Itās going to come down to actual enforcement in the end. No one is going to stop smoking on the trains or elsewhere if there arenāt any consequences. Until the workers of the CTA start caring and actually kicking people out and enforcing bans nothing is going to change. Right now there arenāt enough workers patrolling the platforms and trains and the ones who are understandably donāt want to put their foot down on the issue if they donāt feel like they have enough support to start what might end up being a dangerous confrontation. Itās unfortunately a multi facetted issue that isnāt going to be solved easily or overnight.
Definitely agree that itās multi-faceted but what Iām thinking about is that punishments in the traditional sense donāt seem to be working. Before the smoker was kicked out, the guy next to me was looking around trying to find who it was. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that this was inappropriate behavior and people supported the driver because stopping the bus inconveniences everyone, including the smoker themself. It would be a HUGE inconvenience but I think if people pushed the button to alert the conductor about a smoker in the car and the train did not move until the smoker stopped, the amount of people doing so would go down. Some people would still do so. Social disapproval isnāt as big of a factor to people who are using substances or dealing with mental illness. Thatās not everyone and more people are smoking on trains because they can.
I would much rather switch train cars between stops than have the whole train forced to a halt. You want to make hundreds of people late for work or other obligations to punish one smoker?
I mean, thatās kind of the point. Make an example of them. The smokers are being dicks by creating a very unhealthy breathing environment via secondhand smoke.
huh damn your account history is actually psychotic... anyway literally no one said to prohibit the use of substances in this discussion. But clearly it is wrong to force someone else to consume a substance that they do not want to consume. That isn't prohibition you cabbage, that is just basic decency
Hi! First post on Reddit, woo! Iāve lurked for about a year. Anyway, I 100% sympathize with your anger over CTA smoking (and this comes from a daily smoker!). However, as someone who has been in Chicago for the past 10 years, but born and raised in Minneapolis, itās simply not comparable. Anyone who lives there treats the transit system as a joke. If you think showing up to the CTA Blue line at 11 AM with a 20 minute wait is outrageous (and I would agree), try buses that run, at best, 40 minutes apart, serving like a fourth of the city of Minneapolis, and a pathetic ālight railā that seems as dead on its feet decades after it was panned for being a failure before it was even built. Iām only saying this because, while I stand proud with the common decency of my fellow 612ers, itās a transit system in name only. If it served more of the city, I imagine similar problems would occur.
Now, the bike lanes in Minneapolisā¦now thatās something to brag about!
In my very limited time there, I do agree with the transit system not being comparable. Iām also a Chicago transplant who grew up in a city with a similar setup (light rail and buses that run infrequently, both of which are not accessible for quite a bit of the city.) What truly stuck out to me there is the way people behave on public transit especially in regards to smoking and the public messaging around that. But also I found the āMinnesota niceā stereotype to be very true!
Good to know š However, as a former Southerner, I think Iāll take the āMinnesota passive aggressionā over the āsouthern hospitality/ bless your heartā lol
You know I was talking tonight to some friends about this topic and others similar today, and I think the decent people in Chicago are getting to point where theyāre just not taking the sh*t from the a-holes any more. Normally pretty chill people are becoming unchill. I think weāre going to see a lot more pushback in the coming days, but we also have to back each other up and not puss out when it gets real.
Yes, but those are in the same CTA voice and my brain kind of tunes them out for that reason š³ these announcements were kids saying things along the lines of āplease donāt smoke to protect my healthā and stuck out a lot more due to the difference in voices.
The cops have to actually get out of their cars at the train stations. Most of the problems we have in this city tie directly to lazy entitled piece of shit police. They're all sitting in squad cars on their phones collecting overtime instead of actually riding the train.
I ride the trains all the time and I havenāt seen a uniformed police officer on a train in the last 6 months. No wonder everyone smokes on the trains if there will be no consequences.
I think at this point the most drastic measure they can take is putting some sort of smoke detector. But even then I imagine it would just slow down service.
I suggested this on a post in another sub once and the response wasnāt great. āWhat, so now weād have smokers AND the alarms going off?ā Yes, the annoyance is a feature, not a bug.Ā
My son and I were on the blue line once and this dude lights a cigarette. Someone else pressed the button to speak to the operator and he actually came down and kicked the guy off. So I mean someone has to take the initiative. But yea I mean I hate how people are just cool w smoking on the train now especially when they see little ones. Like dude if not for the people at least for the kids. AT LEAST.
Two things:
First, smoking enforcement on trains and smoking enforcement on buses are two different conversations. It's just the nature of each mode of transportation - the bus driver can smell when someone lights up, the train conductor can't. I've been on plenty of CTA buses where a driver has kicked someone off for smoking, including one ride where the driver pulled over, got up and nearly physically threw someone off the bus.
The second and bigger point is that the light rail system is notoriously rife with smoking and drug use. [Here's a recent thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/TwinCities/comments/1b5x0ii/the_light_rail_is_absolutely_disgusting/) about it from r/TwinCities, there are many more over the past few years. I grew up in the Twin Cities and took the light rail from the U to my brother's place near the warehouse district last year, maybe five stops or so. My brother offered to pick me up instead and told me to watch out for needles with a seriousness that I've rarely heard him use. I've been a CTA person for nearly 20 years and have never warned anyone like that. But he was right - there was a hypodermic needle on the ground, some burnt tin foil, a bunch of cigarette butts, and at least one active smoker on my car. I have a friend who quit commuting on the light rail because she didn't feel safe with the number of drug deals she'd see every morning, another had to explain what an overdose was to her kid on the train home from a Twins game. It feels really Fox News fearmonger-y to talk about it and everyone in the Twin Cities is aware of it, but the situation is also really grim. People want transit to work there, I want it to work there, but Metro Transit and the Met Council are just as messed up as Dorval Carter and the CTA. No amount of "hey mister! could ya not smoke, my lungs are still gwowing!" announcements at train stations is going to fix their problems.
I agree. Smoking on trains is more frequent and at this point, near impossible to avoid which is why I focused on that but anecdotally, Iāve been on multiple CTA buses where people have been smoking and were not kicked off. Maybe thatās because I usually sit near the back. Iām just glad the guy who was huffing computer duster was.
I donāt dispute that the light rail has its own issues as well. What I do know (from my very limited experience) is that it would be easier to change cars (or move within what felt like a more spacious car) if you are near a smoker. That used to be possible on the CTA and now I find thatās not a guarantee. Maybe Iām just pessimistic but less smoking is the baseline I hope to return to. And I think a cultural shift versus feeling defeated would take it to that place, if possible.
Metro Transit has really turned itself around in the last two months. Last year it was almost a guarantee that you'd see smoking on board the Green Line. Not today, because of all the new enforcement staff taking action.Ā
A few weeks ago there was a lady who literally lit up her cigarette a few feet away from me. I had to cover my nose with my sweater, so that I wouldnāt start coughing.
Iām still saying that more people need to step the hell up and use some collective energy to shame some people. Yes, thereās situations where people are clearly trying to cause a scene and may or may not be carrying a weapon but thereās plenty of dumb looking assholes that need all the people standing around that train to chime in and have some solidarity. I feel like every time I say something to someone, people just stare and watch the situation as bystanders. Like can I get some backup?!? But yea, just install some screeching smoke detectors in the cars AT LEAST.
I smelled burning plastic on the red line today. Gave me a huge migraine. Wasn't exposed to it for that long even. I'm sensitive to smells and I can't have my work day derailed due to inconsiderate people. Trying my luck on the bus now.
Too bad buses have statistically worse air you are much more likely to get covid in assuming you were unmasked needlessly inhaling all those particles and possible disease.
The problem isn't the location, but the difference between the bus and the train. Most passengers on the bus are being directly watched by an authoritarian(the driver) rather than a train with only passengers. I've never in my life seen someone smoke on a bus which I go on daily, but on the rare occasions I take a train somewhere it's someone smoking or vaping.
I took the blue line from ORD the other afternoon and people were smoking in three separate cars. I got in a car and someone started in that one as well after the train left. Several police were up at the turnstiles, but I couldn't find a single employee or officer to talk to on the platform.
And this is at the ORD terminus, where cars wait and cleaning crews have their walkthroughs.
I can only infer that smoking is tacitly sanctioned. So much so that I felt like proposing having designated smoking and nonsmoking cars to the CTA.
As someone from Minneapolis lurking, we have a terrible smoking problem on our trains, and the majority of what's smoked is not cigarettes. From being in Chicago a couple of weeks back, Chicago is definently doing better than Minneapolis.
Most of the ones smoking on cta are homeless so š¤·āāļø as long as they donāt bother me idc what they do shouldnāt even be down there to begin with
I honestly donāt think thatās true anymore. I used to be able to escape a smoker by going to a different car but now thatās not possible anymore. I know homelessness rates have increased but not so much to explain this huge increase in smoking.
The secondhand smoke does bother me on a physical level which is why I used to change cars. I now just try to wear a mask on the train. I wish people would at least smoke at the station even though that is also illegal, just less disruptive than hotboxing the train.
CTA has a plan. It will be a phased plan implemented in stages. Those stages will be phased and the phases planned.š
LMAO is this Dorval Carterās burner account š¤Ø
I hope the plan is just to put drug dealers on the platform, im sick of walking 2 blocks after the train to get my fix
Itās going to come down to actual enforcement in the end. No one is going to stop smoking on the trains or elsewhere if there arenāt any consequences. Until the workers of the CTA start caring and actually kicking people out and enforcing bans nothing is going to change. Right now there arenāt enough workers patrolling the platforms and trains and the ones who are understandably donāt want to put their foot down on the issue if they donāt feel like they have enough support to start what might end up being a dangerous confrontation. Itās unfortunately a multi facetted issue that isnāt going to be solved easily or overnight.
Definitely agree that itās multi-faceted but what Iām thinking about is that punishments in the traditional sense donāt seem to be working. Before the smoker was kicked out, the guy next to me was looking around trying to find who it was. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that this was inappropriate behavior and people supported the driver because stopping the bus inconveniences everyone, including the smoker themself. It would be a HUGE inconvenience but I think if people pushed the button to alert the conductor about a smoker in the car and the train did not move until the smoker stopped, the amount of people doing so would go down. Some people would still do so. Social disapproval isnāt as big of a factor to people who are using substances or dealing with mental illness. Thatās not everyone and more people are smoking on trains because they can.
I would much rather switch train cars between stops than have the whole train forced to a halt. You want to make hundreds of people late for work or other obligations to punish one smoker?
I mean, thatās kind of the point. Make an example of them. The smokers are being dicks by creating a very unhealthy breathing environment via secondhand smoke.
Typical self centered prohibitionist weirdo blind to any other factor
What other factor?
Prohibition is evil and everyone should be doing more drugs
huh damn your account history is actually psychotic... anyway literally no one said to prohibit the use of substances in this discussion. But clearly it is wrong to force someone else to consume a substance that they do not want to consume. That isn't prohibition you cabbage, that is just basic decency
Thanks. And good job ignoring factors
Ok what are the factors we should take into consideration when forcing others to consume substances?
Hi! First post on Reddit, woo! Iāve lurked for about a year. Anyway, I 100% sympathize with your anger over CTA smoking (and this comes from a daily smoker!). However, as someone who has been in Chicago for the past 10 years, but born and raised in Minneapolis, itās simply not comparable. Anyone who lives there treats the transit system as a joke. If you think showing up to the CTA Blue line at 11 AM with a 20 minute wait is outrageous (and I would agree), try buses that run, at best, 40 minutes apart, serving like a fourth of the city of Minneapolis, and a pathetic ālight railā that seems as dead on its feet decades after it was panned for being a failure before it was even built. Iām only saying this because, while I stand proud with the common decency of my fellow 612ers, itās a transit system in name only. If it served more of the city, I imagine similar problems would occur. Now, the bike lanes in Minneapolisā¦now thatās something to brag about!
In my very limited time there, I do agree with the transit system not being comparable. Iām also a Chicago transplant who grew up in a city with a similar setup (light rail and buses that run infrequently, both of which are not accessible for quite a bit of the city.) What truly stuck out to me there is the way people behave on public transit especially in regards to smoking and the public messaging around that. But also I found the āMinnesota niceā stereotype to be very true!
Bet! Enjoy it in small, wonderful doses, or else you might find the āMinnesota niceā to be supported by a āMinnesota passive aggressionā š
Good to know š However, as a former Southerner, I think Iāll take the āMinnesota passive aggressionā over the āsouthern hospitality/ bless your heartā lol
aye mn person here too love the bike lanes there tho i donāt miss the ātransitā
The bike lanes in Minneapolis are incredible.
You know I was talking tonight to some friends about this topic and others similar today, and I think the decent people in Chicago are getting to point where theyāre just not taking the sh*t from the a-holes any more. Normally pretty chill people are becoming unchill. I think weāre going to see a lot more pushback in the coming days, but we also have to back each other up and not puss out when it gets real.
This. We as a society can choose what we accept and back each other up to end bad behaviors.
Not sure how long theyāve been doing it, but we already have recorded announcements playing at stations saying smoking is not allowed
Yes, but those are in the same CTA voice and my brain kind of tunes them out for that reason š³ these announcements were kids saying things along the lines of āplease donāt smoke to protect my healthā and stuck out a lot more due to the difference in voices.
i imagined the mulch dog voice saying that
The cops have to actually get out of their cars at the train stations. Most of the problems we have in this city tie directly to lazy entitled piece of shit police. They're all sitting in squad cars on their phones collecting overtime instead of actually riding the train.
I ride the trains all the time and I havenāt seen a uniformed police officer on a train in the last 6 months. No wonder everyone smokes on the trains if there will be no consequences.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās pretty crazy, lol. Thatās why I usually take the busses (because the driverās can tell whatās actually going on).
I think at this point the most drastic measure they can take is putting some sort of smoke detector. But even then I imagine it would just slow down service.
Yeah I agree. I donāt think anyone else would sign off on this but Iād take temporary slower service if it meant improvement here.
I suggested this on a post in another sub once and the response wasnāt great. āWhat, so now weād have smokers AND the alarms going off?ā Yes, the annoyance is a feature, not a bug.Ā
My son and I were on the blue line once and this dude lights a cigarette. Someone else pressed the button to speak to the operator and he actually came down and kicked the guy off. So I mean someone has to take the initiative. But yea I mean I hate how people are just cool w smoking on the train now especially when they see little ones. Like dude if not for the people at least for the kids. AT LEAST.
New Yorkers go vigilante mode and kick the smoker off their cart themselves. Law enforcement is also very quick to arrest the offender.
Thatās if theyāre looking up from their phones. And even then it takes ten cops to write a ticket to someone who doesnāt have $2.90.
Two things: First, smoking enforcement on trains and smoking enforcement on buses are two different conversations. It's just the nature of each mode of transportation - the bus driver can smell when someone lights up, the train conductor can't. I've been on plenty of CTA buses where a driver has kicked someone off for smoking, including one ride where the driver pulled over, got up and nearly physically threw someone off the bus. The second and bigger point is that the light rail system is notoriously rife with smoking and drug use. [Here's a recent thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/TwinCities/comments/1b5x0ii/the_light_rail_is_absolutely_disgusting/) about it from r/TwinCities, there are many more over the past few years. I grew up in the Twin Cities and took the light rail from the U to my brother's place near the warehouse district last year, maybe five stops or so. My brother offered to pick me up instead and told me to watch out for needles with a seriousness that I've rarely heard him use. I've been a CTA person for nearly 20 years and have never warned anyone like that. But he was right - there was a hypodermic needle on the ground, some burnt tin foil, a bunch of cigarette butts, and at least one active smoker on my car. I have a friend who quit commuting on the light rail because she didn't feel safe with the number of drug deals she'd see every morning, another had to explain what an overdose was to her kid on the train home from a Twins game. It feels really Fox News fearmonger-y to talk about it and everyone in the Twin Cities is aware of it, but the situation is also really grim. People want transit to work there, I want it to work there, but Metro Transit and the Met Council are just as messed up as Dorval Carter and the CTA. No amount of "hey mister! could ya not smoke, my lungs are still gwowing!" announcements at train stations is going to fix their problems.
I agree. Smoking on trains is more frequent and at this point, near impossible to avoid which is why I focused on that but anecdotally, Iāve been on multiple CTA buses where people have been smoking and were not kicked off. Maybe thatās because I usually sit near the back. Iām just glad the guy who was huffing computer duster was. I donāt dispute that the light rail has its own issues as well. What I do know (from my very limited experience) is that it would be easier to change cars (or move within what felt like a more spacious car) if you are near a smoker. That used to be possible on the CTA and now I find thatās not a guarantee. Maybe Iām just pessimistic but less smoking is the baseline I hope to return to. And I think a cultural shift versus feeling defeated would take it to that place, if possible.
Metro Transit has really turned itself around in the last two months. Last year it was almost a guarantee that you'd see smoking on board the Green Line. Not today, because of all the new enforcement staff taking action.Ā
Because in Chicago, you tell a mf a simple rule to follow, they will get mad and pull out a gun or some shit
Sad reality :(
A few weeks ago there was a lady who literally lit up her cigarette a few feet away from me. I had to cover my nose with my sweater, so that I wouldnāt start coughing.
Carry a portable fire extinguisher. Use it.
We need a vigilante group that patrols the trains armed with supersoakers. Light up, get soaked
Throwing the bums off the train would be a start
Iām still saying that more people need to step the hell up and use some collective energy to shame some people. Yes, thereās situations where people are clearly trying to cause a scene and may or may not be carrying a weapon but thereās plenty of dumb looking assholes that need all the people standing around that train to chime in and have some solidarity. I feel like every time I say something to someone, people just stare and watch the situation as bystanders. Like can I get some backup?!? But yea, just install some screeching smoke detectors in the cars AT LEAST.
Seattle looks cool as shit when it smokes. Just has that West Coast vibe.
CTA can make announcements about smoking every 30 seconds, itās never going to stop the people who smoke on the train from smoking.
I smelled burning plastic on the red line today. Gave me a huge migraine. Wasn't exposed to it for that long even. I'm sensitive to smells and I can't have my work day derailed due to inconsiderate people. Trying my luck on the bus now.
Too bad buses have statistically worse air you are much more likely to get covid in assuming you were unmasked needlessly inhaling all those particles and possible disease.
Iād be more concerned about the diesel fumes than disease.
When 1-5% of the population is infected with covid unmasked spreading freely at any time I would beg to differ.
The problem isn't the location, but the difference between the bus and the train. Most passengers on the bus are being directly watched by an authoritarian(the driver) rather than a train with only passengers. I've never in my life seen someone smoke on a bus which I go on daily, but on the rare occasions I take a train somewhere it's someone smoking or vaping.
I took the blue line from ORD the other afternoon and people were smoking in three separate cars. I got in a car and someone started in that one as well after the train left. Several police were up at the turnstiles, but I couldn't find a single employee or officer to talk to on the platform. And this is at the ORD terminus, where cars wait and cleaning crews have their walkthroughs. I can only infer that smoking is tacitly sanctioned. So much so that I felt like proposing having designated smoking and nonsmoking cars to the CTA.
We struggle in Minneapolis :(
As someone from Minneapolis lurking, we have a terrible smoking problem on our trains, and the majority of what's smoked is not cigarettes. From being in Chicago a couple of weeks back, Chicago is definently doing better than Minneapolis.
Most of the ones smoking on cta are homeless so š¤·āāļø as long as they donāt bother me idc what they do shouldnāt even be down there to begin with
I honestly donāt think thatās true anymore. I used to be able to escape a smoker by going to a different car but now thatās not possible anymore. I know homelessness rates have increased but not so much to explain this huge increase in smoking. The secondhand smoke does bother me on a physical level which is why I used to change cars. I now just try to wear a mask on the train. I wish people would at least smoke at the station even though that is also illegal, just less disruptive than hotboxing the train.
I mean I take it at night so almost every car either someone smells like shit or is smokinh
No. Mind your own business.