else the displays would go up, and they said they plan to have all of them up in every station by the end of 2013. I hope that type of plan isn’t the same as with the bus tracker displays on shelters, which were delayed. Giving more information to riders is important in improving the quality of the experience.

Why Do Buses Keep Bunching?

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It’s exasperating and anyone who even occasionally rides the bus knows the feeling. You’ve been waiting for the bus for at least ten minutes even though Google Maps told you it was supposed to come five minutes ago. In the distance, you finally see the twinkling lights that look like the bus. The bus pulls up to the stop, and right behind it is another bus, on the same route, going to the same destination. A third bus might even race up behind these two. The buses are bunched.

Surely, if the buses were running at the proper headway, you’d have been on one a few minutes before, and two or more buses going to the same place wouldn’t be leapfrogging each other. If you’re lucky, bunching is just a rare occurrence that comes with the low price of using public transportation. When its more than just an occurrence, it becomes a problem that can undermine a bus route.

Screen showing bus times for the northbound 49 bus at 6, 6, 6, and 7 minutes.

Sometimes, Buster (an app for CTA bus and train arrival times) shows the same bus time twice. But not here. 4 buses are approaching, all at the same time.

I’ve written before about my frustrations with the #22 Clark bus in Chicago. Quick background: The #22 bus constantly bunches and is one of the most-boarded bus routes in Chicago. It’s an unreliable route (I’ve waited as long as 40 minutes–during the day–for a #22 bus). I obtained bunching data from the CTA and have uploaded it to Google. Feel free to play with the data yourself. Here’s what I found: Continue reading →

“I don’t know what the point of these new trains is if people still can’t stand in them”

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Not surprisingly, some of the best observations come from casual, nontechnical strangers. Last night, while riding the Red line towards Howard from Lake, a new 5000-series rail car pulled up to the station and quickly became packed. There was no difference between the lack of comfort in the new cars and the older cars still in use, but this isn’t entirely because of the design – it’s because the CTA can’t run cars often enough to actually alleviate the crowding in the cars. A woman who was trying to get off the train at the Chicago stop said this when trying to squeeze herself between passengers to get to the door:

I don’t know what the point of these new trains is if people still can’t stand in them.

It’s true, actually, that the new 5000-series cars on the CTA really don’t do anything for comfort of the passengers. The new seating, while different, doesn’t help to get more passengers in the train. Even though the aisle-facing seats do increase standing room, the case could be made that they actually decrease overall room for passengers. The configuration of the older cars’ rows is 2 seats, room for 1 standing person, and 2 seats (2-1-2). Now, with aisle-facing seats, there is 1 seat, room for 2 standing passengers, and 1 seat (1-2-1). A person standing away from the doors will find it hard to get out of the train unless a fair amount of other passengers are trying to leave the train.

Interior of a 5000-series rail car during the PM rush hour.

Interior of a 5000-series rail car during the PM rush hour. Credit: Shaun Jacobsen.

Continue reading →