Around Town Fridays: Scenes from the CTA

Here's an email from a reader who was in town visiting friends and family who recounted a recent experience taking pictures on CTA property.

"I entered the Adams/Wabash station, took some photos, paid my fare and proceeded to one of the platforms. I was about to take a photo when a CTA employee exiting a turnstile immediately told me to stop taking photos. I complied with his request and politely asked why he requested me to stop. The employee stated that no photography of trains or stations was allowed, lifted his radio, and told me he was going to call the police on me. I stated that I thought the CTA rules allowed photography and asked him to check the policy. He told me to “leave his station” immediately or he would call the police. I asked to speak with the station manager and he told me he was the manager of all the downtown stations.

"I asked the employee to identify himself and he stated that I could take his employee number. He pointed to the number on his hat and as I attempted to read it and write it down he turned up his head to obscure the number. The employee was taller than me and I strained to read the number. He proceeded to taunt me because I couldn’t read the number. He raised his radio again as if the call the police and I proceeded to walk out of the station. As I exited he finally gave me his employee number.

"My actions were completely within the bounds of the CTA Photo and Video Policy. I was using a had-held camera and shooting photos for personal non-commercial use. I was not impeding foot traffic or interfering with station operations. I was polite at all times. Other CTA employees observed me taking photos the same day and none raised any objections.

"The employee’s actions and manner were needlessly rude and threatening. His behavior in obscuring his employee number was childish and insulting. Not only was he wrong about the policy, but threatening me with the police and ejecting me from station after I paid were completely unnecessary. If the employee in question is really a manager, he should adhere to CTA policies and not make his own capricious rules while abusing paying transit users."

The reader went on to point out his experiences with CTA personnel are generally positive, with this one exception. Regular contributors to our site's Flickr pool can also relate similar stories. The "L" system is one of the most popular subjects of our readers. Today's gallery is dedicated solely to shots from that.

We suggest you either bookmark CTA's photo and video policy on your smart phones, or print it out and have it at the ready in case you ever have a similar experience.

If you're a flickr user and wish to have your photography considered for "Around Town" or other Chicagoist features, please tag your photos with "Chicagoist" and enter them into our flickr pool.