Chicago college students caught giving or selling their discounted CTA cards to friends or strangers may end up losing the card and paying full fare until the next school year, the transit agency said Wednesday.
Forrest Claypool, the CTA president, told reporters the CTA has been conducting stings at CTA rail stations across the system for five weeks to catch riders using ill-gotten free and reduced-fare cards. The agency has confiscated 1,800 cards in these stings and estimates the revenue from the fradulent use of the cards to be $2.8 million.
Of the 1,800 cards collected by Tuesday, about 64 percent were free-ride cards that were supposed to be used by low-income senior citizens and people with disabilities. About 11 percent of the confiscated cards-210-were U-Passes with pictures on the cards that revealed they didn't belong to the carrier.
The owners of the confiscated cards face losing their discounted ride privileges. A U-Pass owner can avoid a card suspension by showing the CTA a police report or some other documentation proving the card was taken or lost, and pay a $50 replacement fee, CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said. If the evidence bears out, they'll get the card back.
The CTA sent letters to owners of the confiscated cards, notifying them that the card had been used by someone else, Chase said.
For college students, the letter "reminds them that under the CTA U-Pass contract, full-time students enrolled at schools participating in the U-Pass program are entitled to unlimited rides while school is in session, but only they are authorized to use the card," Chase said in an email to RedEye.
Sixty colleges and universities are enrolled in the U-Pass program, up from 50 in 2009, CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said. The CTA estimates there are nearly 129,600 students with U-Passes.
U-Passes are good for up to five years and automatically reactivate when the student's next full term begins, Hosinski said. Cards cost $50 to replace.
Claypool said the CTA initiated the stings after seeing a 20 percent spike in free rides so far this year; the agency is conducting an audit to determine the reason for the uptick in free rides. The agency found that some card holders were lending their cards to family or friends.
"We found a person in her 20s using a senior citizen's card. We found a son using his mother's card. We found a card being used by the cardholder's spouse," Claypool told reporters during a news conference Wednesday at CTA headquarters, on the Near West Side.
The CTA said security cameras outside of stations caught people offering CTA rides for a $1. The seller would then walk the rider to the turnstile, tap the discounted ride card and then go outside to sell more rides.
The CTA said there have been as many as three arrests related to the stings but CTA Security Chief Jim Keating said police have "discretion" on whether they will arrest someone, give them a citation or just confiscate the card.
The fines for a ticket for not paying a CTA fare range from $50 if the ticket is paid within seven days to up to $500, according to Steve Sheely, assistant director in the city Department of Administrative Hearings.
College students told RedEye the CTA has setup stings in the last week at the Division Blue Line stop in Wicker Park and the Fullerton stop on the Red and Brown lines in Lincoln Park.
Amanda Crane was heading home to Lakeview after her DePaul political theory class this past Thursday where she entered the Fullerton stop and was carded.
Crane, 21, said CTA security asked to see her U-Pass to make sure the picture on the card was her.
"I am all for a safer Chicago and creating safety in the city, seeing three officers and a canine unit to check your Ventra was a little bit excessive," Crane said.