I really don’t see how people are evading, other than a few cheapskates who buy a Naperville ticket but stay to Route 59.

Instead of arresting people, just drop fare jumpers off at the worst station on the line. Enjoy Maywood, dumbass

It all feels like a bit much to me. Figure most people are on monthlies and accounted for, pretty much everyone else is paying on one-ways. If a handful of people don't pay, what's the big deal, really? Mass transit isn't a luxury good. Hey, you were going that way anyway.

Would you believe the conductors make six figures + and retire with full pension? I'm sure they would save a ton with a tap on/tap off system but I'm assuming some union machine is preventing that.

Fare evasion focus is a big thing in DC too. I think the analogy here is taxes. You find out you're facing budget deficits or can't fund a particular project and then you realize there's all this lost revenue due to people exploiting weaknesses in the system. So you shore that up to realize the lost revenue. Obviously way bigger losses in taxes but in principle it's similar.

Easy way to save money? STOP STOPPING AT CLYBOURN SO OFTEN. Why in God’s green earth is Clybourn serviced by both the Northwest AND North line?!? Outbound is especially egregious! Any idiot in high school could figure out alternate stops there between NW and N line.

Well, if you have to get off there before Ogilvie, don't you have to get back on, too?

I don't get the Gladstone Park stop. Trains never stop there and it appears to be a neglected parking lot. Why is it there at all?

The only time fares aren’t taken is when Metra fucks up their own schedule causing multiple lines to pack into a train. For example, Ravenswood has a 7.54, 8:01 and 8:10. Why, who the fucks knows. But it becomes a cluster if 7.54 is delayed 10 min.

Also going home why is there a 3:20, 3:35 and then 4:35?!? Where the fuck is a 4pm or 4:15pm?!?! Fucking Metra

I just don’t understand Clybourn overall. It’s servicing Lincoln Park/Bucktown/Wicker which doesn’t have the corporate density of RN/Loop/West Loop. Resident living there are either taking CTA or bicycling. It’s a stop that aggravates me to no end

Interesting. 100 - 30 or so years ago that stop was probably the shit for many a working man. Time passes.

Yeah, the vibe changes. For reasons that would take too long to explain, I knew some Cubs fans who lived near Cub Park in the late 80s and early 90s, and many were blue-collar: a forklift driver, a plumber, a security guard, etc. (I waited for tickets at Cub Park with them, believe it or not. Never been inside, but three years in a row, I waited for tickets, which were for other people. It was actually fun--and cold.) Last I heard, some of them were in Carpentersville and Round Lake. Just got pushed out. I don't even think you can wait to buy tickets like they used to do anymore. Don't get me wrong, the Great Scorer detests the Cubs and all they stand for, but that was a good baseball tradition right there, and those were outstanding fans.

I just realized that this post adds zero to the discussion, but I'm leaving it. If the aforementioned Great Scorer wants to penalize me for it, He knows where He can find me.

Sounds more like you were in line at "Berlin".

Sounds more like you were in line at "Berlin".

who buy a Naperville ticket but stay to Route 59.

Would you believe the conductors make six figures + and retire with full pension? I'm sure they would save a ton with a tap on/tap off system but I'm assuming some union machine is preventing that.

I always thought that Clyborn was mostly reverse commuters and the occasional person who lives NW and works in Lincoln Park.

The stop I don't get is Halsted on the BNSF. Except for White Sox games where someone might want to transfer to the 8 bus, it makes no sense. Fortunately all of the morning trains from the big stations skip it.

When I worked downtown, I typically bought monthly passes.
But once in a while I'd take a couple weeks off for vacation and I'd buy some 10 ride passes instead of a whole month.
I'd say that back then (early 2000s), maybe 1 in 7 or so times they wouldn't punch my 10 ride. Many times the conductor would walk by and see my 10 ride on the seat clip next to a monthly and just keep walking.