They clearly dont want people buying tickets on the train (hence the $3 soon to be $5 fee)

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

That fee is only when there is no ticket office (or the office is closed) at the station you board from.

so yeah i reckon "virtual ventra cards" are a-coming. they saw how the city is hustling with those cards (again, $5 to get one before you ever put on transit value, and a lot of this is to subsidize the costs of this rushcard-that-nobody-asked-for built into the card, which is of course the impetus for the anti-consumer-benefit of the card because showing you the only piece of information pertinent enough to show you via the classic system for the last 20-30/+ years or whatever, transit balance, is impossible because you have to protect this sacrosanct debit card on the ventra! card.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

My point remains though. They'd prefer if no conductor ever touched money for some reason.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Right, which is why I said to pay via credit card on the train.

My point remains though. They'd prefer if no conductor ever touched money for some reason.

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?

Restated: They dont want conductors selling tickets.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Is this even a problem?

In all my years riding the train, they've not collected like 3 maybe 4 times because the train was packed like a sardine can and they literally couldnt get thru (probably some safety issues there but that's another story)

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?

A tip for all you youngsters out there, if you board the train without a ticket, and want to avoid the surcharge, tell the conductor you got on at a station that doesn't have an attendant. Do your research and figure out which stations these are.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

But make sure that train you're on stopped at that station

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?

The train was so packed on the way to the Hawks parade that I had to ride in the vestibule the whole way and a drunk underage girl puked on my feet. A conductor still came by for fare.

Truth.

But make sure that train you're on stopped at that station

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Maybe BadRogue can chime in here, but how are fares taken on the train tracked? Do the conductors need to hand in a collection of tickets, and whatever is punched has to match up with the cash collected? It seems like it would be an easy system to pocket a few extra bucks on each trip.

I was headed for the slammer.

I bet you'd do well in jail

You'd be all "Hey we get three meals and I dont have to deal with customers, its not too bad"

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Better planning maybe???

I am not a legal expert, how many times do I have to say it?

Let's set the record straight right up front: That 10.8 percent fare increase Metra wants for next year is not about buying new trains.

Only $2.4 million of the $27.3 million the fare hike would generate next year would go toward the purchase of new rolling stock. The rest would plug holes in the 2015 operating budget, including almost $20 million in increased wages and benefits. Metra's operating expenses are going up 6.4 percent, well above the rate of inflation.

And that 68 percent fare hike projected over the next 10 years? Most of that would cover day-to-day expenses, too.

Two weeks ago, Metra announced a $2.4 billion fleet modernization plan to replace or restore hundreds of passenger cars and locomotives, many dating to the Eisenhower administration. At the same time, Metra released a 10-year fare-projection plan with annual increases totaling 68 percent by 2024.

Trotting them out in tandem had the effect, accidentally or on purpose, of conflating the two: The fare hikes are the price commuters must pay for desperately needed train upgrades, right? Wrong.

Over 10 years, those fare increases would generate almost $1.28 billion. Less than 20 percent of that is for new trains.

We hope Metra riders will attend one of eight public hearings on Nov. 5 and 6 and demand that Metra justify those increases. Yes, we know, the hearings are from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., when you're likely to be on a homebound train. But Metra has signaled that it expects its operating costs to rise every year for the next decade, and that its solution will be to pass those costs along to you, 10 fare hikes in a row. You ought to be steamed.

Are you stoned or pissed off, or both, when you create these postings?

Well, as feared, the fare increases are all about labor costs, not train upgrades. From the Trib:

It shocked me when I took a Metra train in Chicago just how cheap it was.

My last trip into Manhattan on a train cost me $35.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.