CTA rider says woman carrying bedbug-infested bag got back on train

CHICAGO (WLS) -- CTA rider Michael Moore couldn't believe what he was seeing, so he wanted to document it. Moore shot about 12 seconds of what he describes as hundreds and hundreds of living bugs crawling inside a black garbage bag which had holes in the bottom.

He believes the woman carrying the bag was homeless, and that the bugs were bedbugs.

Moore said he notified the train's conductor and the CTA reacted quickly. He said he waited about 10 minutes while they disinfected the train car. CTA confirmed that the car was taken out of service.

"They evacuated that car from the train, and then we stopped there for about 10 minutes and they cleaned the train," Moore said.

But Moore thinks the woman got off the train with everyone else, waited and got back on another car.

"Problem is that this lady gets off with her bag full of bed bugs, it has holes in the bottom of the bag, and then she gets onto another train," he said.

Moore said he boarded the train at the Red Line Garfield stop, and the incident took place between there and the Jackson stop downtown. Like the woman carrying the bugs, Moore said he got back on a train but chose a different car.

The CTA did not confirm if the insects were bed bugs and said they cannot prevent fare-paying customers from boarding a vehicle.