by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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The CTA gave several visiting state legislators a tour of the system, complete with an L ride, a bus trip, and lessons on how to use the fare card. The bus they rode in had been scoured clean and any areas the legislators visited had likewise been cleaned up. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 20 April 1999 ]
The CTA has decided to back out of the RTA fare voucher program to start its own. The program allows employers to give tax free subsidies to their employees for riding transit. The CTA claims the RTA is not marketing the program aggressively enough. The RTA board angrily voted to ask the CTA to reconsider. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 22 and 23 April 1999 ] [ This would of course be a pain for those of us who use our transit vouchers for buying tickets on both the CTA and Metra - AMR ]
The Metra UP-North line has a new schedule. I do not know if other lines changed, but it can't hurt to check. The new schedule has only minor tweaks. Interestingly, it adds two morning stops at Ravenswood to serve that fast growing area. I think Metra should investigate additional service expansions in Ravenswood/West Lakeview/Roscoe Village to serve the transit needs of those communities instead of a massive $300 million expansion of the Ravenswood L. Adding commuter rail stops at Montrose, Irving Park, Addison, and Belmont would be far cheaper than an L expansion, and could serve to divert passengers away from the L during the brief periods in the peak hour when the L is overcrowded.
Dan Hartung (nospam-dhartung@mcs.net) wrote in with this story about an old scam:
"As the national crime rate has dropped, so has the transit crime rate, apparently. At any rate I haven't seen the prominent CTA private security K-9 corps in a long time, and a uniformed transit police officer is also a pretty rare event. I haven't seen a rule-breaking Streetwise vendor in a while, but I am seeing more con artists. Case in point is the 'shell game' crew working the Red Line the last several days.
"The shell game, of course, is Three Card Monte with soda caps. The pitchman moves them around and invites you to guess which one holds the foam ball, typically giving someone a 'freebie' before engaging them in a bet. Once you bet money, though, any chance you have of a correct guess drops to zero. These games are not a one-man show, though; they include assistants acting as shills and lookouts. A street game can be anywhere from three to seven people, but this crew seems to be on the smaller end for mobility. The other essential element is the pigeon, otherwise known as a sucker, otherwise known as you.
"It's a trio in their forties, all African-American. The pitchman resembles a younger, ponytailed Morgan Freeman; he enters the car first, exuberantly inviting all within to take a chance. He's followed by a tall fellow with a stone face -- part lookout, part shill, and *importantly* part protection -- and a short, stocky woman wearing sunglasses. They all enter separately, with the pitchman walking up and down the aisle; the assistants take up positions at either end of the car. Then the shilling starts, as they call out guesses or even challenges to the pitchman, variously winning or losing. One of them will then place a bet (this crew's standard is $20, double or nothing), which usually seems to win. Then the sell job begins as they try to entice pigeons into putting down cash. It's all very entertaining to watch, because if you understand how the game works it's as obvious as a stain on silk -- until someone gets taken. Then I tend to get upset and angry.
"This crew has a few tricks to watch for, too. The pitchman will jump between two betting modes, one where you give him a $20 first, the other where he gives you your $20 "winnings" first. It's quite confusing, because there is deliberately no set pattern. Your money disappears while you're still doing the math! There's even a nifty move they have where the pitchman will stand by the seated woman but look away, giving the woman a chance to "sneak" a look under the cap -- suckering pigeons to bet on the "known" location of the ball. The male lookout will call out guesses on the location ... from thirty feet away. (Uh-huh.) Every time the train is stopped at a platform, so is the game -- and the lookouts are spinning their heads like tops. After about twenty minutes in the car they pocket their profits ($20-$60) and move on. The pitchman goes between cars, followed 'coincidentally' a few beats later by his tall pal; the woman waits for the next station and circles around on the platform. Inevitably they take up identical positions in the next car. The next day they'll all be wearing different styles of clothing.
"I used to watch Three-Card Monte games on New York City lunch hours, until I was manhandled by a couple of lookouts. They don't like anyone who's onto the con, and if you're not obviously a cop it could get dicey. Nevertheless, today I enjoyed discussing the whole operation just a bit TOO loudly with the guy next to me, in hopes that I would alert some riders and educate others. My neighbor indicated that the Blue Line, especially Congress and Douglas branches, is even worse as far as cons and scams.
"Needless to say, I hope this information prevents someone from getting taken. I do NOT recommend that you believe you understand the game well enough to beat the con. That's exactly what they want you to believe. Anyway, I'm reporting this information with full descriptions to the Transit Police detail, in hopes they'll get a couple of undercovers to catch them red-handed. All they'd have to do is ride the Red Line back and forth a few times in mid-day."
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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