I don’t know if this will be normal Grid writing, but it’s important to those who like to bring their bike on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains or rely on it if you have a flat or breakdown.
[flickr]photo:5885142293[/flickr]
I noticed a Customer Alert on the Belmont platform today, as well as inside the train. It says:
No bikes allowed on trains during the following times:
The first ban starts at 12:01 AM on Saturday morning (7/2) and ends at 4 AM Sunday morning (7/3).
The second ban starts at 12:01 AM on Monday morning (7/4) and ends at 4 AM Tuesday morning (7/5).
The temporary bans are for “customer safety” during heavy travel periods because of fireworks shows, and to increase capacity on the trains.
Note that bikes on buses ARE allowed at all times.
Go to Can I bring my bike on Metra right now? for Metra’s bike policy and blackout dates for the weekend – bikes are banned until July 5th.
On July 3 at around 10am, I stopped at the Western Ave Brown Line station to add $ to my CTA card. When the attendant saw my bike, he told me “No bikes on the train today!” I told him I wasn’t planning on taking the train, just replenishing my card. I asked him if bikes would be allowed on buses and he said “Yes, but not on the trains. See…?” pointing to the sign in this post. After reading the sign in detail, I went back to him and told him that actually bikes ARE allowed on the trains today (July 3), since it’s after 4am. He insisted that bikes were not allowed on the trains that day. Even after explaining the times posted on the sign, he didn’t give in. It was a good thing I didn’t really need to get on a train!
Just curious, but was it a CTA customer assistant or a Securitas worker?
There might have been an easier way of communicating the train blackout dates and times than with a narrative.
I made this calendar mockup that may achieve that…
At first, it was the guy in the booth, who I assume was a CTA customer assistant. Then, as we were talking, another worker passed by and also just said “yep, no bikes on the trains”. I’m not sure whether he was CTA or Securitas. Hard to tell.
And yes, the calendar might have helped for these guys.
It’s easy to tell by their uniforms.
Securitas workers wear an ugly brown-gray color uniform, and CTA workers wear blue shirts.
In that case, I think both were CTA.