I appreciate the thankless job done by those who work for the Chicago Transit Authority. Our city's public transit system is inadequately funded and they generally do the best they can. And most of the time, that's been good enough. CTA bungling usually only results in frayed nerves, missed connections and raised voices.

This past weekend, however, I saw firsthand how CTA incompetence can put customers at risk of dismemberment and death.

Because of track work, the CTA suspended Blue Line train service Saturday between the Montrose and Jefferson Park stations and passengers boarded free shuttle buses between these stops.

My outbound train arrived at Montrose station about 7:30 p.m. -- and was filled with tourists heading back to Rosemont-area hotels and Cubs fans who boarded the train at the Addison station. All these people swarmed onto the platform and made their way up to street level using either a set of stairs or an escalator.

When people reached the top, they were not moved into a queue by the two CTA personnel on the sidewalk. Rather, they were allowed to bunch up at the top of the stairs and escalator. This wasn't a problem at first, as customers simply jostled each other to make room.

However, by the time I was on the escalator and nearing the top, I saw there was maybe only two feet of room left at the top. Other customers realized this, too, and several of us yelled to the CTA people to turn off the escalator. I believe my words were:

"HEY! TURN OFF THIS ESCALATOR! PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET HURT!"

The CTA reps certainly heard us, but did nothing. As more passengers continued up the escalator, I pressed myself against the window and allowed people to squeeze past, otherwise I would have been jammed against the mass of flesh ahead.

I continued squeezing past the group of people and repeated the warning to the CTA reps, who again did nothing. Another passenger told me he had warned the CTA staffers down on the Montrose station platform and, "They just laughed."

For some reason, I fail to see the humor in the possibility of people being maimed or killed on an escalator.

I counted at least five CTA employees on duty. I guess they were assigned to jerking off that day, not serving the public.

Fortunately, nobody got trampled or hurt, but this was solely due to luck, not any efforts on the part of CTA employees.

I finally figured, well, I did the best I could, and squeezed past the crowd of people and walked west on Montrose about 25 feet and took the pictures above. I tried to take two shots that could be stitched together to show a wide view. Note that the station lobby is packed and that when the next person arrives at the top of escalator, there will be no room.

By the way, this isn't the first time I've experienced a CTA escalator problem. A couple of years back some lamebrain employee was cleaning the escalator at the Grand Avenue station during morning rush. He kept turning the escalator on and off while people were on it so he could stop and wipe the rubber handgrip.

As for the entire CTA agency itself, I find myself agreeing more and more with my friend __________, who maintains that the train system is like ancient alien technology left by an extinct race of advanced beings and that present-day humans simply have no clue to its origin or purpose.

Within minutes of extricating myself from the Montrose station death trap, I called the CTA customer service number and left a calm, cool message explaining my disappointment with what went on. I'll let you know if they call me back and what they say.

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