Yes, you're completely correct. These are just more symptoms of underfunding, though.

The "L" is ~70 years older than DC Metrorail or BART (which we federal taxpayers paid for); NYC Transit spent nearly $40B (in current dollars) on system renewal during the 1980s; a Tube ride will cost you $8.20 -- and yet TfL is no less dependent on public subsidies than CTA. France provides four times as much public subsidy to RATP (i.e., Metro) as Illinois does to RTA.

The "next train 3 min." and "doors open right" signs would require new train signaling systems and new rail cars. Both are multi-billion dollar investments. You'll notice that "next train" announcements are available where the tracks are new/rebuilt, namely the Orange and Green lines. Compare the situation to NYC, whose subway is nearly as old as our "L": $288 million was spent to upgrade the L line's signals, so now it's the one line in the system with "next train" signage. Their new subway cars have automated announcements; that cost nearly $2 billion. This stuff makes the system much more usable, but ain't cheap.

I remember the used Seattle buses well. They're all gone now, but it was pretty shocking to see how quickly they got beat up here, much of it due to vandalism and road salt.

I'm really concerned about the governor's plan, which sounds like it will buy off the CTA with just enough operating funding for another year -- while milking the new city casino for $10 billion to gold-plate new roads for a few thousand drivers downstate.