CTA: Dial down cell phone usage

Posters in unused ad spaces on buses and trains are reminding riders of the CTA's etiquette proposal.

The ads come at a time when the CTA could get noisier. AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to use their cell phones and mobile devices in CTA subways by the end of this year, a CTA spokeswoman said. Cricket, Verizon and U.S. Cellular customers currently can use their service underground.

For Peter Treadway of East Lakeview, the CTA already is hard on the eardrums. Treadway, 27, recently wrote to "Going Public" to complain about a noisy ride on the No. 135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express.

"I want to take a minute to congratulate the young lady on the No. 135 who informed her friend via her iPhone that she recently received a promotion. That is great news, but unfortunately, everyone else on the No. 135 does not care," Treadway wrote. "We also don't care about the other loud conversations you have on average at least two days out of the week on the bus. Keep it quiet or don't answer the phone until you're off the bus, please."

Commendation Station
This feature typically is reserved for CTA employees who offer exceptional customer service, but I'm making a special exception for Sandra Peterson of Rogers Park.

Peterson, 59, called last week to tell me that a rider vomited on her as she rode the Red Line northbound Tuesday evening. A man threw up on her jeans and her leather jacket and didn't apologize or help clean her up, Peterson said.

Instead, three women came forward to offer her hand sanitizer, makeup wipes to clean her jacket and a disposable bag for her smelly clothes. Peterson said she would like commend those women for their help.

"They went out of their way. I thought that was very nice," Peterson said.

Riders wrote in response to the CTA's etiquette proposal.

Deborah Rudolf, 57, of the South Loop wrote: "Good for CTA. Maybe Metra should pay attention to CTA's etiquette suggestions on cell phone usage. I know far too much about strangers' lives that I see on both CTA and the Metra trains."

Shonta Jefferson, 30, of Roseland wrote: "I'm a frequent CTA rider and not opposed to the idea. But first, like training up a child you have to be an example, and the CTA bus operators are not. At any given time you can see bus operators talking on cell phones even if they have on Bluetooths, and let's just say not all their telephone conversations are pleasant. If the CTA wants to implement this new cell phone etiquette policy, then they need millions of dollars to train their employees of the unruly behavior."

Jeremy Raven wrote: "Mr. Clark's got it nailed cold with the Red Line. The Brown Line and buses I ride might sometimes be kind of ordinary-too-loud, but not sonic-boom-too-loud. (One could think of demographic factors that may pertain here).

He's right -- it dwarfs any cell-phone issue. Not only is the volume-level in some of those cars cranked up to rock-concert intensity, but it's bad rock-concert intensity -- i.e., the bass tones are way too boomingly predominant. Sometimes I have to try two or three cars in a row before I can half stand it.

Here we've got entire parts of the city wound tighter than a drum, with all hell breaking loose, and yet people have to be subjected to this kind of obscenely and gratuitously nerve-rattling assault. An assault is exactly what it is.

Someone ought to check with OSHA about it. It could easily have physical consequences involving a lot more than just the ears. How about the entire brain function, especially in the seizure-prone, not to mention blood pressure and heart rate and you name it.

Some of the kids going into the high schools every day are exposed to it twice a day. Why?

The CTA could just hire some people that need the work to ride the trains for a few days and report in about which cars are too loud and by how much. Maybe media needs to do it for them."

Jeffery Washington, 36, of the South Side wrote: "The 'Dont Yell On Your Cell' ship has already sailed. The usual cell yellers, for me, are the girlfriends berating their boyfriends. Good luck trying to keep this campaign going."

Jonathon Young, 24, of Ravenswood wrote: "Why waste the money? The CTA should outlaw speaking on cell phones altogether. Not only are the conversations inane and irritating to fellow passengers, many are comprised of swear words. Isn't there a law against swearing in public?"

Jeff Brown, 35, of Edgewater wrote: "I couldn't agree more with Peter Treadway or any CTA riders who are fed up with fellow passengers talking on cell phones. Besides the fact that nobody cares to hear these people's personal business, most riders just want a quiet, peaceful trip, particularly when en route to or from work.

Hearing someone's one-sided cell phone conversation on a bus or train is like having a little insect flying around your ears. Now can we address the issue of people who use foul language on public transportation?"

Valerie R. Tomaso, 27, of Lakeview wrote "Recently I was coming home to the city from the suburbs one Sunday when a woman boarded the Brown Line going northbound.

She was on her cell phone screaming, cursing and crying to her 'baby daddy' regarding him not helping out with their kids, going out and having a good time, not giving any sort of child support, etc.

I was on the train with my dog, and she was even freaked out and shaking from this women who was sitting right across from me. Literally, the people in the next cars could probably hear her. Everyone was staring at her, no one said anything (I'm sure to avoid confrontation with a clearly infuriated woman).

At this point it had been going on for at least four stops. Finally her friend said, 'come sit over here, I'm sure that woman doesn't want you screaming in her ear.'

How is moving 5 feet going to make a difference on a train car?!  She should have eliminated the conversation entirely and waited until she got off the train to go about her 'baby daddy drama.'

We all have problems and issues in our lives, but no one wants to hear them, especially strangers on a train where there is no escape from people like that."

Brian Wilson wrote: "It's interesting what the CTA will try to be doing, but it won't make a difference at all. Here are three incidents I have seen just in the past month:

>> On the bus, a woman on her cell phone RAISED her voice to talk over the recording asking people to be considerate while talking on their phones. 'I can't hear you,' she yelled, 'this bus is too loud.'

>> A man recently was talking very loudly on the train on his phone. About his divorce. I looked over and noticed he was wearing a--ta da!--CTA uniform.

>> A woman got on a bus recently yelling at the top of her lungs at a person on her phone.  The CTA driver did not ask her to lower her voice. And she spent the entire ride yelling.

Sorry, but no ad asking people to text will work.  We live in a YouTube/MySpace/Facebook 'look at me' world.  And when folks are asked to be considerate, they look at that as a violation of THEIR rights. At least the CTA is trying."

Sean Nufer wrote: "I wonder if the CTA would do well designating certain cars as communication/media areas where people can chat on the phone or blast their earbuds without disturbing others.

It is quite inconsiderate that one person can listen to loud music and disturb a dozen other people. One time a couple weeks ago I asked a person to turn down the music and he swore at me. I asked him again moments later and he threatened me and I ended up moving to a different car.

Such a resolution would not necessarily be feasible during the rush-hour commute. And still, if those people had their own car (when the train runs eight cars), then I could sit in one of the cars with the more respectful milieu.

As far as buses go, I expect the driver to speak up and be aggressive for us. That is more to ask of a train engineer."

Oliver Cutamora, 29, of Uptown wrote: "In my experience riding trains, especially the Brown Line, which I often take, I sometimes eavesdrop on what people do actually talk about while they are on train.

A lady beside me was talking to her husband giving last minute instructions on what medication their son needed for the day, A concerned man was calling his wife about the bad news that she texted him about. I am stating these examples to emphasize that not all the time the calls or conversation on the train are nonsense but of urgent need. We don't seem to care about what others talk about but these are small things that matter to them."

Ben Clark, 33, Lakeview wrote: "It's absurd for the CTA to complain about cellphone use when they constantly blast their own announcements: PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE WHEN TALKING ON YOUR PHONE OR LISTENING TO ELECTRONIC DEVICES SO AS NOT TO DISTURB OTHER CUSTOMERS!!!!

I don't use a cellphone and doubt I'd be able to hear one through the constant CTA shouting ANNOUNCEMENTS. I wear sound muffling headphones that reduce their constant deafening announcements by 25 db, but it's hardly enough.

The CTA should save its campaign ad money and think first about their own far more irritating noise: they should travel to Paris, Tokyo, Germany, London, and China, where the public transit uses pleasant female voices at a sane pitch. And then they should hire a new pleasant female voice to redo their announcements and broadcast them at a level only a bit above normal speech."

Ishea Brown wrote: "I've been forced to endure numerous mind-numbing conversations while riding the No. 3 and No. 4 buses and the Blue Line so I'm I am thrilled to hear that the CTA is finally taking notice.

You'd think everyone would have the common courtesy to keep things at a respectful level, but think otherwise. I've heard everything from paternity test results and jail horror stories, to the dreaded teenage drama. I must say that by far the worst thing is to have an arguing couple on the train/bus together! It's enough to make you want to gouge your eyes and ears out."

One 25-year-old rider from Lincoln Park wrote: "What a load. With all those now-irrelevant Olympians telling us they endorsed the pick, and train operators wishing us a nice day, and crazy hobos babbling about conspiracies, the CTA wants to waste its already mismanaged funds on raising awareness of people chatting on cell phones? Get your priorities straight CTA!"