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No Ticket to Ride

They're not as notorious or dangerous as, say, the "Texas Seven," but Atlanta's transit system recently dubbed a group of local lawbreakers the "Famous Five," and it has taken the unusual step of permanently banning them from the city's subways and buses.

They're not as notorious or dangerous as, say, the "Texas Seven," but Atlanta's transit system recently dubbed a group of local lawbreakers the "Famous Five," and it has taken the unusual step of permanently banning them from the city's subways and buses.

These five are no mere turnstile jumpers. They steal subway tokens and resell them. They tamper with token machines. They pose as station attendants and collect fares from unwitting passengers. Their most clever and reviling trick is to stuff paper into the token slot at a fare gate, thus blocking tokens from falling into the collection box. They'll then put their lips around the slot and suck the tokens out.

MARTA, as Atlanta's transit system is known, has had enough. Transit police have arrested each of the five dozens of times. One man has more than 100 arrests on record. But the cops have to catch the perps in the act. With the ban, transit police can slap cuffs on any of the five just for entering a subway station. The charge? Criminal trespass. "There's no more warnings, no more waiting for probable cause, no more watching them through a camera lens," says Gene Wilson, chief of MARTA's police force. "When he steps foot on our property, he's gone."

Is it legal? The courts will decide. MARTA officials served official notice of the ban to each of the five (three of them were easy to find since they were in jail at the time). But it remains to be seen whether judges will buy MARTA's argument that public transportation is not a right but a privilege that can be taken away.

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