CTA Tattler

New site takes up transit funding cause

Tony Coppoletta, a self-proclaimed "urban and transit enthusiast and IT consultant," has put together a Web site laying out the funding challenges the CTA faces and what we can do about it. I like the site because it's a straight-forward, unbiased look at the problem.

Check it out here. Below is the introduction from his home page.

Public transportation in Chicagoland is endangered.

The Chicago Transit Authority needs better funding, plain and simple.

The Chicago Transit Board has voted to approve severe service cuts and a fare increase to cover a budget gap left due to under-funded transit.  If they didn't, CTA would run out of money to pay for transit operations before year end.

The system is as efficient as it can be, the overhead is down, and the budget still can't be balanced.  It really is that bad.

No public transit agency can operate on money recovered from the farebox alone.  Public transit needs to be subsidized.  Unfortunately, the subsidy CTA receives shrinks year after year, if you account for inflation.  Furthermore, despite an array of creative solutions to keep operating transit with a fare everyone can afford by increasing efficiency and reducing costs, it seems they've run out of options. 

It's time for the State of Illinois to come through and reconsider how public transit in and around Chicago is funded, and come up with a plan that works for all three agencies funded by the RTA: CTA, Pace, and Metra.