CTA Tattler

Wild times in Hobo Corner

A reader shares his fun memories of Hobo Corner:

About a year ago on a Saturday, I attended a Hawaiian-themed party in the South Loop. At around 11:00 PM, I started back home, boarding the northbound Red Line at the Roosevelt stop. 

I was feeling self-conscious because I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and two floral leis on a Saturday night in the middle of winter. The car was full and smelled like a brewery. I entered the car of the train and headed for an empty seat near the end of the car because I did not want to stand with strings of orchids around my neck, staring down a car full of inebriated revelers. I pulled out a book and started reading.

A few stops north, two people walked past me and through the emergency doors to the next car. A few minutes later, the two crossed back into the car where I was sitting. In my experience, a lot of back-and-forth between cars is usually a symptom of someone who's up to no good.

This time was no different. One of the two people sat down next to me. His companion crouched down next to him and started to unfold a piece of newspaper. When the seated person saw that the paper had nothing in it, he asked the crouching person where his f***ing money was.

This was turning unpleasant quickly.

The scary announcement

Many readers here have lamented the lack of communication from drivers about what's delaying trains.

Last week I heard this terse announcement, after a five-minute delay at Belmont on the Red Line:

"We apologize for the delay riders. We had a disturbance in the sixth car."

On the one hand, I wish I had been in the sixth car to know what the nature of the "disturbance" was.

On the other hand, I was glad I was not in the sixth car so I didn't have to witness -- or even participate -- in that "disturbance."

CTA bailout included in Rod's proposed budget

Buried toward the end of the Tribune's report on Gov. Blagojevich's budget is a mention that $65 million is set aside for the CTA:

"The spending plan also would earmark $65 million for mass-transit operations throughout the state, largely for the Regional Transportation Authority and the Chicago Transit Authority. But the money is conditional upon lawmakers approving a new sales tax on software used by businesses.

"Blagojevich raised the idea late last year as a way to help the CTA avert a funding crisis that threatened wholesale route reductions, but the concept was not embraced by lawmakers. Though the CTA has agreed to await action by the legislature this spring on a funding subsidy, passage of the software tax is far from certain, particularly among a business community that contends it has been hard hit by previous Blagojevich revenue-raising measures."

Much of the extra cash to pay for new spending (aside from the software tax) would come from an additional 75-cent tax on cigarettes. That would put the state tax on cigarettes at $1.73 per pack. Personally I don't smoke. But I don't think it's real fair to balance the budget on the backs of 25% of the taxpayers who happen to be smokers.

The latest from "Hobo Corner"

I've written before about the strange doings in what my daughter has dubbed the "Hobo Corner." Leave it to my daughter to contribute another strange one.

She and her pal were sitting in the Hobo Corner, chatting on the way to school. She was kinda swinging her leg, when her foot caught something. She felt it was cylindrical, and she started rolling it underfoot.

After a little while she looked down and realized that all along she had been rolling underfoot a used tampon.

All together now: Ewwwwwwww!

Meeting on Brown Line expansion, station closures

The CTA is sponsoring a public meeting on the Brown Line expansion this Wednesday, Feb. 16, from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, 836 West Wellington, Olson Auditorium.

Here's your opportunity to be heard on the state of the $530 million project, slated to begin this year.

As the Tribune reported yesterday, "15 ... Brown Line stations will close temporarily -- some for up to a year -- to rein in higher-than-expected construction costs, despite an earlier CTA pledge that no stations would be shut."

Helpful V-Day advice from CTA attendant

The station attendant in the mornings at the Red Line Morse station is a very friendly guy, always quick with a resounding "Good Morning, Good Morning!" to brighten your day.

Today he had practical advise to share:

"Gentlemen, it's Valentine's Day. Be sure to get something for your sweetie and stay out of the dog house."

Lovers on the train

Yes, a Valentine's Day special on lovers on the train.

Last week a couple boarded at Addison. First, they found seats across the aisle from each other. They held hands across the aisle. How sweet. Good thing no one tried to walk past.

Then they found a seat together. When I left them at Grand, his arm was around her shoulder, and they were holding hands, stroking each other's thumb.

I saw no wedding bands on either hand. But let's face it, married people just don't show that much public affection, right?

Share with us via Comments your own stories about Lovers on the Train.

Double whammy of CTA wierdness

Here's a guest post from Kelly. Thanks for sharing, Kelly!

I honestly think the universe or God or whatever sends us strong signals when we should not be out.  And while my friend could probably tell this story much better than I, I've got the free time and don't feel like working at the moment.
 
My friend and I both take the Red Line (by the way, notice how most of these stories are about the Red?) to and from work and try to avoid it during the weekends if possible.  One Saturday evening, however, we decided to go see a play together. 

We had recently been talking about men who use the train as an opportunity to flash their naughty bits to unsuspecting young women, and the subject was still fresh (ew) in our minds.  Lo and behold, within 5 minutes of boarding the train, we notice a hooded figure across the aisle. . . wrist in lap shaking rhythmically . . . eyes under the hood aimed lazily in our direction.  Because we've been friends long enough to communicate without words, we both looked at each other with the universal "our fucking luck" look. 

A note to any guy who thinks this might turn women on in the slightest:  it doesn't.  We get off the train, encounter a lot of problems before and after the play that unfortunately have nothing to do with the CTA, and then re-board around 10:30.  As we are standing (no seats) in a corner, laughing about how completely horrible the evening has been and how we should have stayed home, we are each slapped in the face with the overwhelming scent ... of urine.

Yes, the down-and-out gentleman sitting near us just relieved himself in his pants.  Not that the Red doesn't always reek of some bodily fluid, but it's usually a few days old at least. 

Eyewitness account of Loyola CTA platform suicide

Further update: Brian, who originally shared this story with us, emailed me to say that Chicago Police have indeed classified this death as a suicide. So sad. Brian's account is below:

A CTA Tattler reader posted a comment here last night with an eyewitness account of the suicide at the Loyola Red Line stop that stopped train traffic for almost an hour last night. Thanks to Brian for reporting the somewhat gruesome details:

Unfortunately, this story has already been seen on news stations... and reported incorrectly until later tonight.

A lady just jumped. I was standing merely 50 feet from her.  The whole thing was surreal, and as of this moment, I don't know if I still fully comprehend what I saw.

I was walking up the escalator to the southbound platform at the Loyola el-stop as I had done hundreds of times before.  Class was out at the University and myself and two friends were discussing a recent study/brainstorming session.

Thankfully, we had made it to the platform just as the Red Line was coming down the tracks. I remember my friend exclaiming, "Good, just in time." I begin walking down the platform.  I look up to see a woman, probably 40 or 50 years old jump to the tracks from the platform. 

She falls to her stomach and is immediately struck by the train.   

The headless rider

Sitting in the single seat at the rear of the car is what appears to be a human form.

Oh wait. There it is. His head! He wears a zipper-front jacket with a huge hood. His face is buried in there somewhere, but he doesn't want you to see it.