centran Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Any bus operators on these forums? Would you kick someone off your bus if their ventra card came up with insufficent fare and the passenager asked if they could go online and refill the card then scan it later after they put the funds on it? This happened to me and I was really pissed off. Mostly because the ventra system let me on my first bus then wouldn't let me transfer to another bus. I found out when I went online that I had a zero balance but it happily let me on the first bus and put my balance into the negative but it wouldn't deduct a measly $.25 more from the account to transfer? What a crappy system. I was mad at the bus operator for not letting me stay on at first. Then I read online that after two bad swipes they are required by procedure to ask for the fare. If they don't do this and there is a "spotter" on the bus they will get a mandoratary write up after their shift. After 5 of these they will be fired. So my madness at the bus operator has subsided a little bit because by letting me stay on he could have risked his job. Now I am just more pissed off at how the ventra system is programmed to allow you to dip into the negative and not allow for a transfer. Either allow the account to be deducted another $.25 or just don't allow the first fare to be processed if the card would go into the negative. I am also a little mad at myself for actually getting off the bus. lol. Because I read a comment of a bus operator saying that if someone doesn't pay they are are supposed to contiune the route and call in to command about the incident. A supervisor well then decide on the action to take with the passenger. So I should have just told him to call it in and sat down then go on my phone to refill my card. If he was ordered to stop the bus or the police where called then by that time I could have just went up and scanned and be like... not theft of service! See I just scanned. If you just waited a damned minute and been nice about it then there wouldn't have been a problem. Although that post from was from '09 so I don't know if that is still CTA policy or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Any bus operators on these forums? Would you kick someone off your bus if their ventra card came up with insufficent fare and the passenager asked if they could go online and refill the card then scan it later after they put the funds on it? This happened to me and I was really pissed off. Mostly because the ventra system let me on my first bus then wouldn't let me transfer to another bus. I found out when I went online that I had a zero balance but it happily let me on the first bus and put my balance into the negative but it wouldn't deduct a measly $.25 more from the account to transfer? What a crappy system. I was mad at the bus operator for not letting me stay on at first. Then I read online that after two bad swipes they are required by procedure to ask for the fare. If they don't do this and there is a "spotter" on the bus they will get a mandoratary write up after their shift. After 5 of these they will be fired. So my madness at the bus operator has subsided a little bit because by letting me stay on he could have risked his job. Now I am just more pissed off at how the ventra system is programmed to allow you to dip into the negative and not allow for a transfer. Either allow the account to be deducted another $.25 or just don't allow the first fare to be processed if the card would go into the negative. I am also a little mad at myself for actually getting off the bus. lol. Because I read a comment of a bus operator saying that if someone doesn't pay they are are supposed to contiune the route and call in to command about the incident. A supervisor well then decide on the action to take with the passenger. So I should have just told him to call it in and sat down then go on my phone to refill my card. If he was ordered to stop the bus or the police where called then by that time I could have just went up and scanned and be like... not theft of service! See I just scanned. If you just waited a damned minute and been nice about it then there wouldn't have been a problem. Although that post from was from '09 so I don't know if that is still CTA policy or not. What route were you on? I see drivers let people pass all the time on some routes, but when I ride the #4 Cottage Grove, those drivers have been putting up with fare scammers for years. The black drivers are far harder on their own people than the white drivers! I saw one kick a guy off & then say to the rest on board, he pulls that crap almost every time & I'm not putting up with that $%^& anymore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvwnsd Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Any bus operators on these forums? Would you kick someone off your bus if their ventra card came up with insufficent fare and the passenager asked if they could go online and refill the card then scan it later after they put the funds on it? This happened to me and I was really pissed off. Mostly because the ventra system let me on my first bus then wouldn't let me transfer to another bus. I found out when I went online that I had a zero balance but it happily let me on the first bus and put my balance into the negative but it wouldn't deduct a measly $.25 more from the account to transfer? What a crappy system. I was mad at the bus operator for not letting me stay on at first. Then I read online that after two bad swipes they are required by procedure to ask for the fare. If they don't do this and there is a "spotter" on the bus they will get a mandoratary write up after their shift. After 5 of these they will be fired. So my madness at the bus operator has subsided a little bit because by letting me stay on he could have risked his job. Now I am just more pissed off at how the ventra system is programmed to allow you to dip into the negative and not allow for a transfer. Either allow the account to be deducted another $.25 or just don't allow the first fare to be processed if the card would go into the negative. I am also a little mad at myself for actually getting off the bus. lol. Because I read a comment of a bus operator saying that if someone doesn't pay they are are supposed to contiune the route and call in to command about the incident. A supervisor well then decide on the action to take with the passenger. So I should have just told him to call it in and sat down then go on my phone to refill my card. If he was ordered to stop the bus or the police where called then by that time I could have just went up and scanned and be like... not theft of service! See I just scanned. If you just waited a damned minute and been nice about it then there wouldn't have been a problem. Although that post from was from '09 so I don't know if that is still CTA policy or not. Can you set up automatic replenishment of the card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Can you set up automatic replenishment of the card? Yes, there's an auto-reload feature on the Ventra site after you log in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ctafan630 Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Did the drive ask you to pay the fare? if so would it have been the full fare or just the $.25 transfer charge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centran Posted June 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 What route were you on? 96 - Lunt Did the drive ask you to pay the fare? if so would it have been the full fare or just the $.25 transfer charge? It would have been full fare. As far as I know the bus operator can only set the ventra reader to process a reduced fare(child, student, senior, etc) or set the reader into multi-user mode whice allows you to pay for other people. There is no split payment option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 What route were you on? I see drivers let people pass all the time on some routes, but when I ride the #4 Cottage Grove, those drivers have been putting up with fare scammers for years. The black drivers are far harder on their own people than the white drivers! I saw one kick a guy off & then say to the rest on board, he pulls that crap almost every time & I'm not putting up with that $%^& anymore! When did the central question of this thread get a racial aspect to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimball401 Posted July 24, 2014 Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 When did the central question of this thread get a racial aspect to it? :X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 In my days at Pace, we were required to call in when someone didn't have a fare or there was a transfer (remember them ?) dispute. 99.9999999% of the time the response was "let them ride and pay tomorrow". Tomorrow would come and it would be the same story. With politicians running all of this, the edict is to "serve the customer" (gosh how I hate that term....lets say passenger or rider please ?) and let them be. However, the first time you "let them go", you get busted for not collecting a fare. Same nonsense at Metra. It is hopeless and you can't win. Me, for the lousy stinkin quarter, I probably would have let you ride....unless you came across as or acted as a jag bag. Then I would have tried like hell to make your life miserable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRChiCity Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Speaking of kicking people off http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Teen-Booted-From-Metra-Train-at-Night-Prompts-Policy-Change-269903471.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Speaking of kicking people off http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Teen-Booted-From-Metra-Train-at-Night-Prompts-Policy-Change-269903471.html At least it was Jefferson Park. The passenger would have had a lot more to complain about if it were Kedzie and Fulton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 At least it was Jefferson Park. The passenger would have had a lot more to complain about if it were Kedzie and Fulton. The location makes her or her parents' complaint no less valid. Her safety was still a concern being booted off in what's for her an unknown neighborhood during the late part of the evening especially in light of recent news reports of women having been raped or had rape attempts made against them in what are considered safe neighborhoods in Chicago as far their residents' perception goes as well as the shooting witnessed personally by Alderman Moore in broad daylight just over three weeks ago a few blocks to the north of my own family's home on his ward's side of the area which resulted in the victim's death. And we're in a part of the north side that's considered relatively quiet. So whether it was Jefferson Park, Kedzie and Fulton, Western and 18th, Ravenswood and Lawrence or Ravenswood and Lunt, since we want to qualify Metra stations inside the city, I would have been just as pissed off as this girl's parent had an incident like that occurred to a young woman from my family. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 The location makes her or her parents' complaint no less valid. ... Maybe I didn't make the basis of my point clear, which is that besides the supposed nature of the neighborhood residents, the Jefferson Park UPNW station is essentially part of the CTA station, hence an area having some form of human supervision and traffic, and if it doesn't have an ATM, is near a bank that does (Google shows 3). On the other hand, a lot of Metra stations are in industrial areas, such as Kedzie UPW or Healy or Grayland Milw. N., with basically just a gravel "platform." Now, I suppose one could get in an argument one way or the other about Rogers Park UPN or whether one should go roaming around Uptown from the Ravenswood UPN station. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centran Posted August 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Speaking of kicking people off http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Teen-Booted-From-Metra-Train-at-Night-Prompts-Policy-Change-269903471.html Interesting. From what I have read it seemed like Metra was more lax on their policy and allowed conductors to have descrition if they should kick people off. However, I have read that they do use spotters like the CTA. I wonder if those spotters are just there to make sure the conductors don't completely miss a car section or a bunch of people rather then making sure they punch/check every person. I didn't relize it was Metra policy to only kick people off if police are present. I wonder if this is the reason why I see "security" at busy platforms. The "security" are probably off-duty officers so they count towards their policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 Maybe I didn't make the basis of my point clear, which is that besides the supposed nature of the neighborhood residents, the Jefferson Park UPNW station is essentially part of the CTA station, hence an area having some form of human supervision and traffic, and if it doesn't have an ATM, is near a bank that does. On the other hand, a lot of Metra stations are in industrial areas, such as Kedzie UPW or Healy or Grayland Milw. N., with basically just a gravel "platform." Now, I suppose one could get in an argument one way or the other about Rogers Park UPN or whether one should go roaming around Uptown from the Ravenswood UPN station. True there's human presence at Jefferson Park, but a number of violent crimes and incidents have occurred in places that had plenty of human traffic, such as shootings we've heard about right downtown and the above one that I mentioned that was witnessed by Alderman Moore, who was in the area for a community event that he was sponsoring. So you had plenty of human traffic in that case too. So either way, from her parents point of view their daughter was put off a Metra train in an unfamiliar Chicago neighborhood late at night after recent news reports of sexual assaults and robberies committed against young women in relatively quiet neighborhoods, as well as what turned out to be a murder witnessed by a Chicago alderman during broad daylight, and not to mention the most recent downtown shooting that occurred during a busy part of the day pretty much in the heart of the financial district barely a week or so ago. So they're still going to be concerned about her safety either way it goes and they're probably not going to care which Chicago neighborhood the booting off happened when it comes to being angry at Metra. As far as they're concerned, Metra still put their daughter's safety at risk. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 ...As far as they're concerned, Metra still put their daughter's safety at risk. As far as it looks, letting Princess get on the train at Clybourn instead of Oglivie seems a questionable judgment, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted August 5, 2014 Report Share Posted August 5, 2014 As far as it looks, letting Princess get on the train at Clybourn instead of Oglivie seems a questionable judgment, too. Oh absolutely there's the sheltering element going in this too. But I'm simply pointing out that Metra putting the girl back off the train inside Chicago city limits at that hour would have set her parents off regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 As far as it looks, letting Princess get on the train at Clybourn instead of Oglivie seems a questionable judgment, too. Thank You, Busjack...at least some one gets it. If this "child" was so afraid of Jeff Park, then what the hell was she doing getting on at Clybourn....you mean that didn't scare the hell out of her ??? Also, 11:00 pm. Last I heard that was past curfew in Chicago. Maybe she should have been put in the hands of the police and let mommy and daddy pick her ass up from the 16th district ! I was asked by a friend if I would have thrown her off. Me, probably not ! Why ? Because of nonsense like this. The damn people in this town cry that conductors don't collect fares, and then when they do, this happens. You can't have it both ways. Either you have a fare and it is collected or you don't and you get off...plain and simple. And if the world is that scary, don't go out into it. Sorry, no sympathy here...and Metra, as usual, blew it. I DO NOT EVER want to hear from anyone that tickets are not collected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 ....The damn people in this town cry that conductors don't collect fares, and then when they do, this happens. You can't have it both ways. Either you have a fare and it is collected or you don't and you get off...plain and simple. And if the world is that scary, don't go out into it. ... The issue seems to be that the article claimed that Metra (on owned lines) will take the rider's name and send her the bill, not that she is likely to pay. Again, working for them in that capacity, you are in a better position to know than I am.The tollway supposedly gives you that option if you blow past an I-Pass gantry without one. Clybourn vs. Ogilvie is also relevant in that one has to buy a ticket at Ogilvie or pay the $3 penalty, while I assume there isn't an agent at Clybourn. But on the 16th District point, there was the case of the police releasing someone with mental problems from 51st and Wentworth, who somehow ended off a balcony at Robert Taylor Homes, so I guess that's not the answer, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 The issue seems to be that the article claimed that Metra (on owned lines) will take the rider's name and send her the bill, not that she is likely to pay. Again, working for them in that capacity, you are in a better position to know than I am.The tollway supposedly gives you that option if you blow past an I-Pass gantry without one. Clybourn vs. Ogilvie is also relevant in that one has to buy a ticket at Ogilvie or pay the $3 penalty, while I assume there isn't an agent at Clybourn. At this point, I don't go through that aggravation. Even though the geniouses across town haven't figured that it isn't worth 3 man hours and postage to collect that $3 fare, it is not worth my time and energy. I don't fight it anymore. This type of incident proves why....and I am not going to get hurt trying either (happened a week ago on the ME after request for police was basically ignored by Metra PD and conductor got cold cocked...and when cops did arrive, they wanted to let the idiot go !). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 ...happened a week ago on the ME after request for police was basically ignored by Metra PD and conductor got cold cocked...and when cops did arrive, they wanted to let the idiot go !). There was, a couple of weeks ago, the question raised why Metra even has a police department, the only answer seeming to be that the predecessor railroads did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRChiCity Posted August 6, 2014 Report Share Posted August 6, 2014 And people wonder why the transit anagcies are losing money? It seems like everyone's ass must be kissed, FYI I interned in the summer of 2010 in the office that processed the ride free cards. I'll say this it was not uncommon for people to threaten to call Pam Zeckman for CH2. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrabs74 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 There was, a couple of weeks ago, the question raised why Metra even has a police department, the only answer seeming to be that the predecessor railroads did. Especially when I saw BNSF "security" officers (not sure if that's the proper title as the officer I spotted was armed and I would think has police powers on BNSF rail lines and property) riding an inbound reverse peak train on Monday night when I went from Naperville to Brookfield as that massive rainfall hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Especially when I saw BNSF "security" officers (not sure if that's the proper title as the officer I spotted was armed and I would think has police powers on BNSF rail lines and property) riding an inbound reverse peak train on Monday night when I went from Naperville to Brookfield as that massive rainfall hit. Speaking of which, one can wonder if more people ask that there be more presence patrolling near the tracks in addition to longstanding community requests fences near the Homan overpass after two people got hit by a BSNF Metra train while inexplicably walking up along the tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctrabs74 Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 Speaking of which, one can wonder if more people ask that there be more presence patrolling near the tracks in addition to longstanding community requests fences near the Homan overpass after two people got hit by a BSNF Metra train while inexplicably walking up along the tracks. I saw that in one of the other threads... Would that be the responsibility of Metra Police, the railroads or the municipalities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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