CTA Tattler

New budgeting process for the CTA based on performance management

In reviewing the President Huberman's PowerPoint presentation from the September board meeting, I noticed he's instituting a new budgeting process based on performance management. 

The PowerPoint slide says "hard decisions based on top-most priorities will drive our expenditures." Also: "Expenditures will be directly related to outcomes and targets and Performance Management and Transformation goals."

That's all great news that the agency will be run more like a business.

Now the question is: What are the "top-most priorities" for the CTA?

Note to self: Ask Ron on Saturday.

Chicken bones doofus

Note to the doofus who ate fried chicken on the Red Line and tossed the bones on the floor:

I hope some day you have to crawl through the sticky mess you made.

You are disgusting.

I feel better n0w.

What would you ask Prez Ron if you could?

CTA Tattler is holding its second "Coffee with Ron" this weekend, and again I'm soliciting your questions to ask him.

The first coffee in March featured a wide-ranging discussion on all CTA issues -- and at least one media scoop when he broached the idea of the seatless rail trains.

Since I have to limit attendance to about a dozen people, I promise to present him with a list of your questions from comments here.  So have at it.

NOTE: After the first coffee, I offered to extend invitations to the second Ron meet-up to whoever sent me an email. And I did just that. I got emails from about 20 of you readers asking to be invited. I issued those invitations last week in the order in which they were received. Email me if you want to be on the list for the next Coffee with Ron.

"Max capacity" cars with some seats make Brown Line debut

While they may not be standing-room-only, two reconditioned train cars with about a dozen seats removed in each debuted on the Brown Line Friday in a new attempt by the CTA to add capacity to overcrowded rush hour trains.

In this limited trial period, the CTA has reconditioned just three pairs of 3200 series rail cars. With 12 seats removed in one car and 14 in another, the CTA expects each car could hold almost 115 riders, instead of 90 with all 39 seats installed.

Engineering studies forced the CTA to abandon the original idea of removing all seats due to safety concerns. Removing all seats would mean the cars might exceed the max weight limits if filled to capacity.

The CTA is spending about $10,000 per car to alter the suspension system to prevent the cars from swaying.

This pilot test comes in the same week the CTA announced that ridership on the rail system this year has increased by 8.3%.

(Photo by the Chicago Sun-Times)

 

CTA finishes Red Line subway slow zone work early

The final Red Line subway slow zone repairs were finished this week, about a month earlier than schedule, a CTA spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

Trains are now running full speed between Clark/Division and North/Clybourn. We've noticed the northbound trains have been traveling at full speed for about two weeks. But it was just Thursday morning that I noticed my train southbound was zooming along that stretch, including on the curves.

Noelle Gaffney, CTA spokesperson, said the main work was finished this week. "We still have some clean-up work to do so we expect to still have single track/over the top routing for the Red Line subway some weeknights (usually Mondays) for the next few weeks," she said. She also mentioned that the CTA now has lowered slow zones to under 10% of track -- down substantially from last year's high of 22.5%.

Perhaps now the CTA can redeploy those workers to the slow zones north of Thorndale to Loyola. But in the meantime, congrats to the CTA for the good, quick work.

Trib editorials nail it on free rides, fare hikes

This week we heard news about CTA cuts caused by rising costs combined with Blago-ordered free rides. And it didn't take long for the Tribune to weigh in with editorials on the subject. And I agree. (Which doesn't often happen with Trib editorials.)

First, the Trib takes Rod to task for "shoving the CTA back into a crisis" after the January bailout with the sales tax hike. The Trib correctly calls for a stop to the "freebie circus."

Then on Wednesday, the Trib editorial team says "it's about time" for a fare increase, adding that "higher fares should have been part of last year's transit reform package."

The last fare hike was in early 2006. Since then we've seen fuel prices soar out of sight. And demand has increased as a result. With demand high and costs higher, economics dictates that the price should go up too. And it should, though only incrementally. A quarter per ride, I say.

What do you think?

Tattler tales via text messages from my daughter

Over the last year, while my daughter was in high school, she has sent me various text messages about things she has seen and heard during her Red Line commute to the South Loop at Jones College Prep. I've never deleted them. And now's the time to share them with you.

Individually, the texts just capture a moment in time. But collectively, they reflect some bizarre stuff my daughter -- now a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago -- witnessed on her daily commute. And of course, she's a chip off the old Tattler Tale block.

The bearded lady: "There is a black woman on the train with actual sideburns. A real woman." -- 7:38 pm, 8/17/07

High school wisdom: "Middle-aged Eastern European man with huge beard screams obscenities to himself, then attempts to show me a mini-book he bought a Borders called "Wisdom of a High School Grad." -- 5:32 pm, 8/25/07

Pen cap high: "This dude sitting in the back single seat on the railcar just snorted crack out of a pen cap right in front of me." -- 6:22 pm, 2/19/08

Denture lube: "Seen on the Red Line: Old Vietnamese man lubing up his dentures in his hand." 2:14 pm, 8/13/08

Please don't lean against the doors: "This old man was leaning on the door when we were stopped at Sheridan, and the doors popped open and he fell onto the platform. And everyone was screaming. I have never seen that before. I mean, the doors popping open." -- 6 pm, 8/19/08

Oktoberfest on the CTA: "There are people on the train wearing lederhosen and dirndls." -- 7:09 pm, 9/6/08

Finally, here's one of my favorite CTA Alerts:

The knife and open door. "Purple at Sedgwick stopped due to passenger waving knife and open door." -- 5:48 pm, 9/16/06

CTA cuts jobs, overtime, other costs to cover big budget gap

Rising gas prices and unfunded state mandates for free rides -- among other things --  have forced the CTA to cut at least 80 administrative jobs, defer 2008 spending, cut overtime and reduce bus maintenance costs.

But -- for now -- the good news is there will be no fare increases or services cuts. For now -- meaning 2008. We'll have to see what the 2009 budget brings.

The jobs cuts and other savings are expected to save $40 million this year. But CTA Board Chairwoman Carole Brown warns that the CTA is "preparing people for what will be a very difficult 2009 budget season." Gulp.

The CTA press release says fuel costs "will be $37.3 million higher than last year; the loss of the reduced fare subsidy will be $16 million; the free ride program will cost at least $20 million this year, and the RTA has reported that tax proceeds are coming in lower than projected."

Other cost cutting initiatives already underway include:

• deferring contract spending for non critical needs;
• changing the labor mix to reduce reliance on overtime;
• reducing bus maintenance costs through fleet upgrades and more efficient preventative maintenance practices; and
• using technology to improve the efficiency of bus supervision, making supervisors mobile instead of stationary.

The CTA is especially hurt by all the free rides it must give, combined with lower projected revenue from tax increases due to an economic slowdown.

Two experts lecture on CTA history Monday

Two award-winning authors of books on the CTA will lecture at 7 pm tonight at the Lincoln Belmont Library, 1659 W. Melrose St.

Greg Borzo, author of "The Chicago L," will join Marcie Rae Henry, writer of "The CTA Chronicles," to discuss their books and the CTA.

Henry's book is "steeped in a subject matter that ranges from the speculative to the imaginative, and tempered by the tension between the public and the private."

Borzo's work "shows how the early “L” lines helped to build Chicago as well as how today’s “L” helps to revitalize neighborhoods and tie the city together. . . . This educating and entertaining book brings the tenacious “L” to life."

Higher gas prices mean big CTA ridership increase

Preliminary ridership numbers for August show an increase of 9.5% compared to August 2007. Ridership for the whole year is up 5.3% over 2007.

The CTA says there were 1.9 million bus rides and 808,000 more trains rides taken last month, compared to August 2007. That's a lot of extra rides.

And in a joint press release with the American Public Transportation Assn., the CTA says Chicago-area transit users can save almost $12,000 yearly by using public transit over a car. That stat is based on buying a monthly pass vs. paying today's gas prices and monthly parking downtown.

First weekend Loop reroute. All Loop trains will travel along Wells and Van Buren this weekend as the CTA's signal upgrade project commences. One big change is that Brown Lines trains going south will turn into Orange Line trains, and vice versa. 

During weeknights from 10 pm till 4 am, one or both tracks on the Lake and Wabash sides of the Loop will close. See this release for details on various scenarios.

Red Line slow zones. With the Loop El working beginning, the Red Line will no longer run "over the top." Instead, during weeknights it will run on a single track -- the northbound track -- between Fullerton and North/Clybourn. Check here for details and for info on late night weekend single tracking.

Typical Blue Line work this weekend. The Blue Line will be shut down from Jefferson Park Irving Park this weekend from 9 pm Friday till 3 am Monday. Shuttle buses will be in place.