CTA Tattler

Marriage qualifications

Cell phone conversation overheard on the Red Line:

"F*ck him if he's not gonna be there for me. I'm still gonna have his baby. You know black men don't usually want nuthin' to do with their babies.

"My friend married a white man, and she said he's always been good, always been there for her. So I think I'll marry me a white man."

Bizarre bags on parade

I go on jags where I look for one specific thing on the El. Last week I was looking for bizarre bags. Surprisingly enough, I only found a couple.

1. A 20-something woman was carrying a brown leather briefcase with orange piping. The front of it was emblazoned with yellow stars. On the front read "NYC" in large lettering. She exited at Wilson, perhaps a student at Truman College?
2. A couple obviously bound for O'Hare Airport dragged their suitcases on to the Red Line. The woman was carrying a blue cloth bag prominently featuring Buddha-like elephants on promenade.

The train operator who's "great for our mental health"

Tribune Q columnist Julie Deardorff on Sunday told the story about a Purple Line train operator, Greg Davis, who "in dulcet tones, welcomed riders aboard, announced connections and even asked you to say hello to your seat mate." And now he's moving to the Red Line.

Too bad more operators don't operate by Davis' credo:

"[Passengers] are precious cargo," he said. "Not canned goods."

Pittsburgh bus peculiarities -- changing time

Of course, Chicago does not have a monopoly on strange things happening on public transportation. This story comes from my 14-year-old second cousin in Pittsburgh. Thanks for writing, Katie!

I got on the bus Wednesday, and for once, there was almost nobody on the back of the bus, which meant I wouldn't feel bad later because some old person couldn't sit down.

The bus stopped, and this woman got on the bus. She had a bag from CVS, a stroller with a small child in it, and a big black garbage bag with what looked like a bagged comforter.

She put the bag on the window seat, pulled the child out of the stroller and put her on top of the bag, and sat down.  The stroller and the garbage bag were still in the aisle.

Then, another woman started walking down the aisle, and wanted to get around the stuff, which was impossible. The man in the seat across from the woman started trying to disassemble the stroller and failed to do so.

The woman then started to disassemble the stroller, and threw it under the seat. The bag was still in the aisle.

After a couple stops, she lifted the little girl up, and put her on her lap. Then she reached over, pulled the stroller over to her, and put it in the window seat. Then she put the bag there too.

About a block before my stop, I saw she had the girl lying down, and I thought she was pulling off the girl's jacket. It was about 56 degrees, and the bus was hot.
The next time I looked up, the little girl had no pants, and the woman had pulled a diaper out of her bag. She then took the diaper off of the girl, folded it up, and put it in her garbage bag.

Then she put the new diaper on the baby.  She CHANGED THE BABY ON THE BUS.  Is there REALLY a reason to do that?  I don't think so.

Witness to suicide sounds off

Mel was a witness to the woman who tried and failed to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of the train at the Wellington stop. She has some thoughts for those who say they were inconvenienced by the "inconsiderate" suicide attempt.

How's this for stereotypes: It appears that it's two guys who complained about the inconvenence, while it's women who are appealing for empathy for the victim. Read the comments.

Mel writes:

I was about 10 feet away from this lady when she jumped off the platform. I seriously doubt her intentions were to be remembered this way, but more just to simply die.

It's sad to me to hear that people consider this such a great inconvenience to them. Have you ever stood there when the train was coming and imagine what that would be like to be hit by that train.

It would probably be a very painful death, but to people like this who are mentally ill or severely depressed this is a better option than living one more minute. She lived, by the way, if anyone is interested, and let me tell you, I was not one bit angry with this woman for making me an hour late to work!

Great job by the way to the CTA driver for stopping the train so quickly, that was in fact what saved her life!

Attemped suicide snarls trains

For the second time in a month, a suicide try -- this time futile -- snarled CTA train traffic on the North Side.

At about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, a woman threw herself in front of a train at the Wellington stop. There's not better place to try and impact the CTA the greatest than on that stretch of track, since three heavily traveled train lines -- the Red, Brown and Purple -- come through that area during rush hour.

Trains were running again by 5 p.m. or so, but of course the backups lasted much longer as the CTA tried to get things back to normal.

CTA details scary proposed cuts, fare increases

My 14-year-old daughter picked up the paper this morning and started reading the CTA's disaster plan of proposed cuts and/or fare increases they would put into effect if the state legislature doesn't fork with more money.

"Dad, this is scary," she said, as she prepared to take the Red Line to school.

I couldn't have said it better.

No Purple Line Express. $2.50 fares. 50 cent transfers. 65 bus routes eliminated. Sunday schedule for weekdays. Very scary indeed.

The Tribune details the horror here. Story here. CTA's spin here.

E-mail the CTA and tell 'em how you feel about all this.

Jesus rides the Red Line

I was exiting the Red Line at Washington last Saturday morning when I was Jesus leaving the car ahead of me.

Yes, Jesus, carrying a cross.

He was about 6 feet tall, with long brown hair, wearing a white cassock with a black sash, carrying a wooden 5-foot-tall cross. Over his shoulder he was carrying a multicolored bag with the Virgin Mary depicted in bead on the front.

Under his cassock, he was wearing khaki stain-proof pants.

The funny thing is, I had seen Jesus before. Last year. On Palm Sunday. At the Dominick's, in line at the checkout in front of me.

He bought a banana.

That's all.

Saving the damned

On the way home after seeing Jesus, I spotted this graffiti, written in blue marker, on a big white sticker printed with the address of the Chicago Center for Family Health:

"You can't damn me to hell if I'm already there."

I'll bet Jesus would have saved that guy.

Of pancakes and chemistry

Overheard on the Devon Bus, between two women:

"He still thinks we're going on a date. I leave him a message, downplaying it, but he still doesn't get it. He left me a message: 'Let's go out Saturday night.... blah blah....' I message him back: 'Oh, Walker Brothers is a great place for Sunday morning breakfast -- and I don't mean after a Saturday night sleepover.

"I'm just not that into him. I'm a big believer in chemistry."