Those who missed the `L' at Belmont are not alone
By Jon Hilkevitch and Gerry Doyle
Tribune staff reporters
Published August 18, 2006
Commuters, have you lost your bearings? If so, don't look to some of the new CTA signs for help.
And if you've been searching all around Chicago for a street named "Bemont," stop looking.
The transit agency could have benefited from the services of a good proofreader before printing about 3,000 new, over-the-door rail system maps that are posted on all 1,100 CTA train cars.
A series of mistakes resulted in the firing of one CTA employee Thursday, and it will cost the agency $75,000 to replace the signs.
The maps, revised this summer to include the new Pink Line,
list the wrong phone number for the Regional Transportation Authority's travel information hot line, which connects commuters calling from most metropolitan Chicago area codes with advisers who help them plan transit itineraries.
Instead of 836-7000, which was correctly listed on the old rail system maps, the number on the new maps flips two digits.
Callers to the wrong number in the 847 area code are connected to a young man's voice mail.
"Hey, this is Nick's cell phone. Call me back again some other time because I never listen to my messages. ... Maybe I'll talk to you later."
In the 312 area code, callers are greeted by a corporation's voice-mail access line.
"Meridian Mail mailbox," says the automated voice, which prompts callers to "Please enter your mailbox number followed by the number sign."
More mistakes here