LVEJO - Public Transit (C.T.A.) Media Coverage Page

Plans for the long-awaited Circle Line, which would link CTA and Metra rail lines in Chicago's growing central area, are a step closer to being realized after the Chicago Transit Authority completed its analysis of options for the project.

CTA officials last week chose what they said was the most cost-effective "locally preferred alternative" during a series of public meetings. The proposal -- which would be the first phase of the Circle Line project and cost an estimated $1 billion -- would require building new tracks linking the Pink and Orange Lines as well as four new CTA stations and two Metra transfer stations.

The new line would bolster service to the burgeoning Illinois Medical District, Chinatown, Midway Airport and around the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. The proposal is expected to go before the CTA board in late 2009 or early 2010, said spokeswoman Katelyn Thrall.

The idea of a Circle Line began floating in 2002. Some transportation experts view it as an opportunity to reduce commuting times by improving connections between existing CTA and Metra routes and better serving transit riders in the city and the six-county region. Although the entire project -- which would cost at least several billion to construct -- is still in the conceptual phase, many of the proposed new Circle Line stations would create transfer opportunities between CTA and Metra lines where none exist today.

The alternatives analysis phase is the first of five steps required before the agency can apply for funding through the federal New Starts Program, said Thrall. Public input is required in the alternatives analysis study, but last week's meetings did little to allay some residents' fears that families living in areas where the plan calls for new construction of tracks and stations could lose their homes.

Mike Pitula, a community organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, wants expanded transit services for lower-income communities but worries that the Circle Line plan will hurt residents in its path.

"What's next, the use of eminent domain, taking down of other houses?" said Pitula.

Jeffrey Busby, strategic planning manager with the CTA, acknowledged that homes would be affected.

"There would be some impact to residents. We don't have a number yet," Busby said, adding that further studies needed to be conducted.

Busby said one main goal of the proposal is to improve transit options for people traveling to jobs outside the Loop. He said it would also reduce train congestion within the Loop by diverting those passengers who are only passing through to transfer.

In the proposal, the Circle Line uses existing Red Line tracks, then follows the Orange Line until just past its Ashland stop. Newly constructed tracks then branch up through Pilsen and merge into the Pink Line Cermak Branch near 18th Street before reversing direction at its Ashland stop.

The proposal includes a new CTA transfer station in Chinatown, new stops at Blue Island Avenue and Roosevelt Road, and a transfer station at Congress Parkway. It also designates two potential Metra stations where commuters could switch to the CTA system. One station would serve commuters from the southwest suburbs, and the other would be built just south of the Medical District and serve the BNSF Railway, Metra's busiest line.

The plan was designed in part to help increase access to the Medical District, which has 20,000 employees and receives 75,000 visitors daily, according to the Illinois Medical District Commission. The CTA projects 100,000 daily visitors by 2030. Project manager Jim Czarnecky estimated that a half-hour trip from the suburbs to the Medical District could be cut down to five or 10 minutes.

Pitula opposes Circle Line plans that involve the Ashland corridor. Instead, he advocates for the improvement of bus services along Cicero Avenue. "It's cost-effective and flexible and allows you to provide public transportation for all," he said.

CTA officials said the Circle Line was preferable because it would ultimately serve more passengers. Busby added that the CTA also is studying ways to speed up its bus service.

Ald. Danny Solis, whose 25th Ward is the area targeted for new construction, said he supports the proposal.

"I think that the benefits outweigh the negative," he said. "And I'm sure that the people who are displaced, most being renters, that we can find places for them to move into, and I would think even better than the places where they are living now."

Law student Robert Willey, who lives near the Ashland stop on the Orange Line, is one commuter who said he would benefit from the Circle Line. He relies on CTA buses packed with students to head to his job on the 3500 block of North Ashland.

The Circle Line "would save 30 to 40 minutes," he said, noting how frustrating traffic can get.

Construction on the Circle Line plan could begin in four years and be completed as early as 2016, CTA officials said.

Chicago, 2 jul (EFE).- Richard Rodríguez, director de la Autoridad de Transporte de Chicago (CTA, en inglés), el segundo sistema de transporte público más grande del país, es un abogado hispano que de joven sintió la tentación de entrar a las pandillas.

Rodríguez, de ascendencia puertorriqueña y ecuatoriana, fue nombrado en marzo por el alcalde Richard M. Daley al cargo que maneja un presupuesto de 1,3 billones de dólares y 10.500 empleados.

Sin embargo, la vida de este abogado de 38 años pudo tomar un rumbo distinto si hubiera abandonado la secundaria y sucumbido como otros jóvenes hispanos a las violentas pandillas de la ciudad.

Fue la oportuna intervención de sus padres, que lo enviaron a vivir a Puerto Rico con su abuela paterna, Amparo Rodríguez, lo que cambió su vida. Fue ella, dijo Rodríguez, quien le enseñó a valorar a la gente y las experiencias positivas de la vida.

"Si no fuera por esa experiencia, mi vida hubiese tomado otro rumbo diferente", confesó a Efe este graduado de la Universidad de Loyola en sociología y comunicaciones y leyes de Chicago-Kent School of Law.

Ahora, al frente de CTA, su prioridad es tener el mejor sistema de transporte posible y una administración transparente.

El hispano, que creció en el barrio Humboldt Park de Chicago, reemplazó a Ron Huberman, quien fue nombrado por el alcalde para dirigir las Escuelas Públicas de la ciudad después de que Arne Duncan fuera designado secretario de Educación de EEUU.

"No sé si uno puede ya estar cómodo en el trabajo", dijo Rodríguez sobre un sistema que usan más de un millón de personas cada día y del que también se reciben quejas.

En una encuesta reciente, publicada en la prensa de la ciudad, el principal reclamo contra la CTA era que los chóferes no esperaban a los usuarios en las paradas de autobuses.

Mientras que grupos como los latinos se quejan de falta de servicio y de que la CTA no informa a tiempo cuando hay cambios o cierres en las rutas.

Como Alejandra Ibáñez, directora de la organización Alianza de Pilsen, quien junto a otros activistas, evitó hace tres años el cierre de la ruta que atraviesa el barrio hispano de Pilsen por la Calle 18.

La activista dijo a Efe que en una encuesta hecha por ellos, casi todos los usuarios anglosajones y afroamericanos sabían del posible cambio, menos los hispanos.

"La CTA no siempre ha sido consistente en notificar a los usuarios que hablan español," lamentó Ibáñez.

Lo mismo ocurrió cuando la CTA introdujo la Línea Rosa, la cual reemplazaba a la Línea Azul en un tramo del sistema de trenes.

"Había hispanos esperando a los trenes de la Línea Azul pero no habían sido notificados", recordó.

Bajo su administración, insiste Rodríguez, esto cambiará y declaró que es importante informar de cualquier cambio a las comunidades que hablan otro idioma como hispanos, polacos y filipinos.

En el área de la Villita, la Organización de La Villita por el Medio Ambiente y La Justicia (LVEJO, en ingles) dijo a Efe que han luchado por obtener una nueva ruta de autobús en la Calle 31 que atraviese Chicago de este a oeste para dar acceso a los hispanos a los centros educativos y a trabajos en otras partes de la ciudad.

"Hemos estado trabajando en los últimos 15 años para que ésta, el área más poblada de méxico-americanos, tenga el mismo servicio de calidad que las otras zonas", dijo Michael Pitula, de LVEJO.

Rodríguez dijo estar consciente de esta demanda y prometió llevarla a cabo bajo su administración si cuenta con los fondos federales suficientes.

Rodríguez usa el transporte público para ir al trabajo cuando puede y gusta de pasear los fines de semana en el tren de la CTA con sus hijos.

"Me gusta experimentar lo mismo que mis usuarios", sostuvo Rodríguez, quien recuerda siempre un lema del alcalde: "uno nunca debe estar satisfecho" por lo que se compromete a mejorar el sistema y no incrementar las tarifas o hacer recortes al servicio público en estos tiempos de crisis económica. EFE

CTA trains are running faster than they did 21 months ago when Ron Huberman took over the agency, ridership remains stable and mass transit isn't lurching toward another "doomsday" funding deadline.

But bus service, which carries two-thirds of CTA riders, still is unpredictable and buses still bunch up, creating long commuting delays—rain or shine.

New technology, including the CTA Bus Tracker system that was expanded during Huberman's watch as CTA president, hasn't improved reliability as much as had been promised by the 37-year-old tech guru, who was reassigned Tuesday by Mayor Richard Daley to become Chicago's new schools chief.

Some CTA officials said Huberman frequently made comments about how much more he needed to accomplish to improve service in time for a possible 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago.

"Ron's departure is a huge loss for the CTA," said Susan Leonis, CTA board vice chairman. "He improved the CTA's reputation in Springfield and Washington. He helped us get new state funding for operations and he managed the very difficult three-track project on the North Side, as well as eliminating slow zones on the Blue Line out to O'Hare."

But during Huberman's relatively brief tenure the transit agency still didn't figure out how to communicate with customers as effectively as it should or pay enough attention to the complaints and suggestions of riders, according to feedback the agency has received.

To his credit, Huberman slowed down planning for the proposed CTA Circle Line—the billion-dollar-plus pet project of his predecessor, Frank Kruesi—focusing instead on increasing train speeds and buying new buses to replace broken-down vehicles.

Huberman also found money in the budget to improve track safety in CTA subways—where derailments and equipment breakdowns led to smoky fires, passengers fleeing trains and a loss of confidence stretching from station platforms to the mayor's office.

Yet Huberman was slow to halt funding for the controversial Block 37 CTA superstation—the hub for a poorly conceived airport-express premium rail service from downtown to O'Hare International and Midway Airports.

"One thing problematic about Huberman's tenure at the CTA was a continued focus on failed projects like Block 37 and station beautification at the expense of improving basic service in the neighborhoods," said Mike Pitula, a community organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. "A massive amount of money was spent on putting in flat-screen displays and granite floors and tiles in the Dearborn Street subway, while there are stations on the Blue and Green Lines that have been closed for years and could be reopened to serve low-income neighborhoods and communities of color."

jhilkevitch@tribune.com

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Transit Agency announced a 25 cent fare increase for most riders.

The CTA says it must raise fares to make up for high energy costs, low tax revenues and free rides for seniors and the disabled. CTA board members say it was either a fare hike or service cuts.

The fare increase goes into effect on January 1, 2009.

For many CTA riders, the buses and trains are the only means of transportation from home to work. It has always been a relatively affordable way to get around. But some say a fare increase is going to hurt most those who can least afford it.

"It's getting to the point where only rich people can ride the CTA and it was supposed to be for the middle income, lower income people to ride," said Harry Brooks, CTA rider. The problem however according to CTA officials is they have no other way to balance the budget than to increase fares. Their energy costs have gone way up and revenue from the sales tax is way down. The board voted six to one to raise fares on CTA trains from $2 to $2.25 and buses from $1.75 to $2.

"We are maintaining service and hopefully improving service the next year. That's huge for us that we don't have to contemplate leaving our riders stranded," said Carole Brown, CTA Board Chairman. "We're hopeful that it'll be years before we have to turn back to our riders," said Ron Huberman, CTA President.

Many CTA customers at Thursday's meeting however believe the agency should have tried harder to avoid increasing fares at a time when many riders are already facing economic challenges. "I think we should have found a way to wait a year before having to do this," said Sheila Nix, CTA Board member.

Michael Pitula is an activist who says he hears from lots of riders in his community who plan to walk and ride bikes more to avoid paying the CTA fares. "More and more people are saying they can't afford it. We have an economic recession right now. A fare increase amounts to a tax increase," said Pitula, community activist.

A fare increase does allow the CTA to balance its 2009 budget but that does not come without some pain; 623 layoffs allow the CTA to balance the budget. And about 200 of those will take effect at the end of this calendar year.

The CTA fare increase coincides with a fare increase in the surburban Pace bus system, which was approved last month.

West Side residents air grievances, make suggestions at CTA meeting!!

CTA unveils gift Web site

Retro Chicago transit T-shirts and CTA-themed puzzles and shower curtains are just a few items the Chicago Transit Authority began selling today on its overhauled transit-themed online gift shop.

The new site, www.ctagifts.com, also begins a new CTA partnership with Image Exchange, Inc., a company which also runs the merchandise stores for the New York Transit Museum and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Ctagifts.com replaces the agency’s Gift Express program, but still offers some stalwart items, such as cufflinks created from old CTA tokens and system map umbrellas. New items include retro shoulder bags and T-shirts, as well as books and posters.

“Customers who have a favorite line or route, rail enthusiasts and visitors searching for unique souvenirs will be able to personalize items for one-of-a-kind keepsakes,” CTA President Ron Huberman said in a release posted on the agency’s Web site. While all train stops are available to create a custom-made item, the agency’s 153 bus routes are not yet represented on the site.

CTA spokeswoman Catherine A, Hosinki says the authority will be paid royalties based on a percentage of sales at www.ctagifts.com. During the first year of operation, the CTA is expected to receive a minimum of 10 percent of all sales, and in subsequent years will receive a minimum of 12 percent of all sales. "We do not have a sales prediction," Hosinski said in an e-mail to the Chi-Town Daily News.

Amy Lee is a Chicago-based journalist. She covers transit issues for the Daily News.

Discuss
MICHAEL PITULA, 10-03-2008

Sure, it’s great that CTA is pitching hats, baby bibs, and t-shirts with the CTA logo, but lets get real - How about a CTA logo mask to go over your face to filter out all the noxious diesel soot on CTA buses?

Reports have shown that soot pollution levels inside a transit bus can be over four times higher than outside that bus. And if you’re breathing that on your daily commute, just imagine what bus drivers are breathing all day long.

Recent news reports indicate that Chicago has the most toxic air in the country, but that story didn’t even include toxic diesel exhaust. Yet the cancer risk from sooty diesel exhaust is over SEVEN TIMES greater than the cancer risk from ALL OTHER air toxics tracked by the EPA.

These emissions have a disproportionate impact on people of color, who make up most of the CTA’s bus operators and riders. They also have a significant impact on low income riders, people with disabilities, and seniors who are transit dependent.

New York and Boston cleaned up their bus fleets and eliminated this problem. When is CTA going to join them? How long do we have to wait?

Michael Pitula
Community Organizer – Public Transit
LVEJO - Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

CHICAGO --    The transit funding package approved in January requires the Regional Transportation Authority to finance expansion and enhancement initiatives throughout the Chicago area.

    The RTA board in the past week gave the green light to 43 such projects, costing a combined $14.8 million, but is already hearing second-guessing on one of the projects. The most visible of the new services will be three Saturday trains on the Metra SouthWest Service, beginning in January, the first weekend service on the line. But also included are express bus service along I-355; signs at 100 key CTA bus stops telling how far away the next bus is, and improvements and enhancements to seven CTA bus lines.

    The controversy involves the CTA’s decision to restore bus service along 31st Street as part of the program. Little Village-based transit advocate Michael Pitula said the CTA is “missing the bus” by running no farther east than 27th Street and King Drive, and with buses running only until 8 p.m. daily. “This is a bus for job access,” Pitula said. “There are tons of people going to work after 8 p.m. There are hundreds of jobs east of King Drive, near 31st Street, and on the lakefront, and we feel that for a minor cost addition, they would get a lot of bang for the buck.”

    Pitula cited jobs at McCormick Place and the adjacent hotel, Shedd Aquarium, Home Run Inn pizzeria and a number of smaller employers who have late-evening and overnight shifts. RTA officials said the expansion Pitula proposes to the lakefront, and north to the Museum Campus, is a sensible “next step.” Right now, the RTA just wants to get the service off the ground.

    A number of the projects release money to plan transit-oriented development in such communities as Des Plaines, Western Springs, Schaumburg, Bensenville, East Dundee, Prairie Grove, Antioch, Hinsdale, Joliet and Wilmette, as well as five Chicago locations along Metra’s Milwaukee District West Line.

RTA to consider 31st Street bus

*There will be another Little Village meeting in late April.
*Habra' otra junta en la Villita mas tarde en abril.

By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune reporter
11:09 PM CDT, April 21, 2008 - Riders' Comments page

Fifty-nine minutes ticked by while more than 1,000 passengers were trapped last week in the Blue Line subway before CTA officials called emergency rescue personnel for help, Mayor Richard Daley said Monday. Many anxious passengers evacuated from the tunnel long before firefighters were finally summoned, Daley said. Most had remained onboard the four stalled trains until they saw or smelled smoke.

Daley's criticism represented a stark about-face from last week when he praised the response of the CTA and the Fire and Police Departments. "Thank God no one was injured. Thank God no one was killed," the mayor said. "We had an emergency on our hands," he proclaimed for the first time. The handling of last Tuesday's incident bore troubling similarities to the CTA's botched response to a Blue Line subway train derailment and fire two years ago in which more than 150 people were hurt.

At Monday's news conference, CTA President Ron Huberman promised myriad changes, including retraining rail employees in emergency communications and equipping train operators with cell phones that work in subways. Perhaps most important to riders, service stoppages will be dealt with as possible life-threatening emergencies instead of strictly as mechanical problems, he said. From now on, the Chicago Fire Department will be alerted to every service delay if mechanical problems occur on trains in the Blue and Red Line subway tunnels, Huberman said.

This spring, the CTA began making $14 million in improvements to emergency exits in subway tunnels. Workers will install escape-path lighting, new emergency phones and stairwells as well as reflective paint on handrails. After defending his hand-picked CTA president last week, Daley indicated Monday that he thought transit officials were once again asleep at the switch. Regarding the CTA's failure to notify emergency personnel for almost an hour, Daley said emphatically: "That's the problem and that will change . . . immediately."

Last Tuesday, Huberman at first chastised CTA passengers for bolting from the trains. Within hours of the incident, though, he said the CTA failed to communicate properly with timely updates about when service might resume and reassurances that riders on the four trains were safe.

Some stranded passengers reported being stuck on trains or in the tunnel for as long as 21/2 hours. A number of passengers complained of oppressive heat and endangered themselves and others by opening train doors in an attempt to let in fresh air. Details of the investigation released Monday make it clear that CTA officials thought the mechanical problems could be resolved reasonably quickly. The chain of events started when an electrical circuit-breaker blew on the propulsion system powering the first southbound train, disabling the eight-car train as it approached the Clark/Lake station at 8:10 a.m.

A CTA supervisor arrived at the scene seven minutes later, officials said. But the train operator and supervisor were unable to reset the circuit-breaker. Investigators subsequently determined that a wire shorted out the propulsion system, Huberman said. "Much like older-style Christmas lights . . . if just one bulb burns out, the entire strand goes dark," Huberman, standing beside Daley, told reporters at CTA headquarters downtown.

Another mechanical problem further complicated matters. At 8:21 a.m., the decision was made to use the train directly behind the disabled train to push it into the Clark/Lake station. The two trains were coupled together at 8:44 a.m., but the trains advanced only about 50 feet before the metal condenser cover from an air-conditioning unit fell off the first train. The cover landed on the electrified third rail, the train was jolted and there was a loud bang, a flash of light and smoke that came from the spark, Huberman said.

Frightened passengers began to flee from at least the first train, requiring CTA officials to cut all power in the tunnel at 8:47 a.m. CTA personnel ordered the riders to return to the train, and power was restored at 8:51 a.m., Huberman said. But at some point, passengers on the other three trains had already begun to evacuate on their own and walk toward emergency exits, officials said. Even from the point that the 600 volts of power was first turned off, 22 minutes elapsed before the CTA notified the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, according to the investigation. That was 59 minutes after the emergency began. The Chicago Fire Department's rapid-response team arrived several minutes later to assist passengers out of the tunnel, officials said.

The electricity was turned off again at 9:10 a.m. to facilitate the evacuation, officials said. "It was a very stressful situation," Daley said. "To those CTA riders who were on the affected trains, I want to say thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding." The mayor said he hoped fear would not keep people off CTA trains. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation attributed the July 2006 Blue Line derailment to deferred rail maintenance and poor safety oversight. When it issued its findings last September, the safety board recommended that the CTA improve its communications with passengers during emergencies.

While it isn't investigating last week's CTA incident, the NTSB did gather information on the evacuation, said its spokesman, Terry Williams. At another news conference at CTA headquarters two months ago, Daley challenged Huberman's team to better inform riders about the cause and duration of delays. The mayor also said people "want a system where they are respected by CTA employees at every level." He reiterated that point Monday in response to reports that one CTA train operator called riders in last week's incident "stupid" for fleeing the trains. Possible disciplinary action against workers for rude behavior or violating rules awaits the outcome of the investigation, Huberman said. Some transportation experts recommended that the CTA invest in communications and video systems that would allow supervisors in its control center to speak to passengers in every rail car.

"Toronto's system enables the control center to give instructions to passengers," said Joseph DiJohn, a researcher at the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "To keep people on the train during a delay, the announcement could be that there is a danger of electrocution and it's not safe to be in the tunnels without guidance."

Por Jaime J. Reyes Diario Hoy 312 527 8449
jreyes@tribune.com - 14 de marzo, 2008

Chicago -- Molestos dijeron estar los pasajeros al saber que el servicio de trenes con destino a Cermak/54 de la Línea Azul serán eliminados a partir del 27 de abril.

Así lo anunció ayer la Autoridad de Transporte de Chicago ( CTA) al informar sobre cambios al servicio de 13 rutas de autobuses y de trenes al oeste de la ciudad, que incluye la eliminación de dicho ramal.

Los cambios ocurren cuando la agencia reportó un incremento del 5.7 por ciento en el número de pasajeros en los trenes que corren al oeste de Chicago en comparación con la baja del 2.4 por ciento registrada en otras líneas. Asimismo, la agencia reportó un incremento del 5.5 por ciento en el número de pasajeros de autobuses que corren al oeste de Chicago contra el 5 por ciento en otras rutas.

Ron Huberman, presidente de CTA, indicó que el incremento en el número de pasajeros en el corredor del oeste y la satisfacción de los viajeros "eran la razones clave para las mejoras".

"Queremos dar el servicio más conveniente, confiable y eficiente a nuestros pasajeros", dijo Huberman.

Pero los pasajeros dijeron que la eliminación del ramal Cermak/54 de la Línea Azul, lo último que les ofrecerá es conveniencia.

Zorayda Ortiz, de 27 años, dijo que usa esa ruta para ir a trabajar al campus de la Universidad de Illinois en Chicago ( UIC), a su casa en Pilsen y antes de que implementarán la Línea Rosa para visitar a su mamá, en Humboldt Park, porque no tenía que transbordar.

"Es horrible, creo que mucha gente va a estar inconforme. A la gente no le gusta la Línea Rosa. Ellos (CTA) no piensan en la gente trabajadora del oeste de la ciudad", dijo Ortiz.

Harry Brooks, otro pasajero, opinó que "sería un inconveniente eliminar la línea porque es más fácil trasladarse del sur al oeste en lugar de dar la vuelta a la ciudad en la Rosa".

Según la agencia, el ramal Cermak/54, que ahora opera sólo en hora pico, será eliminado porque es el que menos abordan los pasajeros. CTA indicó que en su lugar se incrementara el servicio en el ramal de Forest Park a O'Hare de la Línea Azul.

Michael Pitula, organizador de Transportación de la Organización de Justicia Ambiental de La Villita (LVEJO), criticó a la agencia.

"Estamos decepcionados con la eliminación de la Línea Azul. La Línea Rosa no reemplaza a la Azul porque no corren por la misma ruta. Hay varias estaciones que no serán cubiertas", señaló Pitula.

"Sería más justo tener un equilibro de servicio entre ambas líneas: Azul y Rosa", dijo Pitula.

Al cierre de está edición, ningún portavoz de CTA había contestado para responder a las críticas.

Los entrevistados también opinaron que aunque habrá más servicio de camiones, como la ruta 60, que corre en Pilsen y La Villita, entre otras 12 rutas, habría que arreglar el problema de amontonamiento de autobuses.

"Si no se resuelve eso, no sabemos como va a funcionar tener más", cuestionó Pitula.

La eliminación permanente del ramal aún espera los comentarios del público en audiencias que están por determinarse, según CTA.

The Chicago Transit Authority's decision to eliminate the 54th/Cermak branch of the Blue Line ("Blue Line branch to close") is detrimental to the community and to the health of the environment in our region.

With the pressing issues of traffic congestion and climate change, now is the time to increase mobility while reducing emissions. The CTA's plan does the opposite.

Transportation is responsible for 31 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Chicagoland area and 22 percent in the city. An easy way to significantly reduce these emissions is to switch from driving a car to walking, biking and taking mass transit.

Cutting this branch takes away a crucial transportation option. Force these train passengers to drive, and our region will see many more cars on the street, more congestion and more pollution. Expanding, not eliminating, mass transit service is an efficient and responsible solution to these urgent problems.

We strongly urge the CTA to reconsider this cut and continue to increase and encourage sustainable transportation options in all communities throughout our region, not take them away.

Lights Out For Cermak Blue Line
Produced by Shawn Allee on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Chicago Transit Authority will soon cut Blue Line service between Chicago and Cicero. It's part of a test to improve commute times, but one transit advocacy group says it's not worth it.

The Blue and Pink Lines share some track between downtown and the village of Cicero. The CTA figures if it cuts Blue Line service, riders will hop Pink Line trains; however, the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization says some Blue Line riders will lose out.

Organizer Michael Pitula says only the Blue Line reaches the University of Illinois at Chicago.

PITULA: There are people who lament the absence of Blue Line trains on the Douglas Cermak/54th They're having to transfer more to get where they ordinarily would have gone at UIC or to get to and from the North Side.

CTA officials say they'll add buses to the University of Illinois area to compensate.

Blue Line service to Cicero will end on April 27—it will stay offline for at least six months.

CHICAGO (WBBM) - The CTA is killing Blue Line service on the Douglas branch.

But when the change takes effect April 27, it may mean a bit of relief for riders encountering jam-packed trains elsewhere on the rapid transit system.

CTA President Ron Huberman said Wednesday that Douglas branch riders who prefer Blue Line service can blame the capacity problems the CTA is encountering elsewhere on the system.

"At times you have, during peak rush time, six people per rail car while on other parts of the system you have in excess of 100 people per rail car, it becomes a question of equity," Huberman said. Huberman said CTA has no extra rail cars available during rush periods, and said the change is designed to try to redistribute the existing rail cars "more equitably."

Perhaps the biggest backer of Blue Line service on the Douglas branch, Michael Pitula of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, said he is disappointed but found it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, given how the CTA has de-emphasized Blue Line service on the Douglas branch since the advent of the Pink Line in 2006.

"Just this morning I was talking with a lawyer who told me of the longer travel times people have because they have to transfer (from Pink to O\'Hare-bound Blue Line trains) at Clark/Lake," Pitula said. The Blue Line service was reduced to 19 round trips a day in June 2006 when the Pink Line began operation. Huberman said the 7/Harrison and 38/Ogden-Taylor buses will provide alternate service for those who need to connect between the Pink Line and the UIC area, as well as Whitney Young High School. Pitula said the transfer will accomplish in 12-15 minutes what the \'L\' now does in two minutes.

Eight of the 48 cars dedicated to the service will be reallocated to the Green Line to enable more frequent service. The rest will remain on the Blue Line. The CTA owns 1,190 \'L\' cars. It expects to take delivery of 10 new cars for testing purposes in early 2009, with 400 additional rapid transit cars to begin arriving in 2010. While there will be a net gain, CTA intends to retire most, if not all, of its two oldest series of \'L\' cars, 140 that date from 1969-70 and 200 that date from 1976-77.

CTA officials said that effective April 27, during rush hours, trains will run every 3-1/2 minutes on the O\'Hare Branch and every 7-1/2 minutes to the west of the Loop on the Blue Line to and from Forest Park. Additional trains will run only between Jefferson Park and the U of I/Halsted station to try to provide additional capacity where the rush hour loading crush is worst.

CTA also plans changes to a handful West Side bus routes, effective in mid-June. One route, the 127/Madison- Roosevelt Circulator, will be discontinued, but service will be enhanced on a number of other routes. Evening service will be extended on the 7/Harrison bus, service will be more frequent on the 12/Roosevelt line, midday service will be added to the 38/Ogden-Taylor route, stops will be added to the X20/Washington-Madison Express and additional service will be provided on the 60/Blue Island-26th route.

Service has already been increased on the 8/Halsted route and will be extended till 10 p.m. on the 65/Grand line.

The announcement comes following the biggest monthly increase the CTA has seen in its ridership in years. In February, even when adjusted to take in account the extra leap day, bus ridership increased 10.3 percent, while rail ridership increased 4.7 percent. Huberman said he believes it reflects the CTA\'s attempts to curb the bunching of buses and a concerted effort to eliminate slow zones on the \'L\' system.

While increases in bus ridership may continue, Huberman said as the pace of rail repair work picks up in 2008, he expects \'L\' ridership to remain steady or decrease slightly. He said he expects healthy increases by early 2009 as most slow zones are eliminated.

CTA cuts Blue Line service to Cermak, for now
By JESSICA PUPOVAC
Mar. 13, 2008 7:55 AM
The Chicago Transit Authority voted Wednesday to make sweeping changes to West Side bus and rail service, including the discontinuation of Blue Line service to 54th/Cermak.

Service along seven West Side bus routes will also be altered as part of a six-month experiment that CTA President Ron Huberman says should lead to "a comprehensive improvement to West Side service."

The portion of the Blue Line that runs along the same track as the Pink Line will be canceled beginning April 27. Those cars will be redistributed to other West Side lines.

Several nearby bus routes will also undergo major modifications. Beginning in as little as two weeks, four West Side routes (#12 Roosevelt, #65 Grand, #60 Blue Island/26th, and #7 Harrison) will have more frequent or extended service, while service along the #X20 Washington/Madison Express and #38 Ogden/Taylor routes will be altered. The #127 Madison/Roosevelt Circulator will be discontinued.

The recommendation was made on the basis of an experiment that began last June and had as its centerpiece the introduction of the Pink Line.

However, according to Michael Pitula, a community organizer in Little Village, where the 54th/Cermak line currently ends, the service will have negative consequences for many residents in Little Village and nearby Pilsen.

"It will cut them off from access to the University of Illinois Chicago and O'Hare and increase travel times," Pitula says.

Pitula expressed concerns about the validity of the studies that led the CTA to make these changes, claiming that they cut the Blue Line to 54th/Cermak "to the point where it's almost useless and then said, 'well people don't want it.' "

However, according to Huberman, that portion of the Blue Line is the "the least utilized train line in our system."

Huberman said field observations showed the average Pink Line car held 25 passengers during the morning rush, as opposed to 10 passengers on the Blue Line from Cermak/54th.

Harry Brooks, of the Rider-Driver Alliance, puts little faith in those numbers. "I think that in some areas such as Pink vs. Blue, the statistics are maneuvered to make it look like customers want what you want them to have," Brooks says.

The Blue Line currently runs every 30 minutes during rush hour. Its service has been cut by 80 percent since the Pink Line was constructed.

Huberman, however, says that riders are fine with that. Of 5,797 on-board respondents to a CTA-administered survey taken last fall, 80 percent reported being "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the changes.

According to Huberman, 88 percent of those respondents were English-speaking; while 11 percent were Spanish-speaking and 1 percent spoke Polish.

Pitula, however, wonders if minority populations, including Blacks and Latinos, were adequately consulted in that survey. "(In) the community that we organize in Little Village, half or more of the folks here speak Spanish, so we were very surprised when we saw that only 11 percent of the respondents were Spanish-speaking," he said.

Chicago Board Chairman Carole Brown stressed that the changes are, for now, temporary, and that they will be soliciting rider input before deciding whether to make them permanent.

"It's still an experiment," Brown says. "We're still refining and looking for customer impact and customer impressions and if we need to make more adjustments we'll make more adjustments."

The agency has begun to solicit feedback from customers as part of a new "mystery shopper" program, in which interested riders will fill out comment cards, grading the CTA on the safety, courtesy, cleanliness and efficiency of their service. According to CTA spokesman Adam Case, the goal is to spot and fix problems that need immediate attention and "zero in on specific issues that are important to riders."

The first 1,000 customers to complete and submit their evaluation will receive a CTA transit card with one full fare that can be used on any CTA bus or train. Interested parties are directed to go to transitchicago.com, or call (888) 968-7282.
Beginning Monday, senior citizens will be able to ride CTA buses and trains for free, with RTA-issued permits.

Individuals interested in obtaining a permit are encouraged to call the RTA Travel Information Center at 312.836.7000, or TTY 312.836.4949.

Remaining value on senior reduced-fare cards will be refunded through July 1, 2008, either through bringing unexpired cards to CTA headquarters at 567 W. Lake St., or visiting a Regional Senior Service Center on designated days.

From: Rachel's Democracy & Health News, Dec. 20, 2007

TRANSIT'S LAST STAND?

Chicago is in the race to host the 2016 Olympic Games. But air pollution, congestion and transit woes might just seal Chicago's fate if government lets public transit slide further into disrepair and abandon.

For Chicagoans, the word "doomsday" has taken on new meaning. The city has the nation's second largest public transportation system but as any resident will tell you, the system is broken. For years the system has been falling into disrepair and now it's limping along on temporary cash infusions to keep the trains and buses running past so-
called transit 'doomsdays.' But time is running out. If a full funding solution isn't found soon, the New Year will not be so happy when area residents, especially those from low-income communities, will face severe service cuts.

Despite the roughly two million rides taken each weekday on Chicago's trains and buses, revenue from fares isn't nearly enough to meet the costs of providing service. The Chicago Transportation Authority (CTA), which runs bus and "El" train routes downtown and to surrounding suburbs, is projected to have a $158 million shortfall in 2008.

As state legislators' deliberations continue, the CTA has named a third deadline of January 20 to receive more funds or be forced to institute fare hikes of up to $1.25 (a 60% increase), lay off 2,400 employees, and eliminate more than half its bus routes. The suburb-to- city Metra trains and the suburban Pace bus system are in similar situations and also have cuts and fare hikes scheduled for the new year. The threat of these deadlines has become something of a last
stand for the transit agencies, which have been underfunded for years.

Cuts in mass transit service would have a disproportionate impact on Chicago's low-income families, who often don't own a car and would be cut off from their way to work. Many Chicago Public Schools children also depend on public transportation to reach their schools. And residents struggling to make ends meet will have to spend more of their budget on transit fares.

"Without a transit solution, real harm will come to individual residents," Randy Blankenhorn, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), said in a late-November statement. "These are people whose livelihoods depend on affordable public transit and who already spend a high percentage of their income getting to work."

Many Chicagoans would have to turn to other options, like biking and walking to work. The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, a bicycling and pedestrian advocacy group, has developed a "Doomsday Survival Guide" to help stranded people find an alternate biking or bike-plus-rail route to their jobs.

According to Margo O'Hara, CBF director of communications, the current failure to find transit funding is problematic for people who use other non-car transportation as well.

"It does send a message that mass transit and alternative forms of transportation may not be a high priority," says O'Hara. "If mass transit's not being funded, it's not a good sign for bicyclists and the facilities that we need to get around."

Also, seniors and people with disabilities would be especially hard hit by service cuts; they often don't have the money or the physical capacity to use other modes of transportation, leaving them without mobility. Groups like Metro Seniors in Action and IMPRUVE (Independent Movement of Paratransit Riders for Unity, Vehicles, Equality) have been joining in broader coalitions, such as the newly-formed Rider- Driver Alliance, to fight for solutions.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is required that paratransit services run complementary to all fixed CTA and Pace routes. People eligible for paratransit rides can be picked up and dropped off by van anywhere within three-fourths' mile of a regular route. If half of CTA bus routes are cut, this would also mean elimination of the paratransit services that operated alongside them.

For people with disabilities, that can literally be a matter of life or death, says Dr. Ayo Maat, the founder and coordinator of IMPRUVE.

If the CTA service cuts went through, "that would leave people who are dependent on paratransit, not only without service, but in life- threatening situations because they use paratransit to go to the doctor," she says. "This would really affect us socially and economically, because those who have jobs couldn't get to work; those who are looking for jobs can't look; those who are looking for housing can't. To be isolated again would be devastating."

Rider advocates don't think political leaders are doing enough to solve the problem. On October 29, the Rider-Driver Alliance joined with local advocacy groups like the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) for a rally downtown at Federal Plaza to protest what they saw as local officials' lack of priorities on transportation.

"We need to focus on the problem now, and we need to focus on how it affects people who are the most transit-dependent," says Michael Pitula, a LVEJO community organizer for transportation issues. "We don't need to be talking about luxury rail projects for the Olympics, for tourism, for downtown business interests."

While transit workers have a lot in common with transit riders, the political appointees in charge of the CTA do not, Pitula says. "There's this divide between the people who make the decisions about transit and the people who ride it, and it falls very closely along race and class lines. There's a disconnect in [their] experiences, and it shows in the policies they enact."

A spokesperson with CTA, Sheila Gregory, says the decisions on which routes to cut were made based on three principles: "maintain as much availability as possible for transit-dependent customers; maintain regional connections where possible; and spread the burden of cost reductions in an equitable manner." Gregory also says the CTA cuts are consistent with federal guidelines regarding impacts to minorities and people below the poverty level.

The proposed service cuts would also impact Chicagoans across the board for two interconnected reasons: traffic and air pollution. If more people were forced to turn to their cars, Chicago's already congested highways would become even worse, significantly increasing the region's air quality problems, says Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health at the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

"Public transit takes a lot of people off the roadways and it promotes free flow of traffic," he says. "There just is no physical way to get all the people who work downtown to drive downtown without chaos ensuing -- total gridlock. That's going to create a huge amount of wasted fuel and a huge amount of air pollution, because people's commute times are going to skyrocket."

A nationwide study found that Chicago-area drivers already waste over 200 million hours and 140 million gallons of fuel per year sitting in traffic. More people in cars instead of on buses or trains would mean even more traffic jams, more stop and go driving, and much more time running the engine while commuting, all of which produces more air pollution, not to mention stress and expense.

"It's bad for the whole region, and not just for people who take transit," says Tom Garritano, spokesperson for CMAP. "I think that's a real fallacy. Some people out there who take a car to work think that this doesn't affect them, and they couldn't be more wrong."

Car engines give off two major types of pollution-volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and nitrogen oxides. Both of these chemical compounds produce ozone, the main component of smog. High ozone levels can cause coughing, difficulty breathing, and serious complications for people who already have respiratory illnesses.

Releases of VOCs and nitrogen oxides, as well as greenhouse gases, from CTA's diesel buses are much less than cars. However, Chicago mass transit has its own pollution problems and public health impacts. CTA diesel buses and non-electric Metra trains give off particulate matter-commonly known as soot-from their tailpipes. More soot in the air contributes to more strokes, asthma attacks and heart attacks.

The majority of the city's aging buses do not have particulate filters installed that would make them 90 percent cleaner, a problem that Urbaszewski's group has been lobbying to fix. Urbaszewski says requirements to install those pollution filters should be incorporated into any new state legislation on transportation.

"Not only do we want transit that runs, we want it to run cleanly like other big cities around the country that have cleaned up their acts," says Urbaszewski. "This is the prime opportunity to solve the problem once and for all."

Other organizations are thinking big picture about transit, too. This fall the CBF released their 20-year vision for Chicago transportation. The group aims to reduce bicycle and pedestrian street accidents by 50 percent and to have half of the Chicago population using walking, bicycling and mass transit as their mode of transportation instead of
personal vehicles by 2027.

"So much of funding for mass transit helps alleviate the problems that we're trying to work on, like preventing crashes, congestion, the environment, public health," says O'Hara. "If you have more people using more active forms of transportation that include CTA trains and buses, it'll have those same kind of benefits [as walking and biking]."

Many grass-roots organizations in Chicago have found transit to be an issue they can rally around. The Rider-Driver Alliance is a prime example. The group seeks not only to prevent service cuts and fare increases, but also to end worker layoffs, ensure better CTA accountability, and advocate for equitable funding sources for transit. More broadly, Pitula says they aim to win a voice in Chicago transit decisions.

"We really have a huge task in front of us," he says. "But we know from [other] examples... that it is possible for low-income people and traditionally underrepresented groups to effect change, and to get the services that their communities need."

As the final days before the deadline approach, pressure on state legislators could be enough to finally bring an agreement. Many Chicago organizations, like CMAP and CBF, are pushing for Springfield lawmakers to approve SB 572. The bill, sponsored and championed over months by State Representative Julie Hamos, is comprehensive transit
legislation that would provide stable funding for mass transportation by raising the regional sales tax between one-fourth and one-half of a percent.

Some advocate groups take issue with the sales tax, calling it a regressive funding source. However, the bill also includes provisions to improve the services' accountability and to ensure more citizen participation in decisions, elements that have been applauded by rider advocates. While there's no guarantee the legislation will pass, there
is still a chance Chicago's beleaguered mass transit will finally have more than a temporary fix to work with.

Recently approved funding is to maintain service, not to improve it. The South and West Sides are drastically underserved, yet the CTA pushes the Block 37 Superstation and Circle Line. Extending the Red Line, restoring the Blue Line and building the Mid-City Transitway are all viable, more equitable alternatives.
Recent CTA fare increases for cash-paying riders stand, and Metra fares are rising. The paratransit monthly pass will double in price in February.
And the new sales and real estate transfer taxes hit low-income folks hardest.
More progressive funding is possible. Corporations rely on public money to transport their employees and ought to pay taxes for the service. The City of Chicago contributes $3 million annually and could do more, while the federal government should restore operating funds it eliminated 10 years ago.
Workers and riders deserve seats on the RTA and CTA boards. The public deserves legitimate participation in planning and oversight in auditing.
A world-class transit system that affordably serves everyone and is truly accountable to the public is within reach. Now is the time to make it happen.

Going Public: Every 'L' line for itself

Posted by Kyra Kyles - Dec. 11

For the last two years, "Going Public" has pitted "L" lines against one another in a dramatic competition to see which one riders admire most. The results likely are meaningless in the mass transit scheme of things, since the Red Line won both years for reasons having more to do with sentimentality than superiority. But it may not have been completely frivolous to force the lines to face off. Last week, the president of New York's City Transit announced that the city's rail lines will take a similar tack—operationally.

In a major change to the system, individual New York subway lines will run almost autonomously and in direct competition with one another. Each of the 24 lines will be led by different managers who will take responsibility for the stations, the trains and anything that happens on their share of track, according to The New York Times, which said the experiment would start with lines No.7 and the L, not to be confused with our "L". New York lines will compete in areas of cleanliness, on-time performance and service, the paper reported. I've got two words for that concept:

Awe. Some.

So awesome, in fact, that I couldn't resist imagining what would happen if eight CTA managers were given almost sole responsibility for the Red, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green, Pink, Blue and Brown Lines. If it did happen, here are some hypothetical Line items managers likely would have to deal with:

Red Line
Put the smackdown on illegal solicitation running rampant on the South Side between Cermak and its 95th Street terminus.

Blue Line
Help blitz the O'Hare branch's slow zones, as CTA President Ron Huberman has pledged to do.

Orange Line
It's hard to hate on the railway to Midway with its pretty clean cars, brisk service and proximity to the airport. So for now, just help bail out the Blue.

Pink Line
Broaden your fan base. A large number of riders who write to "Going Public" say you and your Line should be pink-slipped in favor of the 54/Cermak branch service you partially supplanted.

Green Line
Address complaints that Green is becoming a ghost line. "Going Public" gets regular comments that Green Liners often are stiffed in favor of more consistently running Brown Line trains at the Adams/Wabash stop. A Forest Park rider recently e-mailed to say he is tired of being packed in crowded cars. "By the time us greenies reach Clark & Lake it is jammed to where they turn away passengers and announce, `There is another train behind,' " Tony Fewlass, 44, wrote, emphasizing with all caps. "RIGHT, not a Green one."

Purple Line
Your cars are pretty clean and run efficiently, but ask your Red Line peer to ensure Purple Liners aren't left behind in the brutal cold at the connecting Howard stop. It especially hurts mass transit morale when the conductor won't wait for them to hitch a Red ride toward the Loop.

Yellow Line
Champion an extension that reaches Old Orchard Mall, but make sure to look out for increased litter on the trains. There's no telling what could happen to cleanliness ratings if riders start schlepping food court items onboard.

Brown Line
Your Line will overwhelmingly win the CTA beauty pageant once the $530 million capacity expansion project is complete in late 2009, but be forewarned: If the transit agency enacts bus cuts on Jan. 20 due to insufficient funding, you'll be facing down cramped cars full of North Siders in no mood to admire the CTA scenery.

The Works: Forty-Eighth Ward Follies
A state senator’s sudden resignation sets off a scramble in Edgewater

By Ben Joravsky

It looks like business as usual up in the 48th Ward. Just two weeks before the filing deadline for February’s Democratic primary, state senator Carol Ronen resigned, opening the way for a handpicked successor to assume her office.

A similar thing happened back in May, when Mike Volini, the ward’s Democratic committeeman, stepped down to make way for none other than Ronen, who shares his office suite on Broadway. As a matter of fact, several key elected officials in Edgewater—48th Ward alderman Mary Ann Smith and state reps Harry Osterman and Greg Harris—were ushered into office when their successors retired midterm. Ronen first gained her senate seat when she was appointed to replace Art Berman in 1999.

The latest reshuffle began on October 22, when Ronen sent out an e-mail announcing her resignation. “I am writing to let you know I have decided to step down from the state senate effective January 7, 2008,” she wrote. “I am announcing this now so that anyone who wishes to run for the office will be able to file petitions for the February 5, 2008, primary election by the November 5th deadline.”

Oh, that it were so easy. It takes 1,000 signatures to make the ballot for state senator. Any candidate interested would have had “to hit the ground running as soon as Carol [sent] out her notice,” says Chris Lawrence, an independent activist in Edgewater.

One candidate did. Within a couple days of Ronen’s announcement, political fund-raiser Heather Steans, scion of a prominent North Shore family, had her petition sheets printed and volunteers out gathering signatures. Ronen (who didn’t return calls for comment) immediately endorsed her, as did Congressman Jan Schakowsky.

It was, says Lawrence, a classic setup. “It worked perfectly,” he says. “Carol quits on the eve of the election when it’s too late for independents to mount a campaign.”

Steans swears up and down that Lawrence has it wrong. Yes, she and her husband, Leo Smith, have contributed thousands of dollars to Ronen over the years—they even hosted a $125-per-head fund-raiser for the senator in 2005. But she says she had no idea Ronen was stepping down until she saw the e-mail. “I knew she had been talking about retiring,” Steans says. “But I didn’t know she was going to do it now. It was a huge shock.”

According to Steans, it’s not her connections but her credentials that make her a natural successor to Ronen. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In addition to serving on several boards, among them WBEZ’s, she’s worked as director of economic development for the Civic Committee and held the post of budget director for Wisconsin’s Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations. She expresses bafflement at accusations that some kind of fix was in. “But people will do what they’re going to do,” she says.

With just days to go before the filing deadline, Suzanne Elder, a local activist, also jumped into the race. “This senate seat belongs to us, the taxpayers,” says Elder, who has a master’s in public policy from the University of Chicago. “I don’t think we should let Carol get away with this.” An October 30 e-mail from her campaign recruiting volunteers for a last-minute petition drive urged residents to “stand up and tell the establishment that we don’t want yet another hand-picked machine pol. . . . The Democratic voters of the 7th District deserve better than anointing those who can afford to buy a political seat.”

Local independents, including Lawrence, banded behind Elder. In just one week they gathered about 1,600 signatures, and on Monday, November 5, Elder drove to Springfield to file them. But the Edgewater regulars have another political tradition: the use of election law technicalities to throw candidates off the ballot. Mary Ann Smith ran unopposed in last February’s aldermanic election because she knocked off three opponents—Lawrence among them.

Within five hours, according to the Illinois Board of Elections, attorney and Illinois Democratic Party officer Michael Kasper was reviewing Elder’s petitions. Kasper is house speaker Michael Madigan’s favorite election lawyer, and he’s turned up in Edgewater disputes before—in 2002, for example, when Osterman faced a challenge from a Green Party candidate. As Lawrence learned the hard way, Ronen, Smith, Osterman, and their allies know how the game is played.

Man With a Plan

By his own account, Mike Payne is an unemployed typewriter repairman who’s crashing at his older sister’s house while he looks for permanent digs. But he’s come up with a transit plan for the notoriously underserved south side that’s far more innovative than anything put forth by Mayor Daley or the CTA.

Payne proposes converting the Metra tracks running south and southeast from the Loop into a 22-mile, CTA-operated service called the Gray Line. Ideally it would provide round-the-clock service to dozens of south- and southeast-side neighborhoods, from the Loop to 93rd on one spur and to 111th on another. (The Red Line currently stops at 95th, and its planned extension to 130th is going nowhere despite $590 million in federal funds committed to the project.)

A railroad buff who used to build model trains in his basement as a child, Payne says the idea for the Gray Line came to him one day in the mid-90s, when he was sitting in traffic in South Shore, near the intersection of 71st and Jeffery. “It was a very congested Saturday at about one o’clock in the afternoon,” he says. “The community was bustling, but the Metra commuter station on 71st was sitting abandoned. Nobody was using it. Two trains came in, one going north, the other going south. No one got on, no one got off. And I thought, what a ridiculous waste. This is an asset to our community—let’s use it.”

Not owning a typewriter himself, Payne used one at Harold Washington Library to write up an application for the project, which he filed with the Chicago Area Transit Study, the metropolitan advisory group that officially oversees all capital transit works. Payne’s Gray Line plan is the only proposal in CATS’s files not submitted by an official state or city transit agency.

Payne grants that his plan is a long shot. Among other obstacles, it would require an operating agreement between the CTA and Metra, two outfits that are typically at each other’s throats. The CTA, with its perpetual doomsday plans, isn’t exactly flush. But “if it doesn’t happen, it won’t be because it’s not a good or practical idea,” he says. “It’s because politically the politicians don’t want it for whatever reason.”

Over the years Payne has lobbied officials from Metra, the CTA, and the RTA. He’s drawn some publicity for the project from time to time—Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch wrote him up in 2002. He’s set up a Web site devoted to the project (community-2.webtv.net/GLRTS/GRAYLINECONVERSION). More recently he’s tried a new tack, linking the Gray Line to the mayor’s bid for the 2016 Olympics. The trains, he points out, could make stops at the proposed Olympic Village near McCormick Place and at Washington and Jackson parks, two major venues for the games as planned. “It makes all the sense in the world,” Payne says. “We want to bring thousands of people to the south side, but right now we have no rapid transit to get them around.”

I mention Payne’s proposal not because I think it has much chance of succeeding but to highlight the dearth of ideas coming from city planners. We all know about the CTA’s current problems. But its long-range planning has been even worse. Two recent major capital projects—the Pink Line and the underground superstation at Block 37—largely replicate existing service while leaving underserved areas untouched.

Payne’s proposal at least has the potential to provide needed service and help seed economic development in south-side neighborhoods. “You’d think they’d be interested if only because of the Olympics,” says Payne. “I’ll keep pushing, though.”

Negocian fondos para el transporte regional

Por Jaime J. Reyes Diario HOY 312.527.8449
jreyes@tribune.com

19 de septiembre, 2007

Chicago -- A la hora de cierre, senadores en Springfield negociaban una solución para financiar el transporte público regional.

Entre las alternativas que los legisladores consideraban se encontraba una propuesta para abrir un casino en Chicago y dos en los suburbios, usar fondos capitales estatales y aumentar impuestos, entre otras medidas, indicó la senadora (D-20) Iris Martínez.

Según reportes, la Autoridad Regional de Tránsito (RTA) requiere este año $226 millones adicionales para financiar la Autoridad de Tránsito de Chicago (CTA), el sistema de autobuses suburbanos Pace y el sistema de trenes Metra.

Las negociaciones vienen a días de que la junta de RTA aprobara una propuesta del gobernador Rod Blagojevich de darle a la agencias un avance de $37 millones de sus subsidios para 2008.

La junta aprobó el avance, pero la legislatura debe solucionar el financiamiento, de lo contrario entrarían en efecto en Chicago, a partir del 4 de noviembre, alzas de pasajes, recortes de servicios y despidos de empleados.

“Hoy vamos a tratar de pasar la expansión para un casino en Chicago y probablemente en los suburbios, de ahí estamos buscando fondos para el transporte público y poder financiar también carreteras, puentes y otros proyectos”, dijo Martínez, quien es asistente del Líder Demócrata del Senado estatal, Emil Jones.

La senadora agregó que una iniciativa propone aumentar el impuesto a la venta en un .025%, pero que tratan de evitar el alza.

“¿Hasta cuándo vamos a seguir aumentando impuestos a la gente?”, cuestionó Martínez.

Añadió que Jones tampoco quiere que se apruebe otro impuesto.

Alejandra Morán, portavoz de Jones, reiteró que lo que se espera es que los senadores acuerden una propuesta que tenga el apoyo de la mayoría de los legisladores.

Lo anterior para evitar un veto del gobernador, quien ha indicado que vetará cualquier propuesta que aumente los impuestos.

Michael Pitula, organizador comunitario para Transporte Público de la Organización de Justicia Ambiental de La Villita (LVEJO), indicó que esa organización se oponía a financiar el transporte público con casinos porque generalmente a esos lugares acuden personas de bajos recursos, que no tiene dinero extra para jugar.

Pitula señaló que también se oponían a aumentar los impuestos porque “todo sube menos los salarios”.

El organizador opinó que una solución podría venir de una mayor contribución del municipio y los negocios. “Hay negocios que contribuyen al transporte de sus empleados. Si queremos una economía buena, las empresas tienen que contribuir”, dijo Pitula.

En un comunicado CTA indicó que en los pasados 15 años, el municipio ha invertido en esa agencia unos $850 millones en mejoras de capital.

LOCAL News: Protest Activity - Battle of the Viaduct Rally
August 2007

To look at the viaduct at 16th and Halsted, one would never guess that it was the site of a massive and bloody battle...

Rally to remember the Battle of the Viaduct.

(Click any image to enlarge)

To look at the viaduct at 16th and Halsted, one would never guess that it was the site of a massive and bloody battle. Part of the structure has been demolished. Weeds line the parkway on its south side. Small working class homes make way for the rapidly advancing condomania of University Village. It is an unassuming intersection where cars and buses whisk by on their way to UIC or to the fashionable yuppie gallery district of “East Pilsen.”

But in 1877, this viaduct was the focal point of a raging battle for workers rights. On Thursday, July 26, members of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, the Industrial Workers of the World, Citizens Taking Action and other community members took part in a small march and rally to commemorate this historic battle.

The Battle happened when the bosses and their thugs attacked striking railroad workers in Chicago during the nation's first general strike — the Great Uprising of 1877. On July 26, 1877, police and mercenaries broke up a meeting of German immigrant workers at Turner Hall on Roosevelt and Halsted. By late morning of that day, 10,000 workers had assembled in the vicinity of the viaduct at 16th and Halsted. By the end of the day 30 workers lay dead.

(Click any image to enlarge)

The march last Thursday departed from Plaza Tenochtitlan on 18th, Blue Island and Loomis. We marched down 18th Street, drumming, chanting. Marchers carried signs marking the Battle, but there were also signs calling for Transit Justice at the CTA. One sign read, “No Fare Hikes, No Service Cuts, No Layoffs.”

Another simply said, “Pink Stinks” referring to the CTA’s Pink Line experiment. The Pink Line is costing the CTA up to $8 million extra per year despite the agencies claims of a financial crisis. Long time Cermak Blue Line riders have been forced to take longer trips, make more transfers, and wait longer for the few Blue Line trains that remain in the wake of the Pink.

Once at 16th and Halsted, there was a brief rally with speakers from both labor and community groups. Michael Pitula a community organizer from LVEJO gave an overview of the Great Uprising of 1877. Charles Paidock of Citizens Taking Action, spoke about Martinsburg, West Virginia. This was the small rural town where the Uprising began in wake of two 10% wage cuts and work speedups. He remarked that this event was perhaps even greater in significance than the Haymarket incident of 1886.

	Labor was also present at this rally. A CTA bus driver spoke about the need for rider and driver unity on the CTA. An IWW member and transit activist spoke about the commonality between environmental struggles and labor struggles.

The rally was meant to highlight the relationship between struggles of the past and present. The strike of 1877 was a railroad strike. In 2007 Chicago faces a transit crisis with rail slow zones, discriminatory service, threatened fare hikes, service cuts, and over a 1000 CTA bus drivers facing layoffs. The railroad workers of 1877 were mostly immigrants during a time of intense xenophobia. Pilsen is an immigrant community facing persecution and gentrification today. In fact, 16th and Halsted is a gentrification hotspot. Even the political context of the two eras is ironically similar. In 1877, President Hayes lost the popular vote but won the Presidency, just as in 2000 and 2004 with Bush.

One young participant summed it up best saying, “The CTA is greedy and they want to take your money, so you better watch out.” The rally concluded with a lighting of candles to commemorate the 30 fallen workers killed in the Battle of 1877.

Clean Diesel Campaign

Transit Bus Riders Exposed to High Levels of Deadly Diesel Emissions Coalition Calls For Action To Reduce Diesel Pollution

CTA and Pace buses are among the dirtiest-and deadliest-in the country. That's one finding in a new report on diesel pollution issued by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago and the Illinois Campaign to Clean Up Diesel Pollution, a coalition of over 45 groups. (Click here to view this report entitled "Missing the Bus to Cleaner Air") "Chicago has one of the highest risks for cancer due to diesel pollution of any city in the country," says Anna Frostic, RHAMC's Environmental Health Advocate. "And we lag far behind New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Dallas in cleaning up our diesel bus fleets."

The Coalition is calling for equipping CTA and PACE buses with clean technology to reduce diesel pollution by more than 90%.

"Diesel emissions are almost impossible to avoid," says Frostic, "that's why we need to retrofit diesel vehicles with particulate filters to reduce their harmful emissions."

These findings build on the conclusions of another new report, issued by the Clean Air Task Force, which suggests that pollution levels inside CTA and PACE buses are four times deadlier than the air outside. (click here to view the report entitled "No Escape from Diesel Exhaust")

The Coalition is urging support for Illinois Senate Bill 268 (Collins, D-Chicago), which would create a public funding mechanism for retrofits of diesel vehicles in Illinois. It also calls on the Illinois General Assembly to require the clean up of the CTA and Pace diesel bus fleets by 2010 as part of any effort to increase and stabilize funding for public transit in Northeastern Illinois.

Other report findings:

The cancer risk of diesel exhaust is 8 times greater than the cancer risk from all other 133 air toxics tracked by EPA combined.
Diesel exhaust causes 878 deaths, 1,193 heart attacks, and 19,162 asthma attacks in Illinois every year.
Half a person's exposure to deadly particulate pollution occurs during morning and evening commutes, even though commuting only accounts for about 6 percent of the day.

RHAMC Seeks to Reduce Diesel Pollution in the Chicago Metropolitan Area and Illinois

Diesel fuel emissions are damaging our health and the quality of our environment. Each year, diesel engines emit millions of tons of particulate matter (soot) and air toxins that cause adverse health effects such as lung cancer, asthma attacks, heart attacks, and premature birth. The U.S. EPA recently strengthened the air quality standards for soot after scientific findings that these particles are more dangerous than previously thought.

While new engine standards that reduce soot emissions by 90% will go into effect in the coming years (see http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/), older vehicles may continue to pollute for another generation. Retrofitting 10,000 older engines with pollution control technology, such as diesel particulate filters, would eliminate roughly 15,000 tons of harmful pollution each year.

Through our campaign efforts, we hope to see over 2,000 CTA and Pace buses retrofitted, expand the use of green contract language, and achieve state and federal funding for diesel initiatives.

Every year in Illinois, diesel exhaust triggers over 19,000 asthma attacks and nearly 1,200 heart attacks and causes 878 premature deaths.
In Metropolitan Chicago alone, diesel fine particles cause 755 deaths (65 from cancer), 1,021 heart attacks, 476 cases of chronic bronchitis, and 17,017 of asthma attacks annually.
National estimates indicate that a child with asthma misses an average of 7.6 days of school per year.
In Illinois, the average charge per hospital stay for asthma is $5,283.
The cancer risk that diesel exhaust poses is 8 times greater than the cancer risk from all other 133 air toxics tracked by EPA combined.

To determine the diesel risk in your area, click here.

Click here to review the Clean Air Task Force's report Diesel and Health in America: The Lingering Threat.

What can I do to help?

Please sign on in support of our Illinois Campaign to Clean Up Diesel Pollution
See who has already signed on!
For more information, visit the website of Citizen Action Illinois, our campaign partner, or contact Anna Frostic at (312) 628-0202 or afrostic@lungchicago.org

If you would like to get involved, please contact Anna Frostic at:
afrostic@lungchicago.org or fill out an application to volunteer.

CTA softens cuts' impact: Unexpected savings improves outlook

By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune transportation reporter.
Tribune staff reporter Mary Owen contributed to this report

August 9, 2007

"I think that's excellent because it's used," said Smith, who lives in Lakeview. "It's always packed. It's better than the 145, which has way too many stops."

Huberman and CTA chairman Carole Brown hailed the $20 million in new internal belt-tightening as yet another sign to the General Assembly and the governor that the transit authority deserves new funding to erase a more than $100 million operating deficit.

Huberman had identified $18 million in administrative cuts. The CTA will also transfer $57 million from its capital improvement budget to prop up the operations shortfall, but that move will defer maintenance on buses and trains and likely lead to less reliable service.

"This is not about playing politics," Huberman said. "We need a structural fix" to correct the state funding shortfall, he said.

But the strategy of rolling out piecemeal cost efficiencies could backfire, raising questions about the CTA's credibility. Customers, and suburban and Downstate legislators already are skeptical that funneling millions of additional dollars to the CTA would improve the transit authority's often-criticized performance.

"The CTA has a long history of scaring riders with doomsday scenarios. They claimed the sky was falling, and now only half the sky is falling," said Michael Pitula, a community organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

The revised contingency package of service cuts and fare hikes would take place on Sept. 16, barring state action on funding, officials said. Regardless of whether the revised cuts are implemented, the CTA is printing new bus and train schedules. That will cost the agency $2.1 million, Huberman said.

Huberman acknowledged that the new budget contingency package, containing $7.5 million in service reductions and $7.5 million in fare hikes, would still create tremendous hardships, especially for the elderly, people in poor neighborhoods, students and commuters who do not have access to cars. But the goal is minimizing difficulties by scaling back the doomsday plan, he said.

"Buses will still be crowded, and we realize some people will still be left on the curb," Huberman said about the plan to operate 314 fewer buses during peak hours.

As an incentive for riders to save money and while also helping to speed up boardings of trains and buses, the CTA plans to waive the $5 fee to purchase Chicago Cards.

Some civic and business groups blamed the sorry state of transit funding in the Chicago region on state officials neglecting the operating and capital needs of the CTA, Metra and Pace for years.

---- jhilkevitch@tribune.com

CTA presenta plan de contingencia

Por Jaime J. Reyes Diario Hoy 312 527 8449 jreyes@tribune.com

9 de agosto, 2007

Chicago -- El transporte público de la ciudad estaría por aumentar de precio. Tras meses de posponer un voto por un plan presupuestal para hacerle frente a un déficit de $110 millones, los miembros de la Junta Directiva de la Autoridad de Transporte de Chicago (CTA) votaron ayer por un plan de contingencia modificado.

El plan, sin embargo, contempla aumento de tarifas y recorte de servicios menores a los anticipados inicialmente por CTA.

Dicho plan de contingencia modificado incluye: aumentar las tarifas del tren a $3 en la hora pico, (en lugar de los $3.25 anunciados antes) y a $2.50 en el horario regular, mientras que las tarifas de autobús aumentarían a $2.50, 25 centavos menos que lo anticipado.

Asimismo, se suspendería el servicio de 39 rutas de camiones, en lugar de los 63 planeados inicialmente, y se mantendrían las líneas del tren Morada Expreso y Amarilla, que anteriormente estaban programadas para ser eliminadas.

Adicionalmente, unos 700 empleados de la agencia serían dados de baja.

Ron Huberman, presidente de CTA, lamentó tener que llevar a cabo el plan.

“CTA hizo todo lo que se le pidió para poner sus finanzas en orden. Tomamos muchos pasos para reducir los costos y evitar el impacto a nuestros pasajeros. Pero el sistema tiene problemas estructurales de financiamiento y las medidas de eficiencia administrativas no se van a resolver solas. Sin un financiamiento adecuado de Springfield, nos veremos forzados a reducir el servicio y aumentar las tarifas”, dijo Huberman.

Según CTA, el recorte de servicios dejará ahorros por $7.5 millones y el aumento de tarifas producirá otros $7.5 millones. Asimismo, transfirió $57 millones de su fondo capital al operativo y espera producir otros $20 millones al reducir costos laborales, que incluyen reducción de tiempo extra y la contratación de firmas consultoras, ingresos por renta de propiedades y la venta de equipo, entre otros.

Michael Pitula, coordinador de la Campaña por el Transporte Público Igualitario de la Organización de Justicia Ambiental de La Villita (LVEJO), dijo que ese grupo se oponía a los incrementos y reducción de servicios.

“Aumentan las tarifas, pero no suben los salarios. Esto es como recortar el sueldo de las personas”, dijo Pitula, quien agregó que la agencia necesita buscar financiamiento en el gobierno local y federal.

En la calle, usuarios como María González reaccionaban a los anuncios y calificó el aumento de tarifas como “un golpe para todos”.

“En mi caso, tengo como único ingreso el Seguro Social. Me va a sacar de todo mi presupuesto. Será más difícil pagar los gastos, sobretodo con la electricidad que está tan cara”, comentó González.

La reducción de servicios, aumento de tarifas y despidos se llevarían a cabo el 16 de septiembre si no llegan más fondos del gobierno estatal, según dijo CTA en un comunicado.

RECUADRO

En números

* CTA enfrenta un déficit de $110 millones

* Suspendería el servicio de 39 rutas de autobuses

* Subiría la tarifa del tren en hora pico a $3 y $2.50 en horario regular

* Subiría la tarifa de autobús a $2.50

* Se mantiene el precio del pasaje reducido en $35 mensuales

Fuente: Autoridad de Transporte de Chicago

Valuable Information in Greenopolis

I want to salute you in including Sarah Finkel’s stories in your paper. It was so good to see the article she wrote last month about Soy Organic.

Having bilingual information about resources in the community that can help us to be healthy is so valuable.

Regarding Ms. Finkel’s article on climate change: It was good that you showed the map of migrating climates, because I think it is one of the simplest ways to show people the outcome of very complicated processes in a way they can understand.

I wanted to propose some solutions that are more aggressive than her suggestion to improve automobile fuel economy. As a society, we need to move beyond car culture. Instead we need to repair, enhance, and dramatically expand our public mass transit systems. In Chicago, we also need to shut down the Fisk and Crawford coal power plants and make the switch to renewable wind and solar energy.

Another important point in the climate change discussion is whether our solutions will promote equality and help everyone’s environment, or if environmental quality is only for the wealthy and privileged in our society. Global warming is an economic and human rights issue that is already generating many victims and huge costs for indigenous peoples in the South Pacific, in the Northern regions and in places like New Orleans.

According to the reports this year by the planet’s leading climatologists, humanity now has less than 10 years to curb global warming before its effects are irreversible. We need to think big and act quickly to do what it will take to create a sustainable society for all.

Michael Pitula
Community Organizer – Public Transit, LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization)

Public comment sought on extending Red Line

Tribune staff report
Published March 19, 2007, 8:14 PM CDT

Chicago Transit Authority officials are asking for the public's comments on the extension of the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line during a meeting scheduled for next month.

The proposed extension would take the Red Line from the existing south terminal at 95th Street to a new terminal at 130th Street, a move that would streamline several bus-to-rail connections, CTA officials said.

The first meeting will be held April 10 in the 4th floor auditorium of Chicago State University's New Academic Library, 9501 S. King Drive. The second meeting will be April 11 at the West Pullman branch of the Chicago Public Library, 830 W. 119th St.

Both meetings will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.

CTA: Get used to it Blue Line repairs would take 3 years, $100 mil.

March 19, 2007
BY MONIFA THOMAS Transportation Reporter

Even if the CTA gets the money it needs immediately, it would take at least three years for the agency to fix the rotting rail ties and worn-out track that cause many of the slow zones on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line, officials said.

Gov. Blagojevich and the state Legislature have so far given short shrift to requests from the CTA and its sister agencies for a multibillion-dollar capital funding program that would allow them to make long-delayed repairs on the aging transit system.

"It makes me feel like the state Legislature has abandoned us," said 55-year-old Michael Pagano, noting the lack of a long-term funding source for mass transit. "I guess I'll have to bear with it until the state gets its act together."

For months, L riders have been dealing with almost-daily service disruptions and delays caused by derailments, equipment failures and major construction projects like the Brown Line expansion.

The number of systemwide slow zones has more than doubled since last February, stretching out travel times.

Band-Aid repairs
The Blue Line slow zones, which affect 30 percent of the tracks between O'Hare and the Clark/Lake station, are largely the result of rail ties that are falling apart at a faster rate than they were expected to.

The CTA has said contractors hired by the City of Chicago to extend the Blue Line to O'Hare Airport in the early 1980s may have used a different type or amount of preservative on these ties than was used elsewhere on the system.

The CTA has been making Band-Aid repairs where it can. As of last week, for instance, the speed limit on all but 600 feet of 6 mph slow zones on the Blue Line had been increased to at least 15 mph, CTA President Frank Kruesi said.

2 years of construction
But getting rid of all the Blue Line slow zones would cost about $100 million in capital funds that the CTA says it doesn't have. Only $63 million has been budgeted through 2011 to repair track defects throughout the entire system.

If additional funding were to come through today, it would take "a good year of design and at least two years of construction" to fix the segments of the Blue Line where trains currently travel at reduced speeds for safety, CTA's vice president of engineering, Glen Zika, estimated.

"Almost anything done on the capital side is a very time-intensive situation," Kruesi said. "It takes an enormous amount of planning. When that stops, there's an awful lot of catch-up, and that's what we're dealing with now."

mjthomas@suntimes.com

State's Top Auditor: Public Transit In Financial Disaster

WBBM's John Cody reports.

CHICAGO (WBBM/CBS 2) -- The state's chief auditor says even doubling fares of Chicago area transit systems wouldn't provide enough money to bail them out. Illinois Auditor General William Holland said in his first ever report that mass transit in northern Illinois is in a serious financial crisis. Holland estimates the CTA, Pace, and Metra together are almost $6 billion away from meeting their needs for new equipment and maintenance.

He says expenses have risen at three times the rate of income. He said he's not predicting shutdowns, but he says delayed maintenance and replacement will lead to increasing delays and service problems on the CTA. Problems were seen at all three organizations, and all of them are under funded, Holland said. They lack the revenue to cover current operations and replace an aging fleet of buses and rail cars, he said. At the CTA, the audit uncovered $45 million a year in costs related to absenteeism, which Holland characterized as very high.

Further, Holland said, Pace and the CTA do not coordinate bus routes and there are redundant routes that cost money. The most serious problem with Metra is that even though ridership is up, the cost of running trains is rising at three times the rate of revenue and stands to get worse, Holland said. "Even if Metra were to double fares, it wouldn't even come close to covering the shortfall," he said.

Holland said he does not advocate doubling fares, but the comment was intended to illustrate the financial straits the agencies are in. Holland said CTA management improvements might save several millions, but wouldn't be nearly enough to cure the larger financial problems in the billions. In fact he said regional agencies together are almost $1 billion short of meeting operating and purchasing needs this year alone. In addition to advocating centralization under the RTA, Holland suggested lawmakers review the funding formula that relies on sales tax.

CTA Orders Exam Of Dirty Trains, Buses

Bob Roberts Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) - The CTA's inspector general has some real dirt to check on --filthy trains and buses. WBBM’s Bob Roberts reports CTA Chair Carole Brown ordered the audit Wednesday amid a rising crescendo of complaints about filthy buses and trains. Last year, the CTA received only 133 complaints about dirty trains and buses through "official" channels. But any check of local newspaper columns and Brown's own blog show growing dissatisfaction with the food, drink cups, newspapers and other trash left behind by riders.

Brown said one rider recently stopped her on the street to complain, and Vice Chair Susan Leonis said she has heard from "many riders." "Easy things, in my mind, like cleaning a train or cleaning a bus, are things that we should be doing as a matter of course," Brown said following a board meeting at which Leonis suggested that clean-up work be outsourced to private contractors.

CTA Executive Vice President Dick Winston said that currently, CTA trains and buses are supposed to be swept each morning before they go into service, and that personnel at terminals between runs are supposed to pick up any on-board trash they spot. CTA Vice President/Bus Operations Bill Mooney said that each maintainer is required to clean 28 buses as they are refueled each morning. Winston said that CTA buses are supposed to get a top-to-bottom washing once every 18 days, and "L" trains once every 35 days.

Brown said she has heard some complaints recently from riders who are upset because of the layers of salt that covered buses, especially windows, for much of the winter, but said most complains are about the conditions inside trains and buses. "'Clean, safe, on-time, friendly,' is part of our mission statement and it's important to me," Brown said. "So, whether or not I really believe that our customer service has slacked off or that we're not being as responsive to customer concerns is less important than what the people who come down here and take the time to voice their concerns believe." One Edgewater rider, Mark Lovelace, told Transit Board members that he believes the CTA is in a "customer service crisis," and cited the condition of trains and buses as one example. Transit officials told the CTA's board that the number of complaints about filthy buses has increased substantially, even though buses are being washed inside and out almost twice as much as they once were.

By contrast, they said, complaints about dirty "L" trains increased only 9 percent, despite a reduction in full cleaning and washings. Kruesi said CTA is experimenting with technology first used by airlines to try to clean planes faster between runs, and said it is working well. Leonis said privatizing the cleaning of CTA buses and trains may require re-negotiation of contracts with its unions, but urged is consideration to determine if it would be cost effective.

She was quick to deny that filth is being allowed to accumulate, and service to slide in general as a bargaining tactic with the General Assembly to provide additional operating and capital funding. "We just have a lot of issues in the past year," Leonis said. "There are those who think or say that perhaps we're letting it go and that we're doing it on purpose. I know that that's not true."

In other action:

-- The CTA's board approved an agreement with the city of Chicago to display airline flight information at its Clark/Lake station downtown, in an attempt to help riders who are taking the "L" to O'Hare and Midway. Information for O'Hare would be posted on a monitor on the Blue Line subway platform, while information for Midway would be posted on a monitor on the Outer Loop "L" platform. When board member Michael Chandler asked if it would make more sense to put the monitors outside of the "paid" area, to inform riders whose planes may be cancelled or delayed before they pay fares, CTA Vice President Patrick Harney told him areas outside of the turnstiles are not under CTA control.

-- CTA is purchasing 15 additional farecard vending machines, that will be placed at select CTA "L" stations and sales outlets. The machines are geared primarily toward tourists and occasional users.

-- Although ridership was up 1.1 percent in January, the CTA went $3.6 million over budget. Treasurer Dennis Anosike (ANN'-oh-syk) blamed the costs of diesel fuel, repair parts and overtime run up primarily keeping its aging bus fleet repaired. The CTA paid $2.63 a gallon for diesel fuel in January; it has budgeted $2.50 a gallon for the year.

Mar 14, 2007
What Will It Take For CTA To Operate Better?
Troubled Public Transit Agency Has No Easy Way Out Of Woes

Rob Johnson - Reporting

(CBS) CHICAGO The terrifying subway fire on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line last July exposed serious flaws throughout the CTA rail system. CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports on the trouble on the tracks, and whether those problems will ever be fixed.

It was a dubious year for the CTA’s ‘L’ trains. Nowhere was that more true than on July 11, 2006. The eighth car of a southbound Blue Line train derailed, shutting off power and starting a fire. Passengers thought they were going to die, some saying they feared burning alive.

A group of 65 survivors is suing the CTA for negligence. A judge determined the CTA was at fault, boosting chances for settlement, but preventing lawyers from further investigation of the accident. Attorney Dan Kotin believes there are serious track defects. “I suspect there are some significant, long term on-going problems down there,” Kotin said. The day after that legal decision, the CTA axed five workers including track maintenance foreman Darryl Nelson who says he does not believe there was anything wrong with the track. But CTA president Frank Kruesi, who recently took CBS 2 on a tour of the ‘L’ system, defends the firings.

"I can understand if somebody loses their job has got excuses for why they shouldn't be held accountable for it. But you know what? That’s their job,” he said. Rick Harris is the president of the union that represents two of the fired workers. He says CTA maintenance procedures are outdated and the men were scapegoats.

"I think what we have is a situation where we needed to hurry up and show the public that we had taken some action. So what's the best we can do, we fired some people,” Harris said. Kruesi, too, admits there are serious shortcomings in the rail system. “There are areas that need the work and the work hasn't been scheduled yet or there is no money for the work,” he said.

And that is why the CTA is hoping to win approval for an ambitious plan to update tracks, trains and towers. That proposal will cost $5 billion over the next four years. Kruesi is counting on the legislature to come to his rescue. "There's got to be funding for transit, it's got to happen this year or we're going to be shrinking the system,” he said. But already leaders show little support for Kruesi's costly request. "I don't know that $5 billion is a realistic number for Mr. Kruesi,” said Rep. Tom Cross (R-84th). "I'm quite sure the mayor's not living in a dream world and maybe Kruesi thinks we have a money printing machine downstairs,” said State Sen. Emil Jones (D-14th).

So the $5 billion seems unlikely, which leaves Kreusi with this dire warning. "People are going to switch and go into cars and if they do that it is going to be even more congested on the roads,” Kruesi said. If it seems like Kruesi is alone on this last ditch plan to help the beleaguered riders of Chicago, it's because he is. His position has been weakened recently by speculation that Mayor Richard M. Daley is planning to dump Kruesi for someone more popular in Springfield. Of course it is important for the CTA to get this right, because the biggest concern is the safety of the half million people who ride it each day.

Cross out Crosstown Expressway one more time

The once-heralded Crosstown Expressway, which was stillborn in 1976 for a number of reasons, has shown a recent flicker of life. The noises you're hearing along the proposed route are the sounds of the paving crowd, fabrication fairies, hired truckers (oh-oh) and friends of the power structure with salivary glands as big as asphalt tanks.

The ringing bells in the Crosstown Corridor aren't from churches. Chicago's well-connected elite are hearing cash registers. Ring-a-ding. But it's no sale. Sadly, now whenever big-buck "civic improvements" are discussed, the initial assumption by many taxpayers is another influential nest is about to be feathered. Cynical? Yes, but this is Chicago. Here it's just doing business. Building something as huge as the Crosstown project would create numerous inconveniences for drivers, commuters, merchants and untold other affected interests. That's why the idea was a quickly deflated trial balloon when it was first proposed.

How did the traffic situation in the Chicago area become so troubling? The answer is poor planning, lack of foresight, lack of research. The result of all these shortcomings is that travel times locally are unpredictable and longer than ever.

Our streets were not designed to carry the volume of new millennium traffic. Many of our busiest streets are too narrow for more than a single lane in either direction with curbside parking. Visit similar business corridors in Los Angeles and note that most of their busiest streets have two or three lanes for each direction and offstreet parking for business almost is mandatory. Lacking a public transportation infrastructure such as ours, the planners in places like California realized that auto usage only would grow and the need to accommodate it was unavoidable.

Whether you drive or use buses and cabs, I suggest you keep close track of the time it now takes to go just about anywhere, and you'll soon realize how many hours you're wasting going nowhere fast. The anger generated by this even has a name: road rage.

The Crosstown Expressway was proposed in 1979 as one solution to free up our local expressways from the huge volume of interstate trucking that is forced through the downtown area via the Ryan, Kennedy and Stevenson expressways. The Crosstown might sound like a good idea on paper, but it would be years in the making, and the ramifications of relocating thousands of residents, business locations, and related needs in today's dollars would total a number most of us couldn't even read.

The only way to get commuters out of their cars and off the jammed streets and expressways is to provide the kind of public transportation that is more attractive than driving. Just off the top of my flat head, I would say that it would take some or all of the following to make that happen:

Train stations, subway platforms and elevated stations that are patrolled by Chicago police.

Trains and buses that receive regular "ride-alongs" from police transit officers. Slapping cameras everywhere is not the answer to stopping crime.

All CTA commuter trains more than two cars in length manned by a minimum crew of two, a motorman and conductor. This answers commuters' concerns about safety and security.

A full-court press on scheduling so the infamous Chicago rush hour parade of bunched up buses is stopped.

A major review of service cuts in recent years to determine which communities are underserved.

A fraction of the cost of a Crosstown Expressway probably would pay for the above suggestions and all the others that daily riders can list, too.

If the Crosstown talk was meant as a trial balloon, it appears to universally have been popped. Before digging a ditch from one end of the city to the other, we need to fix what we already have.

One way to make public transportation more attractive is to generate some pride among the people operating the system. That means consistent supervision, a system of raises, promotions and rewards for providing good service and a career path in public transportation.

I've never been to Europe or Asia, but I've heard some of their subways and commuter lines are better than anything in the United States. Look at the innovations the Japanese have instituted with Bullet trains.

We put a man on the moon almost 40 years ago. You can't convince me the CTA is unmanageable. Maybe they should hire a retired astronaut to run the place.

Ed Schwartz, a native of the Southeast Side, is a former late-night radio personality in Chicago. He can be reached at Chiguy46@aol.com.

(CBS) CHICAGO Critics say a Chicago Transit Authority crisis is on and that the impact is heavy on the most heavily used line in the city: the Red Line. CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports that transit officials are trying to convince the 200,000 riders that there is no crisis. It's a crucial time for the Red Line as it weathers what have been frequent service problems in recent weeks. "In the last month, noticeable things have been happening smack dab in the middle of rush hour, and so that's affecting an awful lot of people," said CTA President Frank Kruesi.

It is a candid assessment from the CTA boss about recent incidents, where Red Line commuters have been delayed, re-routed, and generally inconvenienced, because of continued track and equipment problems. "That's the longest trip I've ever taken from downtown to 79th Street in my life," said one commuter. "This is ridiculous. North, south it takes me two hours to get home and it should only be a 30-minute trip," said another commuter. Such increasingly common service shortfalls have also come to the attention of South Side state Rep. Marlow Colvin. "To hear about these type of service delays for reasons that have yet to be explained causes great concern," Colvin said.

Meantime, CTA critic Jacqueline Leavy is concerned that the CTA is playing a shell game with maintenance money to fund some of the mayor's pet projects like the Block 37 super station. "When you see the Circle Line and the Block 37 taking precedence over repairing cracked ties and rails, you have to ask yourself who's responsible," Leavy said. On Monday, CBS 2 News asked the man responsible to respond to these serious service issues. "When there's a problem, when there's a crack in the rail... this is not a great situation," Kruesi said. And after last summer's debacle, where soot-covered riders had to be rescued from a packed rush hour Blue Line car, Kruesi knows that only trouble-free trips can help him avert a confidence crisis with CTA customers. "I am not minimizing this... I am apologizing," he said. "We are running trains while we are fixing things."

Despite Kruesi's candor, he can't promise these problems are going away anytime soon. He says the CTA needs $6 billion in infrastructure improvements -- money he is hoping to get from the General Assembly and Congress.

December 18, 2006
BY MONIFA THOMAS Transportation Reporter
Six months after its launch, the Pink Line still is causing delays on some CTA L lines, while improving travel times on others.

The CTA says its elevated trains are taking 21 seconds longer on average to make it around the Loop than before Pink Line service began in late June. Though relatively minor, the effect of the Pink Line on other routes is among a growing list of factors conspiring against CTA train riders in a year that also has seen a rapid increase in the number of slow zones throughout the rail system and a string of track malfunctions that have caused major service disruptions.

Orange Line riders have seen the highest increase in travel times because of the Pink Line. The average trip around the Loop is now almost 90 seconds longer than it was before the CTA added its new hue. Still, it's an improvement over the week the Pink Line launched, when Orange Line trains took an extra four minutes to clear the Loop.

The southbound Green Line and the Purple Line -- which, like the Orange and Pink lines, run clockwise through the Loop -- are also running slower on average. Evening rush hour worst. But the northbound Green Line and the Brown Line have sped up since the Pink Line came along. The northbound Green Line takes 17 seconds less to get around the Loop, while the Brown Line is 22 seconds faster.

The CTA said it made these improvements by directing motormen to stop their trains closer to the ends of the platforms at the Clark/Lake and Library stations, making it easier for tower operators to direct train traffic through the Loop. CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said the delays associated with the Pink Line have been mostly limited to the evening rush hour period between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m. Not everyone takes the full ride around the Loop, so the degree of impact depends on where people get on and off, Gaffney said.

CTA President Frank Kruesi said the "minimal" increase in travel times on some lines is offset by the increased frequency of trains circling the Loop. "More frequent service translates to better service," he said. "Even with a slightly longer trip through the Loop, the net effect for customers is a substantially shorter trip."

Audit: Overhaul the RTA

By Jon Hilkevitch and Richard Wronski
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 23, 2007

Also, the CTA, Metra and Pace are counting on the state to provide $226 million in new operating subsidies for 2007 to avert service cuts and fare increases as early as summer.

Among the recommendations, the audit proposed that the General Assembly consider revamping how political appointments to the 13-member RTA board are divvied up between Chicago and the collar counties. A change to reflect demographic shifts in the region since the creation of the RTA in 1974 could increase the influence of the five collar counties.

Currently, appointees to five RTA board seats are named by the mayor of Chicago, four seats are filled by officials in suburban Cook County and three by the collar counties. The collar counties may be entitled to an additional member, the audit said, based on the 2000 census.

The audit also noted that one seat on the RTA board is reserved for the CTA chairman, but the chairmen of the Metra and Pace boards are not represented.

"The General Assembly may wish to review the composition of the RTA board," the audit said.

Holland's report advised the legislature to look at strengthening the RTA's role in financial management; decisions about daily operations and long-term capital-improvement planning; coordination of fares and technology; and how the transit agencies' performance is measured.

But the report also indicated that the RTA, whose responsibilities include financial oversight of the three transit agencies, does not effectively use the muscle it already has.

"The RTA lacks clear performance measures for itself and for the service boards," the audit found.

It cited Metra for not reporting its on-time performance record and ridership levels on the commuter railroad's Internet site.

Chicago Metropolis 2020, a non-profit civic group that advocates better planning and regional cooperation, welcomed the auditor general's recommendations.

"People who live in all parts of the region want the RTA to work for them," said Jim LaBelle, deputy director of Metropolis 2020. "The point is having someone accountable for producing results. Right now, no one is."

Pointing to conflicts and redundancies, the audit report said that coordinated fare policies are practically non-existent and that the CTA and Pace on some routes, such as along Harlem Avenue and in Evanston, compete against each other for bus riders.

Combining some operations would result in efficiencies that would enable CTA and Pace to provide new services to customers and to devote more resources to maintaining aging fleets, the report said.

The CTA, Metra and Pace operate many buses and rail cars that are older than the average age of fleets of similar-size transit systems, the audit said.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers have been warning transit officials that transportation funding is only one of at least five "mega-fiscal problems that are being brought to Springfield in 2007," said Steve Brown, spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).

The RTA and the transit agencies should be prepared to provide improved accountability and accept reform in exchange for financial help, Brown said.

A spokesman for House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego put it more bluntly.

"We want to make sure the transit agencies are running as efficiently as possible regardless of whether we are adding money or not," said Cross' spokesman David Dring. "We need to address the wasting of taxpayer dollars."

No love for CTA

Mikal McLendon - Issue date: 2/19/07

February 13, 2007
Snow Day Fun for Kids, Crippling for Commuters

If you are near a window of some type, then this isn't news to you; it's disgusting outside. Cold, snowy, windy — all the trademarks of our beloved Chicago winters. And not surprisingly, commutes of all types are screwed up.

While there are many reasons to dump on the CTA, we hold the Pink Line above almost all others as evidence of why things need to change. Maybe the fact that it derailed this morning will help convince Frank Kruesi to get his act together? Service had resumed by about 12:30 p.m., but knowing the CTA, residual effects will be felt throughout the system.

If you aren't feeling the CTA love today, take care on the road this afternoon. It won't be pretty out there. Mike Claffey, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman, urged "people to avoid driving if possible and to stay off the roadways tonight and early Wednesday as conditions are predicted to grow worse."

Maybe it's just time to call it quits and get out of the city? We just heard a report on ABC 7 that almost 1000 flights have been canceled or delayed at Midway and O'Hare, so that is probably not going to happen either. We'd like to say things will look up tomorrow, but they actually look pretty crappy, sort of like today.

Also, Chicagoist's South Loop correspondent is reporting that power is out in that region. Has anyone else heard about this?

One truth of new media is that, like a river, users will take the conversation where they want it to go. A perfect example is the comments area following yesterday's High Five feature on this blog. The first of the five items featured a pointed one-liner about Chicago Transit Authority woes, and the headline linking to the feature on the front of chicagotribune.com referred to the CTA item.

And, lo and behold, a spirited and, to my eye, well-informed discussion of the CTA has broken out, boiling down, essentially, to the question of whether poor management or chronic underfunding are primarily to blame for the system's problems. You can visit it and contribute here.

Comments

Yeah, it's funny how new media works sometimes. Almost two years ago I wrote a blog entry commenting on a Tribune article about the annoying guys in Las Vegas who pass out cards for escort services. If you search for "I hate Las Vegas" (with or without quotes), it comes up in the first page of Google results. To my surprise, it has become a gathering place/support group for all kinds of Vegas loathers, especially current and former residents. Although it has attracted far more comments than any other blog post, few mention the card flickers that I wrote about in the bulk of the original entry.

"[Carole] Brown complained that she saw four CTA buses broken down on the street, with passengers inside, while she was driving home from work on Tuesday.

No injuries were reported, CTA and police officials said. The transit agency is investigating why the front car of the southbound train left the tracks as it was nearing the 54th/Cermak station around 10 a.m., the latest in a series of recent derailments on the CTA system. This time, only a half dozen passengers were aboard the train, and service to the line was restored by 12:15 p.m., Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Wanda Taylor said. Blue Line trains were not affected, because the incident occurred after the morning rush, when only Pink Line trains travel to 54th/Cermak.

Elsewhere on the system, Red Line trains experienced delays this morning because of unrelated mechanical problems at Cermak-Chinatown and at Fullerton, Taylor said.

Michael Pitula - Public Transit Organizer

Michael Pitula - LVEJO Public Transit Organizer being interviewed for Newsbroadcast

As if the problems affecting the downtown Loop trains and the southbound Red Line weren’t bad enough, yesterday was the monthly CTA board meeting, and the management team at the agency got a bit of an ass-handing-to.

At issue was a life insurance policy for 11,000 CTA employees and retirees that is set to expire in 18 days. The policy was presented to the board by CTA management on Monday, and its members were expected to vote on the policy yesterday without giving it a thorough review. If they hadn’t voted to accept it, those 11,000 folks would be sans life insurance.

While board members later said the policy is a “good deal” and any lack of life insurance would probably have been temporary, ABC-7 connects the dots between this latest incident and the “careless” (to use CTA board chair Carole Brown’s word) mismanagement at the agency over the past year.

No Brown Line permits? Poor communication with riders during the Blue Line fire? Illegal demolition of historical architecture? A reasonable person could argue that laying blame at Kruesi’s feet for yesterday’s routing problems, funding issues, slow zones, and questionable capital spending is unfair. But the agency frequently demonstrates a lack of basic, short-term managerial skills.

When asked why the policy was just now being brought up for review, Kruesi said, "I'm going to have to find out specifics about what happened here.” Wait … you don’t know? We’ll give Kruesi the benefit of the doubt and say he does know why it happened, but the answer isn’t anything he wants in the press. But not having an answer makes him look like he either doesn’t know or doesn’t care.

Let’s put it this way: things are so bad now that the CTA is patting itself on the back when nothing goes wrong. As Brown says in the ABC-7 piece, “what we have to do is set standards for our professionals and when they don’t meet those standards, get new professionals.”

Speaking of, our Frank Kruesi Dead Pool is still running. Leave your guess as to when the CTA President gets kicked upstairs in the comments here.

Also at the board meeting: the plan for express train service to the airport (from the CTA superstation that no one asked for) is on hold, the trial period for the West Side rail and bus improvements has been extended and it’s unlikely that an aldermanic plan to put conductors back on trains will happen.

December 13, 2006
Crack In Track Reroutes Southbound Red Line
Trains Run On 'L' Instead Of Subway From Fullerton To Cermak

(CBS) CHICAGO Southbound service on the Red Line was rerouted to the elevated tracks for a period of time this morning after a crack was spotted in one of the rails.

A train operator noticed the crack in the Red Line subway tracks around 9:45 a.m., CTA officials said.

As a result, the CTA diverted all southbound Red Line subway trains to the elevated tracks from Fullerton Avenue to Cermak Road.

December 13, 2006
Nonstop airport trains on pause
But premium service plan isn't dead yet

BY MONIFA THOMAS Transportation Reporter
The Chicago Transit Authority board nixed a contract Tuesday that would have allowed the agency to move forward with plans to offer nonstop train service to O'Hare and Midway airports from the Loop, but officials said the plan isn't dead.

The $1 million contract with PB Consult Inc. would have authorized the consulting firm to begin seeking private investors interested in managing the proposed service from the CTA's new Block 37 subway station.

Fare would be $10
According to a business plan released by PB Consult in October, the CTA would have partnered with a private firm that would have operated the nonstop trains to both airports, complete with wider seats and other creature comforts, at a fare of $10.

But without major system enhancements that would allow airport-only trains to bypass regular Blue and Orange Line trains, the nonstop service wouldn't reduce travel times. Those enhancements could have cost $771 million to $1.5 billion, PB Consult said.

CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown had expressed strong reservations about approving an airport service that wouldn't save riders time and could potentially cost the CTA millions if investors weren't willing to foot the entire bill.

Brown cited those concerns again Tuesday after a 5-1 vote killed the proposed contract.

"There needs to be an evaluation of the assumptions and conclusions drawn in that study and an appropriate plan on how to proceed. That has yet to be done," Brown said. She also said that the public should be given a chance to comment on the proposed service before the agency makes any decisions.

CTA President Frank Kruesi said he agreed with the board's action and supports developing a more concrete business plan. But Kruesi also said that direct service to the city's airports is still in the CTA's plans. "The airport direct service will be running within 30 days of the opening of retail at Block 37," Kruesi said.

Pink Line trial extended
In other action Tuesday, the board voted to extend the trial period for the Pink Line for an additional six months before making a final decision on whether the line should be made permanent, changed or scrapped. The extension also applies to bus route changes on the West Side and in western suburbs.

December 13, 2006
Double trouble for Chicago Transit Authority
Train, staff concerns at meeting
WLS By Ben Bradley

December 12, 2006 - On a day when it was slow-going for the morning commute on two of the CTA's train lines, the board chairman accused the staff of being careless with contracts.
The big backups were caused by a snag in switching equipment on the Orange Line and a crack in the tracks underground on the Red Line. While the trains had trouble staying on schedule Tuesday morning, the CTA board was also put in a tight spot by the staff: Approve a contract they had only been briefed about Monday -- or risk losing life insurance coverage for all 11,000 CTA employees plus retirees. It is an example of what some see as a CTA management team that from time-to-time runs off course.

During the Tuesday morning commute, all Orange Line trains were forced to change tracks and travel around the Loop in the opposite direction they normally would. A few hours later and 30 feet below ground, a track maintenance worker discovered a crack in the Red Line tracks. Those trains were immediately rerouted above ground until the problem was fixed, but it added to the Loop train congestion.

"We're very cognizant of some of the issues we've been having and are trying to improve -- but, yes, I'm as frustrated as some of our riders," said Carole Brown, CTA chairman president.

The CTA has stepped up its inspections and maintenance following this summer's smoky Blue Line derailment below ground. But Carole Brown is also frustrated by other -- totally avoidable -- problems.

In July, the renovation of three CTA stations on the Brown Line was delayed because CTA construction teams never bothered to get the necessary permits from the city.

"I am disappointed," Brown told ABC7 in July. "What we have to do is set standards for our professionals and when they don't meet those standards get new professionals."

On Tuesday, Brown and other board members once again scolded CTA staff during a meeting.

"It's ridiculous," said Brown, referring to the managers' request to vote on a multi-million dollar life insurance package for the transit agency's 11,000 employees and retirees that they only informed the board about on Monday. CTA management insists it submitted details of the life insurance program to the Board office on December 1; but for an unknown reason, the plan was not passed on to CTA Board members until Monday. The current policy expires in 19 days.

"Are we backed into a corner -- into a box -- to say 'This is it or we're putting people at risk?'" said Nicholas Zagotta, CTA board member.

ABC7 asked CTA president why his staff is just now serving up a life insurance policy for approval that expires in two weeks.

"I'm going to have to find out specifics about what happened here," said Frank Kruesi.

The board voted to approve the life insurance policy, which they said they believe is a good deal.

Also on Tuesday's agenda, discussion of the CTA's Pink Line experiment, which will last for another 6 months. According to the board, ridership on the Pink Line is up 7-percent since the pilot program began.

Also, a transit watchdog group called for the CTA to bring conductors back on the trains in the downtown area. It's not expected to happen.

And, finally, a consultant hired by the CTA to help save money and generate revenue suggested selling naming rights to some CTA assets. For instance, one day there could be "The Sox Stop at 35th Street."

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- When the CTA's board meets Tuesday it must make some decisions about the future of the Pink Line.

WBBM's Bob Roberts reports the service, which routes Douglas branch trains around the Loop "L" 21 hours each day, began its life as a six-month experiment on June 25.

The board could extend the experiment, make the service permanent, authorize changes or scrap the service altogether.

Until now, CTA officials have voiced nothing but optimism about the Pink Line, and have said that its own ridership surveys show that most riders prefer the new routing to the old Douglas Blue Line service, which survives on 17 rush-hour round trips each weekday.

The Pink Line's critics remain, although its staunchest opponents now are asking for a 50-50 split between Pink and Blue Line service on the Douglas branch.

The Little Justice Environmental Justice Organization hopes to present petitions and speak at Tuesday's board meeting, at CTA headquarters, 567 W. Lake St.

The group's transit director, Michael Pitula, said he believes a 50-50 split would give riders "better balance and more options for getting around Chicago."

Its proposal for a 50-50 split represents a change in attitude toward Pink Line service by the group, which has opposed it from the start.

"We do realize that there are people who use the Pink Line and benefit from it," he said.

Pitula said he still believes that the Pink Line bogs down all service that uses the Loop "L" and that the money spent on the Pink Line could be better used elsewhere, such as hiring track maintenance crews to make repairs in the wake of last summer's Blue Line derailment and fire.

He contends that many more riders prefer the old routing, still used each rush hour by a handful of trains; CTA has said consistently since summer that its own rider surveys show the exact opposite.

CTA planners have been assessing the impact of Pink Line service in general, and have looked in the past week at the impact a 50-50 split would have. A CTA spokesperson said that at first glance, they have a number of questions.

The first is whether the CTA would have enough "L" cars to provide such service, because cars would not recirculate as quickly going to and from O'Hare as they do by going around the Loop.

That becomes critical, in their view, in view of construction underway on the Brown and Red Lines, in particular because of delays expected to be caused when the North Side main line, which carries Red Line, Brown Line and Purple Line Express trains, is reduced next spring from four tracks to three between Armitage and Belmont through 2009.

The spokesperson said that additional Douglas Blue Line service could impact the number of Blue Line trains to Forest Park.

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The CTA next week must make some decisions about the future of the Pink Line -- and one group of transit advocates wants a big change.

"What we are proposing that every other train be Blue Line and then Pink Line" on the Douglas branch, said Little Justice Environmental Justice Organization Transit Director Michael Pitula.

WBBM's Bob Roberts reports the group intends to present petitions Tuesday to the CTA's board asking for such a change.

Pitula says it would give riders "better balance and more options for getting around Chicago."

The 50-50 split represents a change in attitude toward Pink Line service by the group, which has opposed it from the start.

"We do realize that there are people who use the Pink Line and benefit from it," he said.

He contends that many more riders prefer the old routing, still used each rush hour by a handful of trains; CTA has said consistently since summer that its own rider surveys show the exact opposite.

CTA planners are assessing the impact that a 50-50 split would have, but a spokesperson said that at first glance, they have a number of questions.

The first is whether the CTA would have enough "L" cars to provide such service, because cars would not recirculate as quickly going to O'Hare as they do by going around the Loop.

The spokesperson said that additional Douglas Blue Line service could impact the number of Blue Line trains to Forest Park.

Forest Park service was increased at the same time Pink Line service began, on June 25.

The CTA's board approved Pink Line service as a six-month experiment. The board could elect to make changes, leave the service as it is, or eliminate it, but CTA officials have voiced nothing but optimism about it since its launch.

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization reports rider feedback regarding commuting delays to work, school, and healthcare.

Chicago, July 10, 2006 – In its first two weeks alone, the Pink Line has been creating major delays for CTA customers across the city. Little Village Environmental Justice Organization has been surveying riders and has identified the following problems with the new Pink Line service:

If the CTA cannot fund its $200 million annual pension costs, it also may not be able to afford the $5 million Pink Line. On June 12, 2006 Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan put the CTA on notice that the State of Illinois may take money from the CTA’s operating allocation if the CTA cannot meet its $200 million/year pension commitments? This would make it difficult to iron out the difficulties the Pink Line is facing.

Good afternoon. My name is Michael Pitula. I’m the Public Transit Organizer for Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. I live in Pilsen, and I am here today on behalf of the many residents of Little Village, North Lawndale, the Near West Side, Pilsen, Berwyn, and Cicero who ride the CTA.

Chairman Brown, our organization worked with these communities and with Congressmen Davis, Gutierrez, and Lipinski to get the federal funds to Rebuild the 54/Cermak Blue Line and restore weekend service.

The result: Cermak Ridership is up 23% this year compared to 7% for rail service on the entire system.

The NEW $5 million PINK LINE train service is unproven and fiscally irresponsible. Especially at a time when the CTA will have to cut service and raise fares to meet its $200 million annual pension costs.

Chairman Brown, I talk to 54/Cermak riders day and night, and I can tell you that they are confused, upset, and outraged about the Pink Line.

Riders want to know why the CTA has spent nearly three months hyping the color Pink, but didn’t tell us that the line will take money from all other existing CTA bus & rail services.

With no new cars until 2009, the CTA will have to take cars off existing lines -- cars that are critical whenever there is a breakdown on any rail line.

Also, the Pink Line will increase your employee budget since you need to hire more operators to run it.

It isn’t hard to see that the CTA is soon going to find itself between a rock and a hard place. Or perhaps I should say “between a rock and a Pink place.” As services decline and fares increase, existing customer base will drop, catching the CTA in a vicious cycle.

Beyond helping fail to meet the CTA’s stated commitments, the CTA’s Pink Line will threaten national security, and violate the civil and disability rights of riders.

To run the Pink Line, direct Blue Line service between 54/Cermak and O’Hare will be cut from about 100 trains every day, to just 17 trains a day, weekdays only.

This will create a National Security Issue when TSA personnel at O’Hare, U.S. Postal workers, and Amtrak/Metra workers who depend on ONE DIRECT Blue Line cannot get to work on time safely at the nation’s largest Post Office, second busiest airport, and one of the busiest train stations. This will needlessly complicate the lives of critical personnel, and may endanger National Security.

What’s more, by cutting rapid transit to employment, educational, healthcare, and other opportunities across the city, the CTA’s $5 million dollar Pink Line will violate the civil and disability rights of its riders. Blue Line service cuts associated with the Pink Line will effectively split the city in half for Latinos and African-Americans who make up 90% of the riders on the 54/Cermak Line.

The cuts will violate ADA standards, making it harder for disabled riders to get to and from the Polk Street station, the only ADA complaint station within a mile of the Illinois Medical District.

Why compromise train safety and upset thousands of riders, particularly during the rush hour, by slower train service at a cost of $5 million??

VOTE TODAY for fiscal responsibility, train safety, national security and to protect civil and disability rights of CTA riders.

VOTE to continue all 54/Cermak Trains on the present route to/from O’Hare and cancel the Pink Line NOW!

5/12/06: Save 54/Cermak Blue Line from going Pink!...more (Informative map and contacts (Word doc).

Publicado el 05-04-2006: SUBJECT: La Raza story - Controversia sobre “Línea Rosa” La CTA planea modificar el servicio a las comunidades de Pilsen y la Villita con la nueva Línea Rosa. Mientras insisten en que resultara en servicio mas rápido y eficiente, a miembros de estas comunidades les preocupa que el acceso al centro, al aeropuerto O’Hare y a la UIC sea más complicado, demorado y costoso. The full article is available by clicking here.

On June 1 st, 2006 the CTA Plans to cut the Blue Line in half. It will cut off the Douglas L/54 th Cermak Blue Line branch off from the Forest Park Blue Line branch.

Instead of the 2 lines connecting at the Racine station, the Douglas L will run directly north of Polk across the newly rebuilt Paulina Connector to the Green Line. From there it will turn east to downtown, where it will circle around downtown on the elevated loop and then return via the Green Line and Paulina Connector to Polk St. and 54 th/Cermak... read entire article. Download article (Word)

CTA union hits long-shifts plan
By Jon Hilkevitch - Tribune transportation reporter - January 14, 2004

The safety of CTA train riders is being compromised by a move to require Orange Line rail operators to work up to 13 hours a day, the union representing the employees charged Tuesday. The expanded hours, effective Jan. 25 on the line between the Loop and Midway Airport, are intended to increase labor productivity and do not compromise safety, CTA officials said. The contract between the transit agency and Local 308 of the Amalgamated Transit Union permits longer work hours, but until now the option has been used only on the Purple, Blue and Red Lines. Under the plan, the rail operators would work four-day weeks.

The union recently filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, according to Local 308 president Ethel Carter. "This increase will make it mandatory for train operators to be on the clock and in service for up to 13 hours," Carter said, adding the longer hours raise serious concerns about fatigue. "These same train operators are responsible for safely driving the trains and ... operating the doors at each station," she said.

CTA officials said the changes, taking into account longer lunch hours, breaks and times in the rail station, would mean less than eight hours of driving time, well under standards in other areas of the transportation industry. The Federal Highway Administration allows long-distance truck drivers to work 11 hours straight between 10-hour rest periods.

"This is not a safety issue," said CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney. She said union leaders are getting a backlash from members because the union recently asked the CTA to end a pilot program that paid an extra $1 an hour for workers who worked up to 13 hours a day.

Though the maximum hours logged by airline pilots, truckers and other transportation workers are tightly regulated under federal laws, the Federal Transit Administration neither requires nor recommends specific rest periods for mass-transit operators or bus drivers.

CTA train operators work eight-hour shifts, with overtime provisions. Many operators work a split shift, divided by a long rest break, that enables the transit agency to schedule more trains during morning and evening rush periods.

*With new Circle Line, does CTA have riders' best interests in mind?*
I'm glad to see the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is looking at enhancing the "spoke system" for elevated train lines. This will improve connections so, for example, someone on the Far North Side does not need to head all the way into the Loop in order to go to the Northwest Side.
However, I'm sad to see that the corridors being considered are so close to downtown.

Putting the northern leg of the proposed Circle Line at North Avenue, about five minutes before the Loop — the current transfer point to the Blue Line — minimizes the impact of the new service by adding one more transfer to the trip.

This adds a big variable: How long will I have to wait for the Circle Line train to arrive? It could add up to 15 minutes in travel time. Knowing how unpredictable CTA service can be, I would stay on the Red Line into the Loop and transfer there.

CTA planners surely know about the disincentive provided by "mode splits" — the planning term for "transfer." So, why wouldn't they put the Circle Line at a location that would have the maximum possible impact for the most riders? It seems to me that the benefit to the greatest number of CTA riders is not the driving force in the current plan. Who benefits from transportation resources besides the transit riders?

Real estate interests. Commercial interests. These are part of the equation, but the biggest weight should be placed on service to riders. The current Circle Line configuration doesn't do that.

Though I'm speaking to the North Side leg of the Circle Line, as I know this area of the city best, I'm sure South and West Siders could enlighten us on prospects in their areas. The proposed South Side corridor extends to 35th Street, I believe, which is much farther from the Loop than the North Side proposal.

Given the serious need for improved transit services, I hope the CTA will reconsider the Circle Line corridors for the first newly constructed train line since the Orange Line. (Though the Pink Line was hyped as a new line, it's simply a renaming of existing service and slight reorientation along a small segment, using an existing elevated structure.)

With the Circle Line, the CTA would be building anew, so let's get it right. There's a lot at stake. Improved transit service helps folks get around without cars, improving air quality, diverting income from auto expenses to better uses and clearing the streets.

CTA Approves Service Cuts To Bus, 'L' System
Posted: Thursday, 12 November 2009 6:48PM

CTA Circle Line plan makes rounds

No hay fondos para ruta 31 de CTA

West Side residents air grievances, make suggestions at CTA meeting!!

by Igor Studenkov

CTA unveils gift Web site

RTA to consider 31st Street bus

October 22, 2008 | 11:00 AM

RHAMC Seeks to Reduce Diesel Pollution in the Chicago Metropolitan Area and Illinois

CTA softens cuts' impact: Unexpected savings improves outlook

Cross out Crosstown Expressway one more time

Audit: Overhaul the RTA

No love for CTA

Mikal McLendon - Issue date: 2/19/07

February 13, 2007
Snow Day Fun for Kids, Crippling for Commuters

Comments

CTA Approves Service Cuts To Bus, 'L' System Posted: Thursday, 12 November 2009 6:48PM

CTA Circle Line plan makes rounds

No hay fondos para ruta 31 de CTA

West Side residents air grievances, make suggestions at CTA meeting!!

by Igor Studenkov

CTA unveils gift Web site

RTA to consider 31st Street bus

October 22, 2008 | 11:00 AM

RHAMC Seeks to Reduce Diesel Pollution in the Chicago Metropolitan Area and Illinois

CTA softens cuts' impact: Unexpected savings improves outlook

Cross out Crosstown Expressway one more time

Audit: Overhaul the RTA

No love for CTA

Mikal McLendon - Issue date: 2/19/07

February 13, 2007 Snow Day Fun for Kids, Crippling for Commuters

Comments

CTA Approves Service Cuts To Bus, 'L' System
Posted: Thursday, 12 November 2009 6:48PM

February 13, 2007
Snow Day Fun for Kids, Crippling for Commuters