Avoid Making These 5 Big Mistakes When Using Chicago's CTA Public Transit Buses
Imagine you're waiting at a Chicago Avenue stop in the Windy City's Ukrainian Village, waiting for the 66 bus, when you see the guy who's about to ruin everyone's day slipping out of a gangway. Y'know, that person with 'lookin' for trouble' scrawled on his forehead before he's even reached the stop. The bus arrives, doors open, and there's the guy, muscling his way past passengers exiting the front of the bus, his phone's speaker blasting Nickelback. And you and the native Chicagoans around you resist the urge to yell, "Ey, stop bein' a ..." (complete the sentence with your preferred dose of rush-hour hostility). You've just witnessed three of the five big mistakes you want to avoid on Chicago's CTA public transit buses.
The case for etiquette on public transit may seem a simple, moral one. Being kind, thoughtful, and courteous should be everyone's default code of conduct. But it can often present a double-edged sword. What seems like harmless good intentions, like avoiding an empty seat, for example, may be a polite etiquette rule that Chicago natives actually hate to see. Because more than good manners, etiquette makes public transit run smoothly.
The Chicago Transit Authority's decade-old courtesy campaign did its best to tame locals' rude behavior on the bus and L, in a stereotypical Midwestern fashion. Messages on posters included the passive-aggressive rejoinder, "No one is interested in your conversation — trust us." But travelers may need a refresher. So consider this your quick cheatsheet on making sure a local doesn't label you a clown, or worse. The list was developed by comparing the CTA's own Courtesy Campaign materials with Chicago locals' emotional — and sometimes colorful — online chatter, and seeing where the two overlapped to create a critical mass.
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Follow the Windy City's bus door policy
Most doors — whether they're on houses, cars, or space shuttles — serve three purposes: letting people in; letting people out; and keeping some people from entering. Not so with CTA buses, which have two doors, each with one specific role. Messing them up is the single biggest way to reveal you're a CTA bus rookie (or phlegmatic local). This may get a bit complicated, but ... the front door is for entering. And the back door is for disembarking. Phew. (Yes, the CTA briefly flirted with rear-door boarding in 2020, but it didn't stick.)
Still, riders somehow disrupt this simple system, preventing the natural circular flow of people getting on and off the bus. Some locals in Chicago have a preternatural annoyance for anyone swimming upstream against the flow of people entering public transit. They devote entire Reddit threads to it, cementing its place in the unwritten rules you should know before visiting the Windy City.
"People need to stop getting off at the front," one user wrote at the top of a thread. "Get off at the back of the bus. This causes everyone that is trying to get onto the bus to wait for them to get off. At some stops, it's like 10 people. It makes everything take longer. There's a process, and they're messing it up." The only exception to this rule: riders with mobility or health issues that make using the rear door a hassle. Just be sure you wait for everyone to get off the bus before you get on.
Pay your fare, but don't just stand there
Paying your fare at the front is just the first step in your CTA bus journey. You may be tempted to, perhaps, check out the view from behind the windshield as the bus drives along. Or you may be tempted to strike up a quick chat with the bus driver. Perhaps the touch-sensitive yellow strip that opens the back door confounds you. Or maybe you feel sitting closer to the drive somehow makes you safer.
No, no, and no. After paying your fare, move towards the back of the bus. As far back as reasonably possible, even if only to the middle. Or at least get away from the entrance. It's the sort of common-sense rule that induces caps-locked online screeds.
"If you can't sit, keep moving back as more people get on," one Reddit user wrote. "Don't just stand holding your place as people struggle to fit, MOVE TO THE BACK. As far back as you can. And always thank the bus driver as you leave."
The bus is not a mobile eatery
Here's a hypothetical scenario: You just made a meal out of ordering an Italian beef sandwich, and locals instantly knew you were a tourist because you didn't know whether you wanted it dry, wet, or dipped. (The correct answer is always either "wet" or "dipped," by the way.) Now you're embarking on a bus ride to the Red Line at Chicago Avenue, paper-wrapped beef still bleeding through the bag, the smell of roasted vegetables wafting up to your nose. Do you unwrap your sandwich and sneak a bite, hoping nobody notices the au jus sliding down your wrist?
"Please don't eat or drink on board CTA buses and trains," the CTA said as part of its courtesy campaign. "The smells bother other passengers, and wrappers or other messes left behind make for an unpleasant ride for the next passenger — and next time, that might be you!" Locals don't seem to follow the rule too well themselves.
"As the robo announcer says, 'Smoking, littering, and eating are prohibited on CTA vehicles,'" one Reddit user wrote. "I think eating/drinking on the train is generally fine if you are clean and courteous, but with how packed rush hour trains get, I couldn't imagine actually being able to eat on the train."
Use only one seat, unless someone else needs it more
Public transit etiquette effectively boils down to a game of needs-based social ranking. Those who aren't in a rush should not shove their way through a crowd. In the same way, those with two functioning legs, robust health, and comfortable shoes shouldn't insist on sitting.
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Seating priorities on all public transit systems, including Chicago's, tend to be universal. The elderly, visibly frail, and pregnant women top the seating priority list. Then come second-tier riders: moms with kids, people with more grocery bags than limbs, anyone clearly struggling to stay upright, and grade schoolers. Travelers who aren't members of those groups should voluntarily give up their seats if approached by someone in need — and take their bags with them.
The CTA's courtesy campaign targeted multi-seat users in particular, with a dose of typical Midwestern passive-aggressive charm. "Did your bag pay a fare too?" the ad asks. Locals suggest confronting violators directly. "If you want that seat and have determined (a) the person is not crazy or guilty of repellent personal hygiene and (b) the seat itself isn't guilty of repellent hygiene, then you politely point at the seat and announce you want to sit," one Reddit user wrote in a thread specifically about seat usurpers.
Headphones exist for a reason
It seems only fitting that this list ends with the fictional day-ruiner who trounced several of the above rules. For some, his biggest offense may be blasting Nickelback on his phone's speaker. Debates about taste aside, he subjected other passengers to his music without their permission. The nuisance doubles when the person in question conducts a conversation on their speaker phone, or sans speakerphone, but at an inconsiderate volume.
The spate of public DJs isn't unique to the CTA's buses. The transit authority focused on a variety of noisy travelers in its courtesy campaign, with online debates following the same theme. The annoyance is made all the worse by the existence of a simple solution: headphones. Wired or Bluetooth, it doesn't matter — the problem should have been sorted out a while ago. Though some believe the cell phone makers caused the problems themselves.
"It's become more common since earbuds stopped being included with new phones, and the disappearance of the audio jack," one Reddit user wrote. "Doesn't excuse this behavior of blasting music for everyone to hear, but adding hurdles and cost and inconvenience is going to have an impact."
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Read the original article on Islands.
