CTA courtesy pitch to target space-hogging, so far not ‘manspreading’

SHARE CTA courtesy pitch to target space-hogging, so far not ‘manspreading’

The CTA wants to launch a courtesy campaign this spring, but so far it hasn’t gotten any indication Chicago is home to the same sort of “manspreading” etiquette problem as New York City, officials say.

News of the Big Apple’s subway courtesy crusade went viral late last year after its signs included urgings against men splaying their legs via the message: “Dude, stop the spread….Please.”

Here in Chicago, beefs specifically about manspreading riders who consume more than their fair share of seat space haven’t popped up yet on CTA social media, although the agency is still garnering feedback, Chicago Transit Authority spokesman Brian Steele said.

“We are still going through our customer-service calls and inquiries, but it has not been identified as an issue,’’ Steele said.

The campaign is still under development, is being crafted in-house and will not be based on a customer survey, Steele said.

“By its very nature, this is not a scientific endeavor,” Steele said.

One blogger has been documenting “Men taking up too much space on the train” — including a handful of CTA riders — with photo postings since at least 2013.

Perhaps the most well-known recent victim of manspreading was actress and British dame Helen Mirren, who was captured on Instagram last month riding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Several media reports praised Mirren for using public transit — and looking chic and proper while doing so. But did her face and raised chin betray discomfort with the manspread knee knocking against her elegant coat?

“Even Dame Helen Mirren isn’t immune to manspreading on the NYC subway,’’ tweeted Daily Mail Celebrity.

Steele said the CTA is basing its courtesy messages on beefs it has received via CTA email, its Twitter account, Facebook page and customer service call center; comments it observes on other social media; and the “day-to-day experience” of CTA staff, who can travel for free on the CTA.

Combing through such channels “will provide us plenty of feedback on customer behavior,” Steele said.

Courtesy targets probably will include littering, talking too loudly on cellphones, and taking up too much space in general, Steele said.

Space complaints observed so far, Steele said, have been confined to riders putting a backpack, bag or feet on a nearby seat, but not manspreading. At the moment, space-hogging “will be addressed more universally” in the campaign, which will feature placards above CTA seats, Steele said.

Former New Yorker Mimi Cowan said she’s seen manspreading on the CTA — but it seemed more prevalent in the Big Apple — perhaps because the MTA has more inward-facing seats for more than two occupants.

“But I have seen it here,’’ Cowan said. “Occasionally you’re like, ‘OK dude, nobody can sit on either side of you’ and you can tell by the look on the person’s face they are really not interested in changing the way they are sitting at all.’’

Buena Park resident Erin Fowler said urging riders to give priority seats to expectant mothers also should be part of the campaign.

Fowler asked the CTA board in November of 2013 to include pregnant women in CTA priority seating announcements and seemed to receive a positive response. But she said she hasn’t heard of any changes so far.

The CTA’s method of determining what discourteous conduct should be targeted doesn’t seem very “exhaustive,” Fowler said.

“I think there’s a lot more they could be doing to solicit rider feedback,” Fowler said.

But Steele said most CTA courtesy problems have been issues for as long as public transit has existed.

“This is about generating awareness and greater consideration of courtesy on the CTA,’’ Steele said.

Chicagoan Charles Paidock of Citzens Taking Action for Transit Dependent Riders said the CTA has more serious problems to worry about than rude riders and space hoggers.

Discourtesy is “ephemeral,’’ Paidock said. “I wish I knew what it meant. Is it a feeling in your heart?”

The campaign is “dangerous,” he said. ”You’re gonna get people notifying police [about other riders]. If they didn’t have complaints before, they will now. I think they ought to leave this one alone.”

The upcoming etiquette campaign will be the CTA’s second in 13 years. A  2002 crusade featured a boorish stick figure named “Jack” whom Steele said has since been “retired.”

The effort also will be the third “awareness campaign” under CTA President Forrest Claypool, Steele noted. The two others focused on rail track safety and the CTA’s stroller policy.

The Latest
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”