CTA Tattler

sorry if im talking too much but this has been on my mind... why does every person that boards the train on a cell phone have to immediately tell the person theyre talking to "im on the train now" does anyone feel me on this? almost everyday theres someone on the cell and whats the one thing you always hear " well right now im on the train"
i need to get a cell phone to call and inform all my friends when im on my way to and from work

once on the southbound pulaski bus around berteau or belle plaine a couple sitting behind me in the back seats (i was in that first 2 seat one facing the front) anyway the couple seems to be arguing and the girl crying, i didnt pay too much attention- until the guy started to communicate with me, i turned around to see what he wanted, it basically went like " hey man, do you know her? (pointing at his girl or whatever) im like na i dont think so, she mumbled something about old school or something. maybe i did know her from way back but i sure wasnt about to get involved in that drama, my stop at irving was conveniently immediate after that little chat, and i got the hell off that bus.

So I'm riding northbound on the redline one night after class and work, it's probably around 9 PM. As I'm riding, I notice a guy staring at me. He soon approaches me, and begins a conversation with:
"Do you have another shirt on under that one?"
What?
"Do you have another shirt on?"
no . . .
"oh, (uncomfortable silence) do you have another one in your bag?
What, no, I don't have any other shirts . . . why?
"I like your shirt"
(more uncomfortable silence)
"That's a great shirt, can I have it?"
no(?)!
"I'll trade you my shirt for it"
No!
"I'll trade you my shirt and $20"
NO!
"$40"
what? NO, no way

Luckliy by this time we had reached my stop. But that was truly a first in many years of riding the red line

Lets see: scene took place on the #80Local going westbound from Western Avenue:

three girls get on the bus along with myself and a fellow femme I graduated with from Payton. We get on the bus, we take our respective seats. I get a seat in the back of the bus, the girls get a seat right next to me. They start talking really loud, such as the girls on "white chicks" and so forth...so one of them comes to me, asking about her breasts. I'm not the type that usually gets hit on like that, but that one made me laugh my butt off. She starts talking to me as they know me, but they got the name from the girl I graduated with...so think of it as accidental intelligence. The girl wasn't that bad looking at all, and she hit on me; So we talked, and we traded numbers (she originally wanted me to come over to her house, but I passes seeing I had a dinner to go to with my comrades), but as they got off the bus, the same girl blew a kiss at me...

...let that be the first and only time I've been hit on.

Has anyone else ridden the brown line train that the front car that tells the direction of the train is busted so the conductor, a lady, just yells over the intercom at every stop this is a Brown line train to the loop...brown line train...this is a brown line train...Over and over again. A few weeks ago she actually stated it 17 times at one stop. Now I know she is just being helpful but all the other panels on the train are working just fine so for the people that may not even look at the first car wouldn't even know why this lady is continually yelling this. The funny thing is this guy actually asked me this morning what if this train went to Clark/Lake and I suggested he switch to the purple so he would avoid going around the loop. He looked at me surprised and confused that he wasn't on the purple line and I wondered what he had been doing the past 5 stops when the driver announced that so many times.
It honestly motivates me to get up a few minutes earlier so I can get on the brown line train that comes before the one with the yelling driver.

I've seen this woman twice now, as I get on at Jarvis at about 8am. A slight, middle aged woman who is obviously suffering from some level of mental illness sits in the handicapped seats, peering through her glasses at every woman who boards. When she sees a young woman with long hair she fancies, she gets up and starts petting their hair, telling them, "You're sooooooo pretty! Sooooo pretty." Even more worthy of note than the woman's inability to control her compulsion to touch these young women is their reaction at being petted -- it's obvious the woman means no harm, and the young women always seem to tolerate it with a mixture of sympathy, tolerance and kindness.

About Cell phones....
Blue line towards O'hare, front car, 7:00am Today

A woman in her early 20s gets on at California. I am on the other side of the train and EVERYONE on the train can hear her on her cell phone. She is talking very loadly. Shortly thereafter she says, "well I'm going to lose you, I'm going through a tunnel". She hangs up and we are all thankful for the tunnel.

10 minutes later, I hear a faint noise. The woman sitting near me (I am sitting facing the aisle, she is sitting facing backwards) My head is less than 2 feet away from hers. She is talking on her cellphone, and I can bearly hear that she is talking, and now that I've noticed, I'm really trying. She is speaking in a voice that is much quieter than a normal speaking voice. Thank you!

Moral: not all cell phone users are idiots.. just some of them.

Question: is it the user, the brand of Cell service, or the Cell phone that causes "Cell Yell"?

CTA Time Machine

11/1/04 7:05pm

Southbound from Howard, 22 Clark Street Bus

The bus's date and time are incorrect. On this bus it is 11:40 am, January 15, 1988! I strain my memory to figure where I should be. My head starts to hurt after trying to reconcile the two dates. It is sixteen years ago. I should be 24 not 40. I should have a full head of blond hair, I don’t. I should be 25 pounds lighter. George H. W. Bush should be running for president, not George W. Bush.

The people at the bus stop are unaware their $1.75 faire will transport them back in time as well as south down Clark street.

The following story doesn't take place entirely on the CTA, but the CTA IS a main character.
Over the summer, a friend of mine from California was visiting me. She had a flight back to LA from Midway at 6:55 am saturday morning, but she had to be there 2 hours early because that's how airports are y'know.
I live on the NW side, between the blue line Irving+Pulaski stop, and the brown line Kimball stop. So our only option was to take the blue line to clark and lake and switch to the orange line.
The problem with that is we have to leave even earlier, because the orange line trains stop running at what, like 2:35 am? something like that.
SO we leave at some time after 1 am (why did we wait till then?), walk quickly to the Irving stop, and make our way to clark and lake.
We get off and rush up the escalators of the thompson center, just to see the red lights of the LAST ORANGE LINE TRAIN OF THE NIGHT in the distance.
I hoped the trains were behind schedule, and we waited, but they weren't. So now we had the problem of getting to Midway from Downtown, with no direct CTA route. I tried to think of what bus lines might still run this late, and what neighborhoods I would be willing to walk miles through in the wee hours of the night.
I decided that to get as far west as Cicero, we should take the blue line. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, the blue line branch that runs through Pilsen isn't important enough to run on certain days of the week, nor times of day. So my friend and I, as well as some random guy named Ernesto we met, were thrown a little of track.
We wasted some time going back and forth on the blueline before realizing one branch was out, and now the trains were running once every 30 minutes. So I asked the CTA station attendants about what buses were still running. One woman told me Pulaski was, so to Pulaski we went.
We get to Pulaski only to find that the buses will not run until about 5 am. So we walk south. From 600 south to Cermak, entertaining ourselves with games of 20 questions that turn into games of "infinite" questions, trying to ignore the offers to go down a dark side street where a supposed "cabby stand" awaits us, and questioning how the people out at that time of night would respond to these 2 white people strolling along, obviously out of place.
We made it to Cermak when we decided it might be worth it to wait for a bus. One comes within the hour, whatever hour that was, and we are disappointed to find it turn onto 31st street (less than a mile away from Cermak I believe) and let us off at a turn-around.
That was nice.
So then we walk to Cicero down 31st. The sun is rising. I injure my foot on a piece of a car on the sidewalk. It feels like we are nowhere near chicago.
There are trainyards and Semitrucks, no more sidewalks, and now... truckstops.
We stop at a Dunkin' Donuts and warm up, get some coffee and boston creams, and some money from the cash station. We are running out of time, so I offer to pay some people 20 bucks to take us to Midway.
Unfortunately, they are on their way to work. So we begin walking south down Cicero, considering hitch-hiking. We walk a mile or so, and at a little pancake house, we ask some truckers about taking us to Midway. The waitress tells us that a bus will be coming shortly, and if we're not at the stop, the bus will keep going.
So we run over there and pray the bus comes on time, and will get us to Midway quickly. Then I see the wide, square front of a bus in the distance, with the digital lettering telling me its going to Midway, and I'm happy its not a semi, or some van, or one of those other bus impersonators I so often see when waiting.
But it is 6:30 now. Will we make it? The bus drops us right at the terminal, and we rush up the stairs, through the non-moving walkways and the parking garage, and into the actual terminal.
It turns out my friend has that electronic ticketing thing, so she avoids the hassle of the line, and walks up to a machine where she swipes her credit card, which in return gives her a ticket, which is for a flight that leaves at 7:55....not 6:55.

A relief, yes...but if I had known her ticket was for that time, and that she would not have had to be there so early, we could have waited until the orange line started running again and have avoided our latenight journey.
So I said goodbye, and took the orange line to the brown line (woke some guy up who was about to miss his stop) and went home.
Moral of the story: Don't rely on the CTA in the middle of the night, wear a long sleeved shirt in the summer at night, and double check your airplane departure times.

nope, I haven't seen live sex on the CTA yet.

The Wonderful Aromas on the CTA.

Last night (28NOV04), at roughly 11:40 pm, I boarded the Brown Line train at the LaSalle Station. The trained smelled like someone was having a campfire in the next car. The smell of wood smoke was very strong! Mind you, it was also very pleasant as I grew up in a family that camped a LOT, and it brought back a lot of memories. It was such a pleasant change to the usual smells of the CTA.

I would also like to point out, that when the conditions are just right, you can smell the chocolate from the Blommer at the Chicago Station along the Brown Line. I get off of work at 11:30 pm, and every once in a while, when the train pulls in at Chicago, the doors open up and the delicious odor of chocolate drifts through the car. It is so delightful.

We always hear about the horrible smells of the CTA, but what about the pleasant smells? What are your favorite odor experiences on the CTA?

Take care and have a great day....

ciao,
john.

You can move now.

Today, I boarded an unusually crowded (for 2 pm in the afternoon) Brown Line train at Southport. There were plenty of seats, but very few people had the luxury of getting that extra seat for their bag/backpack/purse/etc. I was one of those lucky few, with a seat for me next to the window, and the other seat for my backpack. At Wellington I gave up my backpack's seat to a woman on her cell phone. By the time the train reached Fullerton, all the seats were taken. At Chicago, the train virtually emptied out. The lady turns to me and says, "You can move now. I need to sit next to the window to get better reception." I looked up from my book, noticed that there were probably no more than 6 other people on the train, and then looked at her in total shock. She expected me to get up, squeeze past her (she was a bit on the large size), and get another seat! Couldn't she get up and move one row back, or forward, or even across the aisle? She swore at me when I simply fished my headphones out of my jacket, stuck them in my ear, and continued to read.

Take care and have a great day....

ciao,
john.

Last winter I boarded the morning rush-hour in-bound Blue Line at Higgins Avenue. The stop is near the beginning of the run, so there are always seats available. I immediately noticed that one seat had a huge, muddy puddle on it, as if someone had rested their boots up on the seat and let the snow melt off them, creating the muddy puddle. The puddle completely covered the contour of the seat. It had snowed and was a dirty, slushy, sloppy mess. Soon, it was the only empty seat left on the train. I was kind of amusing myself by watching people board the train, rush up to the seat, and then act so dissapointed when the saw the puddle on it (some people actually looked crestfallen). I was astounded when a well-groomed, middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie approached the seat, looked down directly at the puddle, turned around, and plopped down firmly into it. It had to immediately soak through to his underwear. He acted like it was perfectly normal and his ass wasn't getting soaked. Of course, everyone on the train who saw it (including me) pretended not to notice it. He was still there when I got off at Clark and Lake, which was too bad, because I was hoping to get a look at his clothes as he got up.

Seen on the Brown Line, Tuesday 11/30/04, around 5:45pm, between Fullerton & Belmont:

Young couple sitting together next to the doors. The girl is meticulously squeezing the pimples on the guy's forehead between her long fingernails. He actually seems to be enjoying it. After the forehead, she starts squeezing around his upper lip, then moves to the nose. I got off at Belmont, luckily, because his neck looked a little bumpy too.

This isn't a story really, but I read an article in today's trib about how CTA is nixing the holiday train that carries Santa around. They are saying that it 'doesn't feel right' to celebrate Christmas cheer when 1200 positions are scheduled to be eliminated. Is this a good move for the CTA even though running the 'Santa train' won't affect next years budget? Apparently, they're also considering getting rid od the 1 cent fare on New Years' Eve. How do you guys/ gals feel about this?

Richard -- ew. That's better (or worse, depending on how you think of the story) than the Trixie I saw on the Brown line a few years ago. Early morning commute, and she had a prime single seat by the window. She applied makeup then, when finished, removed a pair of tweezers from her bag and started plucking miniscule hairs from her chin, upper lip, and the tip of her nose.

Oh, and I was with J (she of the 55th/Garfield stop on the red line with the come-on from a former guest of our correctional system -- see post above dated 11/17/04) a few years ago. We were waiting for the brown line at the Adams stop, on our way to see "Office Killer" at the Music Box. A man of indeterminate age started talking to me. It was cold, and I was leery of a man missing some teeth who kept telling me I looked good. I was smoking on the platform when he said something like "Why do you want to be smoking? To lose weight? Nuh uh, girl, you look good. You don't need to lose no weight. You want to end up looking like her?" at which point he gestures at J. I didn't crack up until much later, when my admirer had left to urinate elsewhere on the platform.

Jasmine, you ARE a looker, so you may want to consider disguises or mean, angry, unapproachable facial expressions when riding the el.

I hope they don't take away the 1 cent fare on new years eve. Do they realize what havok will result from hundreds of drunken people probably driving around in the middle of the night because they are bitter with the CTA and don't want to pay 2 bucks?? well, that's a possiblity anyways, 2 bucks isn't too much to ask. But if they take it away I'll be sad. :(

Ah, Adonis, that's so sweet. But the thing is, I didn't feel especially hot that day. I was, in fact, really cold, so my focus was on staying put under the heating lamps on the platform. And this happens to me a lot -- not getting hit on, but if and when I do, it's always when my hair is mussed, I've got dog hair on my coat, or a smudge of dirt on my nose.

Hi Kevin,

Nice to catch up the other day. I ride the L almost everyday and look forward to chatting with people about what they are reading, the CTA, the weather, the crazies, politics, whatever.

I've found that one of the best conversation starters is the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" yellow wristband I wear, although that's not why I started wearing it. The Lance Armstrong Foundation sells them for $1 each to help raise money and raise awarness about cancer, especially the fact that there is life after a cancer.

Well, these little wristbands are so popular that they are hard to come by. I tried to buy one at several local sporting goods stores, only to hear time after time, "Those always sell out as quickly as they come in." Therefore, I ordered 100 on the Internet from the Foundation. It took about a month for them to arrive. Now, when people ask me on the L, "Where did you get your wristband?", I can give them one. From there, we usually talk about how great Lance Armstrong is (both as a bike racer and role model), bicyling, fashion, how funny it is that the simple idea of a colored wristband has become so popular, what color will be next, etc.

Sometimes I get a feel of comradery when I spot someone else wearing the "Livestrong" wristband. Often, we chat about why we are wearing the wristband; sometimes we just nod in mutual recognition of like minds.

I'm almost running out of wristbands, so I hope I spot you on the L soon so I can give you one! Cheers, Greg

thanks for a great site. as i was reading the track back section i thought back over my 25 years riding the CTA and tried to decide if i had anything worth contributing. here are the few bits that came to mind:

i was held up at gunpoint at the sedgwick stop on the brown line in 1986. they took everything and ordered me not to call the police. i wasn't going to even bother calling, but after they ran off i realized they had pushed me up against a pay phone. i turned around, called 911 and gave a description and in a few minutes the CPD pulled up with them in the back of their car. they got 7 years because they were on parole for attempted murder.

a few years after that a beautiful woman smiled at me on the green line and i smiled back. she got off the stop before mine and turned around and smiled again on her way out. the very next night i ran into her in a bar in a totally different part of town and we immediately said to each other, "you're the person from the train!" we started dating.

9/11/2001 my most vivid memory. i was late for work because i was waiting for a charity company to come pick up the car i donated. i was home alone and wasn't watching tv or listening to the radio and all of my friends and family thought i was at work and were trying to reach me there to talk about the news. the guy finally showed up and said "what a day, huh?" i gave him a miffed "yeah" response.

popped on my discman and walked over to the blue line to go to work. i noticed the streets were empty, and when i boarded the train it seemed odd to me that it was full of people with suitcases coming from o'hare but seemingly without any regular commuters heading downtown.

i had my music pretty loud (hopefully not too loud) and stood in the doorway and kind of bopped along as we rolled. everyone was staring at me and i couldn't figure out why. i even got a little paranoid. they were obviously thinking, who is this heartless bastard who is jamming to tunes as the world trade center buildings are tumbling to the ground?

when i got off the train at clark and lake is when i really felt that things were crazy. it as if it was the evening rush... everyone in the whole city was heading to the train, rather than from it. i was dumbfounded. as i struggled against the sidewalk traffic headed in the other direction i thought maybe another hole got punched in the river bottom or something and the loop was closing down.

got to work and gave a cheery goodmorning to everyone who was still there, and they all knew right away. "you haven't heard?!"

This is not a story, it is a complaint. A complaint about legs.

Apart from some war veterans and chronic diabetics, we all have two of them, right? Good.

Question: Why, Joe-teenage-male-hiphop-CTA-patron, are you so keen to spread *yours* as wide as you can, intruding your knee into your neighbor's newspaper, or blocking the aisle with your immense overpriced gym shoes? Are your extremities so friggin' special, so "bling-bling!" after all?

Or is it something else? Yes! I've got it. You want us to notice something: your procreative prowess, your biological bequeathal. Yes: by sitting slouched and spread-eagled on a city bus, you can show us that you are a real man, that you rule the city with your hidden wand.

Hey Champ, go watch a nature program! Your fellow riders have seen it all before. And they'd rather hear it from Jane Goodall than from Puff Daddy.

Enough Daddy.

Yours,
JK

I wonder if you have a place for CTA memories. I took the Red and Purple Lines (depending on what time of day it was) every work day for nearly 17 years. Over that time the names changed from Howard-Dan Ryan/95th, to some monstrous contraction called "Ho-Dan," and then it became the Red Line. The Purple was always Evanston-Wilmette until the color-coded system.

Back in the day, as they say, we had A or B trains on the Red Line, and you could get downtown a heck of a lot faster. I have no idea why they stopped doing that because now it seems like you stop every fifty feet or so. But the problem with A or B trains was that sometimes you'd be at an A station and about fifteen Bs would go by, while you're freezing your ass off on some windy platform in a bad neighborhood.

I've seen the Purple Line go around the Loop in one direction and then in the the other. The way it is now allowed me to get a seat on the damn train before the huge rush at the Merchandise Mart. Also, the express really used to be an express with no way off until Howard. That meant panhandlers literally had you captive for about twenty minutes. Then they started stopping at Belmont and Fullerton and the whole concept of "express" disappeared from the Evanston Express.

But back to the Red Line, back in the day. Before the advent of magnetized cards we had tokens. They were dime-sized little things, very easy to lose. You'd buy a $10 roll and toss one into the machine by the turnstyle. It worked pretty well and didn't make you feel as stupid as the card machines do when they refuse to dole out a card for your money or when the turnstyle mysteriously locks on you.

I recently went to New York and I see that they also have gone to the magnetized card. So if you've got any tokens, keep them, because they will be worth something as antiques some day.

Last observation: you know those smudgy windows on just about any car you get into? I never really understood what that grunge was until I was on the Red Line with my sister. I pointed out a particularly obnoxious smear of goo on our window.

"Oh, you know what that is don't you?"

No.

"That's where guys with Jeri Curls fall asleep and lean their head on the window."

EWWWWWWW!!!! Yuk! And, indeed, I saw someone do that the very next ride. Of course, Jeri Curls are no more, but hair goo is still very much in vogue. So don't ever expect those windows to be clear, because they never will. I wonder how much of that gel will build up before the windows are completely opaque.

Older but not much wiser,
Lynn

The Doors Shall Inherit the Earth

On Thursday, Dec. 02, I boarded the Blue Line at Irving Park for my ride into the loop. At Washington a middle aged women gets on the train and stands facing the door, about 6" away from it. She then proceeds to preach in a very loud voice about the glory of god and Jesus. She got off at Jackson. I never could quite tell whether or not she was able to convert the door.

ciao,
john.

How come there are announcements on the Brown and Purple lines that panhandling is illegal aboard CTA trains, yet there is no such announcement on the Red Line? I see the same panhandlers all the time on the Red Line--is the CTA getting kickbacks from the beggars to keep the Red Line open for "business"? One could make the argument that the neighborhoods the Brown and Purple line service are a little too High End to deal with begging on the commute, so it's left to the Red line to deal with. Thoughts?

Observed on a recent afternoon riding the #53 Pulaski bus:
An older woman requested a stop in front of Montrose Cemetery (midway between Bryn Mawr & Foster; amidst three graveyards with no homes or businesses for two blocks in any direction). She exits the bus and heads toward the cemetery with a rolling suitcase in tow. Think she was planning to say awhile?

Experienced during heavy morning rush on the Red Line Southbound:

Scenario: Car is packed, I am standing in the aisle which is two-people deep, not single file. Belmont stop, a woman about 5 feet tall acts like Moses parting the Red Sea in this crowded aisle, and tries to run to the only empty seat. There's reason it wasn't empty--a musician or artist (not sure) had with her three hard sided cases, each big enough to hold a trumpet. "Moses"-ette says "Could you PLEASE move your stuff so I can sit down?" Rightfully annoyed, the artist tries to shuffle her cases, and cannot keep them all to her own space, and says "I'm sorry". Rude lady then proceeds to stand leering at the artist, PUSHES one of the cases over so she can put her measly little backpack down on the "unoccupied" seat.

Approaching Grand, what must have been "Moses"-ette's sister INSISTED on getting up from her seat and moving to the door area through the packed aisle and standing area, so that she could stand at the doors before they opened. Note: to you: You will be able to get off the train ALL THE TIME. We in Chicago have manners and know to make room for people at their stops and even hold the door. Chill.

Now, regarding Moses and her little backpack, I'm in complete agreement with you--honestly, there are some things that sorta REQUIRE a space of their own, and the trumpets (or tommyguns, or whatever they were) are among that list.

However.

Regarding the door-standing woman: I have been on far too many trains with far too many "YOU may want to get through this door, but this isn't MY stop, so I'm going to stand here in the doorway like a giant sheep until someone points out that I'm a mannerless idiot and/or forcibly shoves me out of the way" people to agree with THAT part. (And let's not even get started about the vestibule-standers in the Clark-Lake terminal building....a pox on all their houses!!!)

Now, regarding Moses and her little backpack, I'm in complete agreement with you--honestly, there are some things that sorta REQUIRE a space of their own, and the trumpets (or tommyguns, or whatever they were) are among that list.

However.

Regarding the door-standing woman: I have been on far too many trains with far too many "YOU may want to get through this door, but this isn't MY stop, so I'm going to stand here in the doorway like a giant sheep until someone points out that I'm a mannerless idiot and/or forcibly shoves me out of the way" people to agree with THAT part. (And let's not even get started about the vestibule-standers in the Clark-Lake terminal building....a pox on all their houses!!!)

One day when I was coming home on the Blue Line (54/Cermak)I was waiting in the subway tunnel and noticed that the girl who was in front of me had a long white bead in her big black hair. I thought to myself, "that bead looks kind of odd". So, when we finally get on the train she sat directly in front of me. I happened to notice that bead again, but soon realized that it was a lollipop stick. Yes, a WHOLE lollipop stick with remnants of candy still on the edge. I could only imagine how it got there, and as my imagination started to run wild with ideas, I could not hold my laughter in. At one point, I was giggling uncontrollably. I probably looked like the biggest idiot.
Whenever I tell that story, people yell at me for not telling the lady. I am very sorry for not telling her, but I might have laughed straight in her face. I know, that's bad karma.

Great site!!!

2 stories, a few months ago, going northbound from 95th+Dan Ryan @7:30am, lady gets on the train literally dragging her young daughter. I'm sitting in a side seat and they sit directly next to me. The child is hysterical, screaming 'let me go'. The older sister is carrying her shoes. The mother could not calm her down, period. Turns out she wanted to stop at the store and the mother kept telling her that she didn't have any money. Like a 4-yr old cares if mom had no money. The older girl was just plain mean to her, snatching some lip gloss from her that made her scream even louder. I actually ended up asking the little girl if she wanted to come to me, she did, the mom did not look in the least like she actually cared. I talked to her and she told me that she wanted to go the the store, I said but your mommy says that she can't and you say you are sorry for screaming like that and she did. Maybe the mom was just tired, but those girls were hungry, I ended up giving them my snacks, and the older girl tried to take them from the little girl. I did feel sorry for those babies.

A couple years ago, right around the time they started cracking down on solicitation on the train, I was carrying a box of Peanut M&M's that were a fund raiser for my step daughter. Let me tell you how I was standing, I was at the Washington Station waiting for a southbound Redline train, the box was on top of one of those recycle bins, and my back was to it as I was reading a novel. A lady comes up behind me and asks me what they are for, I tell her they are for my stepdaughter's pre-school and that they cost $1. Again, she asks me what they are for and I repeat the same thing. She then proceeds to say don't I know that I am not supposed to be selling anything on CTA property, now remember that she came up to me.

I said to her that I did not ask her to buy anything from me, I just told what they were, she was an undercover cop, I did get a little loud when she asked me for id and said you have got to be kidding me and she said that I don't need to raise my voice and called her "partners" over in order to give me a ticket...I am 5'3" and I guess she thought I was a kid or something...then they took me upstairs and into a stinking CTA bathroom and wrote me a damn ticket!!! For soliciting!!! She made me tear up the box and put the candy into my purse and my bag...WTF...I am still mad about that.

I actually had to go to court for this, suffice to say that she never showed up for the court date and the "judge" more like arbitrator looked at me and said are you kidding, laughed, dimissed the ticket and just said be careful not to carry candy like that anymore...

Wow...a lot of you guys have seen some crazy things!

Here's one of my stories that happened a few months ago; actually it's a rant: I usually take 3 buses to get home from work. I usually take the #3 King Drive to 79th street, but I had ran into a friend of mine at work, so we got on the #4 Cottage Grove together. I got off at 79th so I could get the bus that goes to Halsted.

So, I get on the bus, and everything's cool (or so I thought). The driver gets to Wentworth and says that this was her last stop. Everybody's looking at her, and going, "What the fu**?!" She didn't say anything to me when I had gotten on the bus. Hell, she didn't tell anybody. We all just got off and waited for another bus. I ending up waiting several minutes and letting other buses pass by because most of them are so crowded, especially when those kids are getting out of school (if you ride the #79, you know what I mean). I was pissed about the whole thing and planned to explain what happened on the next bus I got on because I didn't think that was fair.

So I'm trying to tell the driver what happened, and all this heffa said was, "What's your point?" and "Well, you should've looked up at the bus before you got on." This bi*** thought I was making this up to get a free ride! Eventually, she told me to go sit down and I thanked her. Maybe I should've just paid another fare, or got off the bus. I was just trying to stand up for myself...

And that's not the end of it...

I get off at 79th and Halsted, so I can take the #8 Halsted bus going north to ride the rest of the way home. I'm already stressed out about what happened on the other bus. So when the #8 comes, I just walk over with everyone else to the door. Now, I wasn't even paying attention to who was on the side of or behind me. I hear this woman say softly, "Oh, you're just gonna get in front of me?" I didn't even know she was talking to me. My mind was somewhere else; all I wanted to do was to get home. Then as I stepped onto the bus, I heard her mutter, "Naw, that ain't a bi***, that's a..." She had this man with her, so I guess he called me a bi***. And I didn't catch what she said. "Trick" probably?

I was pissed. I stood up (bus was starting to get crowded) and waited for them to walk past me. I almost thought about saying something, like, "Is there something you want to say to me?" But I decided I had enough bullcrap for one day. This bi*** was probably crazy or something. I felt bad for cutting in front of someone without paying attention...but why was it necessary to call me out my name...I mean damn! And why not say, "Excuse me, please don't cut in front of us." I never knew there was a line to get on the bus like there's a straight line in a store; everyone just seems to be bunched up and we just get on. I've never experienced anything like this, LOL.

Saturday, Dec. 11, roughly 10 am. I sit bleary-eyed aboard a northbound Red line. I'm enduring a "ride of shame" -- I'd been out drinking the night before, had crashed at a friend's place downtown and hadn't changed clothes or showered since the previous morning.

Somewhere between Belmont and Howard, among those myriad stops that seem endless when you're trying to get to Evanston, a gentleman boards the train. He's white, late 40s-early 50s and looking a lot like I feel. He sits in the "priority" seats, facing the aisle. I'm seated next to a window, facing his profile, with just a pair of empty seats between us. After completing the next stop, the automated voice kindly reminds us that we're heading toward Howard.

"Howard?!" the man exclaims. "Oh, no, not again!" His tone is a perfect mix of outrage and resignation.

Following my usual rules of engagement, I say nothing. But another gentleman -- black, heavy-set, seated somewhere behind me -- is a little more responsive. Laughing sympathetically, he says, "You didn't want to go to Howard?"

"No," groans the Lost Man, who now adds a rather charming dash of congeniality into his presumably perpetual agitation. "I always do this! I try to avoid Howard but it sucks me right back in!"

"God must want you to go there," replies the Kind Man, his words slow, his voice thick with compassion. "Maybe you'll meet an old friend going to Skokie."

Overheard on the Brown Line one recent Saturday morning: two girls in their early twenties having a conversation about a mutual friend.

GIRL 1: Oh god, did you hear about Sandra? She had to have a hysterectomy.

GIRL 2: Wow, that's terrible.

GIRL 1: Yeah. They say she'll never be able to play the guitar again.

GIRL 2: From a hysterectomy!?

GIRL 1: Well, obviously they did it wrong.

GIRL 2: Obviously.

I was on the Orange Line the other day. This kid gets on at Pulaski, and he looks as if he's so excited to be on the L. Nothing unusual until we get to Western, when the kid says, "This is Western!" in a voice trying to imitate the automated guy. He named every stop with almost perfect timing. I thought it was pretty cute.

Last thursday night, the 16th, I was on a brown line train headed towards the loop.
Due to some problems in the loop, my train was stuck at the Chicago stop for about 20 minutes.
I was sitting in the very last seat of the train, so I had a great view of all of the commuters who got up to the platform and ran towards the train thinking they wouldn't make it.
Of course they all did make it, and some even turned back. After a while, my friend and I began counting the number of people who ran towards us. but it got too sad and we stopped. eventually, the train exited the station.

Hey Superman, did they ever come out and actually CONCRETELY identify what the big hold-up was??

I was on a Purple train at that same time, and the delay was more like 40 minutes where we were...something about "interlocking", whatever the hell that means. (Possibly it means that the CTA's collective head was interlocked with its collective butt--at least, that was my interpretation.)

well, it was a forty minute delay, but we were only at the chicago stop for 20, before and after that we were stopped between stations.

The conducter made some announcements, but he was mumbling, so I all I knew was we were delayed. Some passengers were rumoring something about it being bridge-related. Whatever it was, outbound brown and purple line trains were zooming past us every 5 minutes, packed with people.

I figured that maybe the trains had to run on only one track over the bridge or through the loop or something, can anyone else comment on that night?

To Gladys and all others wondering what "interlocking" means:

I did a Google search and came up with this on Trains.com.

Kevin...Thanks!

(I still think my way may be more applicable to the CTA, however.) :)

My co-worker was returning from a shopping excursion downtown on the south bound red line around 7:30 last night (12/22) when a group of young women quickly jumped off the north bound red line at 22nd Street and got on the south bound train. Immediately my co-worker knew something was up when the young women surveyed the seen---i.e. Looking at people's footwear (to see if anyone could potentially give chase) and seeing how many packages they were carrying. Right before the train pulled into the 47th Street station, the young women began to snatch the bags of the passengers on the sparsely filled train. Their mistake was trying to do so to my co-worker.

While I was told that these young women couldn't of been any older than sixteen, they made the adult decision to attempt to snatch and steal from people so subsequently they got the grown up beat down from my co-worker. I'm sure the young woman has several abrasions, a bleeding lip and a swollen eye(s). Needless to say, my co-worker doesn't play. If I had any doubts about her sincerity, her red and swollen knuckles today left no question that the "jacker" in this case got "jacked."

Bottom line be EXTREMELY careful. She and I have hypothesized that this same crew of ladies will try to do the same thing except this time we think that they will try to strike up north before New Years. Now that the south side is familiar with their M.O. they will more than likely take their little act on the road.

My co-worker's favorite saying is "To be aware is to be alive." Take it to heart.

L Musicians

I visit CHI several times a year, and get around on the L quite a bit.

Riding earlier this year on the Red Line, I noticed a latin woman busking at a downtown stop (Washington?), she played guitar and fiddle simultaneously (!), clicking castanets in her picking/bowing hand, and singing in Spanish. WOW. On my return leg I got off the train to listen to her.

Anyone have a similar listening experience? Or any...

thanks,

Drew

Glengarry Glen Ross

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukah to you

I watched Glengarry Glen Ross last nite. Is this not set in CHI - the list of 'burbs mentioned seems to make it so (Kenilworth, Batavia, Morton Grove). Where was the movie shot? Also, there are elevated trains in a lot of the scenes, but are they CTA trains?

thanks,
Dr

ew

My blood mold has to go by Christmas, but it has to be cheap.

As the holidays neared, only a week away, a large crowd entered the 151 bus north on Michigan, at Chicago. Sitting down in the middle of the bus was this Gold coast gal. Somewhere in her forties, wearing a full mink coat, loudly talking on her cell phone so all can hear. As the bus neared Chestnut, the conversation turned to the blood mold growing on her mid chest, as she telked into the phone, "like a unwanted third tit". With a follow up statement about how much she payed five years before for the "costly improvement on the original two." She belted out all this information, in a Ethel Merrman tone, how her skin MD past away two years before and has not found any one she had liked since. But now the blood mold is quickly reaching pubert and a removal had to be done before Xmas eve. Yet, she keep uttering that the work had to be done, cheap. She told how she has call hospitals at Northwestern and University of Chicago and she could not get a price that was acceptable to what she wanted to pay. She finished the the call with, I got to dump this unwanted red nipple, now.
After that call, she phone two other Skin MD's, giving a brief detailed outline of the removal and the wanted price. What was sweet for all on the bus, is that she gave, in a clear tone, her home, cell and work (wow, she had a job)
phone numbers(I still have the numbers bronzed in my head and I am thinking of giving this high rent gal a call on all three lines if this thing gets printed.).

Her last call, after the 15 mns of blood mold talk, was to call a gold coast dinner for a take- out order of soup , steamed rolled rice and some type of raw fish(with a comment,"I hope it was air shipped direct,today.).

She pulled the bus stop cord as we travled on the
road along the inter drive two block just south of North Ave, to get off. As this blood mold lady exited, the instant the bus moved away from the stop, a few riders started to snicker. (They must have been bitting their lips all the way during the conversation.) Some folks commented. Other
were thanked God that the lady with he high maintance blood mold was gone.

The moral of this story dear riders was : woman with ugly blood mold on bus must not bargan hunt on cell phone or everyone meal will not have that holiday zing.
Let keep bloody molds to ourself in the spirt of the season.

I was recently in Washington DC and rode the Metro (their version of the CTA). I have to say that I was impressed. The employees were nice and the motorman was pleasant as he announced the stops. The trains were clean and pretty quiet as they rolled along the tracks on their rubber wheels. The connections to other lines were smooth and the signs were easy to follow. People here are complaining about the possible rate hikes, there depending on what time you ride or where you go, you can pay up to $4 for your ride! The fees are higher the farther you go and higher if you ride during the morning or evening rush. I think we get a great service for the fees we pay. The only problem I had was that I could not pass back my farecard to my friend, they had to get their own.

I got onto the Red Line going north during yesterday's snow storm (Jan 5) at Grand. Although the station was packed, I managed to get into a car because so many people exited from one side. I found out why. I was squeezed in front of a clean, appropriately dressed, elderly man who shouted the whole time his version of the Old Testament. Did you know that they made movies back then? Yeah, and that circumcision was performed with rocks, and done just to make the Jews "different"? (and sometimes done twice!) Socialism, wouldn't you know, also played a part ("Solomon had one-thousand wives. Now that's socialism!"). The best part was the story of Moses and the giant robot. Although a giant, the robot was a slave, and had to do what Moses wanted. Once Moses had to shake the robot slave. He shook him so hard one of the robot's teeth fell out. Just to give you an idea of the size of this robot, you could use that tooth as a bed! The man interspersed his comments with chuckles. I kept thinking he was laughing in disbelief that a whole train car could be full of stooges unwilling to do anything to curb his wild story telling.

We all know the panhandler who whines "I'm homeless...I haven't eaten for three days...." Have you seen the new blind guy? He's not so new anymore. He cruises back and forth on the same car for several minutes, holding a cup in one hand and his cane in the other. No dark glasses.

My roommate has the worst luck with the CTA. She either gets stuck on the bus that breaks down or the train that decides to run express past her stop. This one day we were leaving work and got on the red line northbound from downtown. Everything was fine until we got to Fullerton and instead of your usual Lincoln Park/Depaul people boarding, a pidgeon walked on our car. He flew around people's heads freaking everyone out including himself! He finally disembarked at Sheridan, with us.

Well, I thought my story was unique until I read the previous comment. Maybe the CTA is going to the birds. I was having a bad commuting day with missed trains, mechanical breakdowns, and standing on the platform in cold wind. When the Red Line finally came, the doors opened, and there was a pigeon on the train. It looked at everyone, jerked around some, and then flew out. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.