CTA Tattler

I am so f*&king sick of this.

Why do we insist on NOT funding all the state's mass transit when it is crystal clear that ridership is high and can go even higher (see, for instance: PACE service to Metra lots with long waiting lists)?

What in God's name is wrong with this state? Are the leaders that determined to drive people away and ruin one of the largest regional mass transit systems in the USA?

Ah, if only we still practiced tar-and-feathering. I am not a fan of mob action for reasons Twain laid out long ago, but perhaps there is a time and a place ...

You'd think the Legislature would love to throw big chunks of money at mass transit just to cut pollution, traffic and congestion. Add in a big push towards green-ness and carbon neutral-ness and it would seem to be a slam dunk. I can't for the life of me understand why this is so difficult for them. In the next election I will be using their voting record on this issue as criteria for getting my vote.

I'm with Painhertz. This is my big vote decider. This is completely inexplicable! A casino?? *LENDING*??

God! Bite the freaking bullet and raise the damn tax!

I hope everyone has called their elected officials and especially the governor and told them that you will not be voting for them in the next election. I did this yesterday and made it very clear to their staff that they will lose my vote and I will work very hard to get neighbors to do the same. At this point I do not care if my reps vote yes on it or if they don't even get to vote at all because the transit bill is not called for a vote. I think it will be time for a complete "clean sweep" of House, Senate and governor if the doomsdays are allowed to happen. It is incomprehensible that our government can allow a complete collapse of a public asset that services well over 1 million people a day! Even three years from now, I will not forget.

The other thing people aren't realizing is there will be more doomsdays following the January 8th one. Unraveling of the 1/2 mile bus grid system and also how the Lake Shore express buses work in tandem with the EL to move people up and down the lakefront neighborhoods cause a huge downward spiral of ridership and thus fare revenue leading to more cuts down the line. This is exactly what happened to the CTA during the 70's. Did you know there used to be a Southport bus and a Roscoe bus? The CTA system used to be even bigger and more comprehensive than now. All train lines ran 24 hours as well at one time. They were all victim to underfunding and a vicious cycle of fare hikes and service cuts. Guess what was happening to the city's economy at this time? Job losses to the suburbs, retail and people moving out of the city. It happened before, it can happen again. Take a look at the neighborhoods that were the first to be revived in the 80's..they were all along the EL lines. The EL will be a nightmare once all the former bus users try to take the train.

Pirate taxis/vans will appear and take some of the burden off of the routes that disappear. The el is ridiculously slow to begin with lots of folks will walk bike or car share. If Daley or any of the other folks really wanted to help this situation without funding it they could make the arterials, LSD, Western, Milwaukee, Edens, Eisenhower Ryan, HOV and Bus only during rush hour. Forcing people to pick up riders in order to use those routes. This system works in DC they call it slugging. Take the RTA up on their suicidal doomsday plan / taking the city hostage. Let em rot.

Ed, the Southport bus has been gone for decades! Close to 40 years ago.
The 76 on Diversey & the 152 on Addison used to go all the way downtown. That was cut to LSD 20 or so years ago & 151 buses were increased.
There isn't any logic as to how the system is run.
No one seems to monitor which routes have bunching or why they have it.
Lots of buses with the magnetic flip destination signs have broken ones. There doesn't seem to be a plan for replacing them with fully electronic ones as I saw ads for having them fixed placed in the Trib legal notices just a couple of months ago.

Yes, I would really like to know what it is about the CTA and fixing what is broken. In the Monroe Street subway, the middle part of one of the benches got broken (vandalized, I assume) a couple of months ago. The bench was removed a few days later. It hasn't been replaced--I wonder if it ever will be. There are people who need to sit while waiting a long time for a train, and now there are fewer seats for them. Are we supposed to forget there ever was a seat there? If this were a piece of furniture located in a private building lobby, my guess is it would have been taken care of within a matter of days. Can anybody enlighten us on how the CTA goes about fixing things and whether it really has to be that way?

Mason, what's a pirate taxi?

The state and the counties are also setting themselves up for more budget shortfalls by continuing to increase cigarette taxes. We know that these bar/restaurant bans and the increasing costs of cigarettes is decreasing the number of smokers. When the larger ban goes into effect, coupled with new taxes, the number of smokers is going to really drop, as it has in other states. They have set up a funding paradox. We need to tax smokers to get budget money, but everything we do is actually decreasing the number of smokers. At some point, probably in the near future, the cost for cigarettes will eliminate the vast majority of young smokers (16-21) ability to afford smokes, the age where most long-term smokers began.

Well....in theory then smoking related health costs should go down thereby saving the city/state/county/taxing_entity money in the healthcare pot...voila...more money! You don't think further restrictions of smoking aren't cutting into that tax money also? Don't worry. They'll just find another "sin" to tax. Today cigarettes and liquor! Tomorrow, water and air!

A pirate taxi is one that doesn't have the shield the city gives out to 'real' taxis.

Also? Parrots.

Okay, I'm kidding about the parrots. There's lots of jitneys and otherwise not-really-legal taxis in a lot of third world cities, which is what Chicago is going to become w/o viable transit.

oh Cheryl, is it possible you've watched one of my favorite movies:

Inspector: strange nem for a gel...Tell me Meeble, abert, abert zese parrots.
Mabel: Parrots?
Inspector: Parrots.
Mabel: Oh Pirates! Well they're on their way to the castle led by the Pirate King.

Sorry for the temporary hijack!

People maybe remember Zola Budd, the record setting, white South African runner who joined the U.K. team so as to be able to compete in the 1984 Olympics.

South Africa in the 1980s was (probably still is) greatly dependent on "pirate taxis." And by the mid 1980’s, people were referring to the overflowing private vans running every which way as "Zola Budd"s. There was pop song about them on the radio with the catchy refrain "Zola Budd, Zola Budd, Zola Budd. . . ."

What should we call our pirate taxis? "Blagojevich"s? "Emil Jones"s? Doesn't really work. Have to think about this.

Seriously, do it, CTA. That's the only way the legislature will understand the city can't do without you. There's too many doubters now. The only way to convince them is to take them up on your threat.

Not that I believe in the slightest that they actually will.

There used to be a 31st Street bus route (two of them, actually) too. It was cut in 1997. That would be really nice to have. The CTA has been in a slow decline for 50 years, but it's becoming faster with the current state of things.

Well, I think there still should be a Southport bus! Its a busy street with more businesses all the time. So what happens in 2009 with that year's doomsday? Cut all remaining bus lines? Stop service at 8pm? Its maddening that there has been no news of any further talk or movement of Senate bill 572. I'm starting to think its now completely dead. I do think November cuts will happen and it mostly hurt people that take the Metra shuttles downtown. I don't think its enough to cause a complete uproar. However, I do think January cuts are so huge, especially cutting very crowded express buses, that it will go on for a just a couple days until people are so angry we will be seeing press conferences with the Mayor or Blagojevich demanding immediate action. Just remember if they do finally fund the CTA after the cuts happen, it will be February before everyone can be rehired, drug tested, etc and routes put back. The absolute worst time of year for this to happen, which will just further anger people. If folks are standing out in -10 degree temps trying to get onto a severely overcrowded train system, they will not quickly forgive and forget either.

Folks, I honestly think that we are all going to have to "bite the bullet" on this one. We all know that Gov Rod* & his cronies in Springfield are NEVER going to approve a tax increase just to support Chicagoland transit. We all know that most people living "South of I-80" would rather Chicagoland go away than pay penny one towards us (not a bad idea, actually, then the tax money which would go to Springfield would stay here instead).

I'm now at the point where I'd rather pay a lot more than see service cut. The question is, how much? I remember back in the early 1980s when service was cut and fares nearly doubled. I remember what happened to the ridership. But are things different between now and then?

Well, for one thing, congestion has gotten a lot worse. Air pollution has too. Back in 1981, no one used the term "global warming." Gasoline has gone up too, way up. In disproportion to inflation I might add. The price of an automobile has gone way up too as has the cost of owning one (a new 1982 Chevy Cavilier could be had for $4,000.).

But on the other hand, look what has happened in mass transit's favor since then.
After a period of decline, people have seen the value of transit and ridership has increased. Employers began offering "Transit Checks" to encourage transit use. Metra didn't exist in 1981-82, but I remember weekend ridership being low. Now, weekends are extremely busy on Metra. People don't want to sit in congestion anymore.

I would really rather pay $3.50 to ride the bus and $3.75 to ride the L if it meant preserving service. I know that would be an ouch, but then so would losing 53% of the bus service. I've also said it before, but I think that the L will need to go to zoned fares. Washington Metro uses zoned fares and so does BART. And people just pay it without a second thought.

Metra fares will have to go up about 50% too. Weekend service should be retained, however the weekend pass should go up to $7.00. Still not a bad deal. Metra should also collect $2.00 from riders who board at staffed stations and purchase a weekend pass on the train.

To mitigate this, more employers will have to offer transit checks. The CTA could make its $5.00 daily pass, which should go up to $7.00, available at ALL L stations. Increased use of the Chicago Card would also decrease fare collection expenses.

Folks, let's be real here. Springfield ain't gonna help us out here. Never have and never will. They do not see the value that Chicagoland brings to this state. They do not see that our area brings in over 70% of the tax money into Illinois. We're going to have to solve this on our own.

*If you don't like my fare increase idea, you might like this. As Gov Rod seems to have forgotten his fellow Chicagoans, every transit rider should donate $1.00 to buy him a house SOMEWHERE ELSE! Run him outta town! (I'd say buy him a home in Springfield, but he's never there either).