The CTA never sleeps

Meet bus operator Victoria “Pickles” Martinez

This was all really scary at first. I sat at home and cried a couple of times. Now everyone wears masks, and the CTA disinfects the buses. At first, the people were a lot different. They were just scared. Some people didn't want to go to work, but they had to go to work. And sometimes when I ride along the lakefront on a nice, crisp, sunny day, you kinda forget we’re going through all of this. It just seems like a normal day.

I get a lot of nurses when I do the lakefront routes, and they are pretty quiet. And sometimes, they actually walk up to the front and thank me for being there. But I thank them, you know.

We have to get everybody to work. Not everybody has a car. We have a lot of elderly people who have to shop for food, once their check comes in. Without the CTA, they would have no way of getting there. The CTA never sleeps.