My ticket went unpunched both ways on a round trip the other day.

Anyone else had good luck free-riding?

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Minimal luck in the winter.

Summer sunday NW line train #706 33% success rate, especially on double dip weekends i.e Gay Pride/Cubs home game, which sadly the aldermen have gotten rid of

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Monthly pass. Didn't matter.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

i think i've had that happen 3 or 4 times. one time was on my way to a gold cup final between the US and mexico. the cars were so cluttered, i don't think ushers even wanted to bother. it wasn't like we were at a white sox game or anything.

If you've ridden on a weekend in the summer, especially with a Cubs game or something going on downtown, chances are at some point you'll ride for free. During the week the conductors do a pretty good job of getting your ticket. If you get on en route and only go a couple stops , you might get away before they check your ticket too.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

"Listen smart ass"

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Not necessarily. On many Fridays in the summer I'll drive to Arlington Park after work. When my wife gets off work in downtown Arlington she'll hop the metra and ride the one stop to Arlington Park stop to meet me. 9 out of 10 times she gets busted by the conductors.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Once or twice a year they don't collect


I have a monthly but I'm happy for those who beat the system

I'm thinking of visiting beautiful Hyde Park this week and am weighing my options between Northwest Line all the way in and Electric to 57th versus changing at Jefferson Park and taking the Blue Line to the Green Line and going to Cottage Grove. I can save significant funds on the latter, but I don't think taking the Green Line to Cottage Grove is the best idea I've ever had in my life. If I can free-ride the first leg of the Metra and just pay for the Electric (I'm not a dummy), that would be ideal. I guess either way I'm tempting fate.

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I like living so for me it's a no-brainer -- no green line. And if they do bust you on the metra the $7 weekend pass is a good deal.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

On the BNSF it is very rare to not have a ticket punched...I've only seen it when trains are standing-room only.

I have seen douches who buy cheaper tickets (let's say Zone E) and then ride to farther zones. Sometimes I purposefully sit next to someone who has a Zone F ticket displayed, figuring that if I fall asleep for my Zone F stop, I'll be awakened by the person when they get up. One time I DID fall asleep but the lady next to me (with the Zone F ticket) went to Zone G, and never got up. If she wasn't hot, I would probably would have busted her.

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Theres tons of that going on for sure. Its always fun to hear the conductors bust peoples balls when things turn to crap and instead of stopping at Zone G and F like normal, they run express right out of G . Then you'll see 50 people with Zone F passes having to buy a incremental fare and the conductor will say something like " Guess its just today you decided to to catch the train out of G instead of F which is where your pass is good for, how unlucky for you". If people weren't such assbags at having to show their pass twice on the same ride, they'd catch a lot more people zone jumping like that.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

So, showing your Sox ticket = bad, but showing your Metra ticket = good?

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Something like that, yes.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Few times a year. I was on the train a couple of Saturdays ago and the conductor didn't punch my ticket. Some broad on the other side of the upper deck was pissed. I thought for sure she was going to say something...

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"I'm not smiling because I thought what you said was humorous. I'm smiling because one day I know you'll be dead..."

Open boarding system, that's going to happen sometimes . She'd be more pissed if she missed her train due to having to funnel thru a crowded turnstile system or something, especially on a weekend with an hour or 2 wait between trains.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I don't see how that will ever happen with Metra. Especially with some of the wide open spaces the stations out in the suburbs cover.

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One time my buddy from work bought a ticket to Zone B and he was going to E.

When the conductor came, he played the "I asked for zone E, she must have heard me wrong, that's what she gave me"

The conductor pointed out that the ticket had been purchased from a machine


He held strong with "That's what she gave me"


Great uncomfortable situation. The guy let him go.

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There's hope for fare-controlling most of the stations in city limits. You'll never do it in the suburbs.

One mechanism I saw suggested was a system where you're trusted to sign in and out with a little tap-card as you embark and disembark, which would hit you for the full end-of-the-line fare if you never signed out. But then how do you sign in? I dunno

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I used to be very surprised by the gesture of letting people use the monthly on the way downtown on the first day of the new month. I just couldnt believe a large company would do that. They must have lost quite a bit of money on that.

That was a stupid policy and a slap in the face to one way and 10 ride people. Still have people every time a new month rolls around try and get away with that. Policy has been gone 2 years now.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The vast majority of people who are monthly are gonna buy another monthy ticket anyway. who cares? It was a customer service. Lotta people forget to bring/buy the new ticket.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I didnt think it was stupid. It was a perk for the monthly riders which are there highest paying customers.

I mean it sucks for the one way and 10 riders but that's life.


I just imagine they lost a lot. Not everyone who buys a monthly buys one every month.

But when you think about the math. Say there's 500 riders on a train. 400 monthly riders. Ill bet 5% of them dont buy the next month. So that's 20 free tickets on one ride. Multiply that by every morning train, on every line, and that multiply THAT by 12

Just waaaay too much money to throw away

I agree it's a nice gesture. Its just that most companies arent in the business of giving money away

I only ride the rails a few times a year, almost always on weekends, and have never gotten a free fare. So if a conductor doesn't punch your ticket thats ok, but when a cashier doesn't ring something up its stealing. Got it.

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Which is why they stopped doing it. Thats a lot of free rides every month . Boo hoo for the monthly riders . The monthlies go on sale 2 weeks before the end of the month, they have no excuse not to have their new one every month. Wonder how many riders would like their boss to come to them on payday and tell them "oh look we forgot it was the 15th of the month , we forgot to run payroll so we can't give you your check until tomorrow".

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.