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$10/Gallon Gas Edging Closer
By The Special Guests Publicity Service

Oil Futures Hit Record High $120/Barrel - $10/gallon gas is edging closer to a gas pump near you.

With oil prices now above the $120/barrel and still rising, American consumers should continue to expect prices at the pump to continue rising.

Some cities are even seeing signs sporting $4 per gallon prices. If analysts are correct in predicting $200/barrel within two to three years, basic math tells us that could translate to gasoline well above $5 per gallon. One analyst, Dan Dorfman of the New York Sun, says gas could even reach $10/gallon!

gas2.jpgOne of the many questions that remain to be answered is how much the American consumer can absorb with respect to their gasoline budgets. The threshold is nearer than it's been for sure but when will anxiety and expense translate into lifestyle changes? Will the falling dollar make rising gas prices even more significant? Will the cost of vacations this summer alter family decisions when it comes to modes of transportation? What will the impact of gasoline above $5/gallon have beyond fuel budgets?

Craig Smith, CEO of Swiss America, is available for interviews to discuss rising gas prices and what the American consumer can both do and expect.

ABOUT YOUR AUTHOR/SPEAKER
Craig R. Smith is the CEO of Swiss America Trading Corporation, one of the largest and most respected investment firms in the U.S. Smith is an author, commentator and economic analyst who instantly engages audiences with his common-sense perspective on national and global economic trends. Over the past two decades he has been interviewed on over 1,500 radio and TV programs including: FOX News, CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, TNT, CBN, TBN, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek and World Net Daily. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE MAY BE HELPFUL WITH SHOW PREP:

THE NEW YORK SUN/ April 28, 2008
Gasoline May Soon Cost a Sawbuck
Big New Shock at the Pump Forecast by Two Analysts
BY DAN DORFMAN - Special to the Sun

Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions - a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.

That's the message from a couple of analytical energy industry trackers, both of whom, based on the surging oil prices, see considerably more pain at the pump than most drivers realize.

Gasoline nationally is in an accelerated upswing, having jumped to $3.58 a gallon from $3.50 in just the past week. In some parts of the country, including New York City and the West Coast, gas is already sporting a price tag above $4 a gallon. There was a pray-in at a Chevron station in San Francisco on Friday led by a minister asking God for cheaper gas, and an Arco gas station in San Mateo, Calif., has already raised its price to a sky-high $4.62.

In Manhattan, at a Mobil gas station at York Avenue and East 61st Street, premium gas is now $4.03 a gallon. Two days ago, it was $3.96. Why such a high price? "Blame the people at STOPEC (he meant OPEC) and the oil companies," an attendant there told me.

These increases are taking place before the all-important summer driving season, signaling even higher prices ahead.

That's also the outlook of the Automobile Association of America. "As long as the price of crude oil stays above $100 a barrel, drivers will be forced to pay more and more at the gas pump," a AAA spokesman, Troy Green, said.

Oil recently hit an all-time high of nearly $120 a barrel, more than double its early 2007 price of about $50 a barrel. It closed Friday at $118.52.

The forecasts calling for a jump to between $7 and $10 a gallon are based on the view that the price of crude is on its way to $200 in two to three years.

Translating this price into dollars and cents at the gas pump, one of our forecasters, the chairman of Houston-based Dune Energy, Alan Gaines, sees gas rising to $7-$8 a gallon. The other, a commodities tracker at Weiss Research in Jupiter, Fla., Sean Brodrick, projects a range of $8 to $10 a gallon.

While $7-$10 a gallon would be ground-breaking in America, these prices would not be trendsetting internationally. For example, European drivers are already shelling out $9 a gallon (which includes a $2-a-gallon tax).

Canadians are also being hit with rising gas prices. They are paying the American-dollar equivalent of $4.92 a gallon, and they're being told to brace themselves for prices above $5.65 a gallon this summer.

Early last year, with a barrel of oil trading in the low $50s and gasoline nationally selling in a range of $2.30 to $2.50 a gallon, Mr. Gaines -- in an impressive display of crystal ball gazing -- accurately predicted oil was $100-bound and that gasoline would follow suit by reaching $4 a gallon.

His latest prediction of $200 oil is open to question, since it would undoubtedly create considerable global economic distress. Further, just about every energy expert I talk to cautions me to expect a sizable pullback in oil prices, maybe to between $50 and $70 a barrel, especially if there's a global economic slowdown.

While Mr. Gaines thinks there could be a temporary decline in the oil price, he's convinced an overall uptrend is unstoppable. In fact, he thinks his $200 forecast could be conservative, and that perhaps $250 could be reached. His reasoning: a combination of shrinking supply and increasing demand, especially from China, India, and America.

Mr. Brodrick's $200 oil forecast is largely predicated on a combination of pretty flat supply and rip-roaring demand. Other key catalysts include surging demand in China and India, where auto sales are booming, and major supply disruptions in Nigeria and also in Mexico, our second-largest source of oil imports, where oil production has fallen off a cliff.

More factors include the ever-present danger of additional supply disruptions from volatile countries in the Middle East that are not our allies, and the unwillingness of SUV-loving Americans to trim their unquenchable thirst for foreign oil. Likewise, for the first time, emerging markets this year will use more oil than America.

To Mr. Brodrick, it all adds up to an ongoing energy bull market. His favorite plays are the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ; United States Natural Gas Fund LP; Apache Corp.; Occidental Petroleum; Anadarko Petroleum, and Schlumberger.

URL: http://www2.nysun.com/article/75363 © 2008 The New York Sun

To schedule an interview with CRAIG SMITH, fill out the Do-It-Yourself Booking Form.

The Broader Connection between Public Transportation,
Energy Conservation and Greenhouse Gas Reduction

This study began with the hypothesis that public transportation interacts with land use patterns, changing travel patterns in neighborhoods served by transit. Importantly, this effect would apply not just to transit riders, who make an exchange of automobile use for transit, but also for people who do not use transit. These people, who live in places shaped by transit, would tend to drive less, reducing their overall petroleum use and their carbon footprint.

In order to test this hypothesis, we began with a survey of the literature on the interaction of land use and travel patterns. The literature focuses on three major categories of influences on travel: land use/urban environment, socio-demographic factors, and cost of travel. For the purposes of this study, land use/urban environment variables were further broken down to include a separate category for transportation infrastructure. Many past studies have found a significant correlation between land use variables and travel behavior, though results vary depending on how the problem and the variables are defined. Boarnet and Crane (2001) emphasized that without accounting for social characteristics, like age and education, land use-transportation models are incomplete. They also discussed the importance of economic measures, such as household or personal income, as a measure of the cost of travel time. Other studies evaluated the relative importance of these and other variables, informing this model.

After evaluating possible variables for this model, we formed a statistical model that would allow us to tease apart the relationship between land use, transit availability, and travel behavior.

Railroad Accident Report
Derailment of Chicago Transit Authority Train Number 220
Between Clark/Lake and Grand/Milwaukee Stations
Chicago, Illinois, July 11, 2006
NTSB/RAR-07/

This is a synopsis from the Safety Board’s report and does not include the Board’s rationale for the conclusions, probable cause, and safety recommendations. Safety Board staff is currently making final revisions to the report from which the attached conclusions and safety recommendations have been extracted. The final report and pertinent safety recommendation letters will be distributed to recommendation recipients as soon as possible. The attached information is subject to further review and editing.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, about 5:06 p.m., central daylight time, the last car of northbound Chicago Transit Authority train number 220 derailed in the subway between the Clark/Lake and Grand/Milwaukee stations in downtown Chicago, Illinois. About 1,000 passengers were on board the eight-car rapid transit train. Following the derailment, the train came to a stop, and electrical arcing between the last car and the 600-volt direct current third rail generated smoke. The single operator in the lead car received a number of calls on the train intercom. The operator exited the control compartment, stepped onto the catwalk, and walked beside the train to investigate.

Electrical power was removed from the third rail and most passengers walked to an emergency exit stairway about 350 feet in front of the train that led to the street level. Some passengers had to be assisted in their evacuation by emergency responders. The Chicago Fire Department reported that 152 persons were treated and transported from the scene. There were no fatalities. Total damage exceeded $1 million.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the July 11, 2006, derailment of Chicago Transit Authority train number 220 in the subway in Chicago, Illinois, was the Chicago Transit Authority’s ineffective management and oversight of its track inspection and maintenance program and its system safety program, which resulted in unsafe track conditions.

Contributing to the accident were the Regional Transportation Authority’s failure to require that action be taken by the Chicago Transit Authority to correct unsafe track conditions and the Federal Transit Administration’s ineffective oversight of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Contributing to the seriousness of the accident was smoke in the tunnel and the delay in removing that smoke.

The safety issues discussed in this report include:

* Poor track conditions,
* Ineffective management and safety oversight,
* Difficulty locating the train, and
* Problems with tunnel ventilation and smoke removal.

Safety recommendations concerning these issues are addressed to the Federal Transit Administration, the State of Illinois, the Regional Transportation Authority, the Chicago Transit Board, and the Chicago Transit Authority.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The following were not factors in the accident: the operator’s qualifications, his operation of the train, or drug or alcohol use.
2. There was no preaccident mechanical or component failure on any of the train’s cars.
3. The tie plates and fastener system failed to maintain the track gage because of the effects of corrosion and/or wear on the rails and rail fastener system, and degraded half-ties.
4. The dark area on the inner rail of the curve, the abrasion on the tie plates and ties, the broken lag screws, the tie plates’ elongated fastener holes and poor drainage in the area of the derailment were all readily observable and should have been documented during walking inspections.
5. Track inspectors in the Dearborn Subway did not have sufficient time allotted for inspecting all of their assigned territory twice a week as prescribed.
6. The Chicago Transit Authority track inspection training program did not adequately prepare inspectors to perform their required duties and it did not address the unique demands of inspecting and maintaining elevated track structures or track structures located inside tunnels.
7. The use of a track geometry strength and condition test vehicle would have simulated train loads and better identified areas of poor track gage and the need for corrective action.
8. Because the Chicago Transit Authority failed to establish an effective track inspection and maintenance program, unsafe track conditions and deficiencies were not corrected.
9. Because the Regional Transportation Authority failed to follow up with the Chicago Transit Authority and prompt action to correct safety deficiencies identified in the triennial report, unsafe track conditions continued to exist that should have been corrected.
10. The Federal Transit Administration’s oversight of the Regional Transportation Authority’s Rail Safety Oversight Program was inadequate and failed to prompt actions needed to correct track safety deficiencies on the Chicago Transit Authority’s rail transit system.
11. Because a train indication system had not been installed on the Dearborn Subway and the Chicago Transit Authority’s control center could not identify the location of an emergency call box used to report the accident, the specific location of train 220 could not be determined, which delayed the emergency response and the activation of emergency exit lights and announcements at the closest accessible emergency exit.
12. The initial efforts to remove smoke were inefficient because the fans were pulling against each other from opposite sides of the smoke source.
13. Had fan 133 been capable of dual direction (reversible), the smoke could have been removed in a direction opposite that of the path of evacuation.
14. If fan 108 had been reinstalled and operational, the smoke could have been eliminated faster and in a direction opposite that of the path of evacuation.

PROBABLE CAUSE

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the July 11, 2006, derailment of Chicago Transit Authority train number 220 in the subway in Chicago, Illinois, was the Chicago Transit Authority’s ineffective management and oversight of its track inspection and maintenance program and its system safety program, which resulted in unsafe track conditions.

Contributing to the accident were the Regional Transportation Authority’s failure to require that action be taken by the Chicago Transit Authority to correct unsafe track conditions and the Federal Transit Administration’s ineffective oversight of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Contributing to the seriousness of the accident was smoke in the tunnel and the delay in removing that smoke.

SAFETY RECOMMENDATION

As a result of its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board makes the following safety recommendations:

To the Federal Transit Administration:

1. Modify your program to ensure that State safety oversight agencies take action to prompt rail transit agencies to correct all safety deficiencies that are identified as a result of oversight inspections and safety reviews, regardless of whether those deficiencies are labeled as “findings,” “observations,” or some other term.
2. Develop and implement an action plan, including provisions for technical and financial resources as necessary, to enhance the effectiveness of State safety oversight programs to identify safety deficiencies and to ensure that those deficiencies are corrected.
3. Schedule the Chicago Transit Authority as a priority for receiving the maintenance oversight workshop and the training course to be developed for track inspectors and supervisors that will address the unique demands of track inspection in the rail transit environment.
4. Inform all rail transit agencies about the circumstances of the July 11, 2006, Chicago Transit Authority subway accident and urge them to examine and improve, as necessary, their ability to communicate with passengers and perform emergency evacuations from their tunnel systems, including the ability to (1) identify the exact location of a train, (2) locate a specific call box, and (3) remove smoke from their tunnel systems.

To the State of Illinois:

5. Evaluate the Regional Transportation Authority’s effectiveness, procedures, and authority, and take action to ensure that all safety deficiencies identified during rail transit safety inspections and reviews of the Chicago Transit Authority are corrected, regardless of whether those deficiencies are labeled as “findings,” “observations,” or some other term.

To the Regional Transportation Authority:

6. Determine if track safety deficiencies on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Dearborn Subway in the area of the derailment have been adequately repaired.
7. Strengthen your followup action on Chicago Transit Authority system safety reviews to ensure that the Chicago Transit Authority corrects all identified safety deficiencies, regardless of whether those deficiencies are labeled as “findings,” “observations,” or some other term.

To the Chicago Transit Board:

8. Direct the Chicago Transit Authority to correct all safety deficiencies identified by the Regional Transportation Authority in its most recent and future safety inspections and reviews, regardless of whether those deficiencies are labeled as “findings,” “observations,” or some other term.

To the Chicago Transit Authority:

9. Correct all safety deficiencies identified by the Regional Transportation Authority in its most recent and future safety inspections and reviews, regardless of whether those deficiencies are labeled as “findings,” “observations,” or some other term.
10. Examine all of the elements in the American Public Transportation Association’s “Standard for Rail Transit Track Inspection and Maintenance” and incorporate all appropriate elements of this standard in your system safety program. Specifically, include the regular use of track geometry vehicle inspections and the inspection of rail for internal defects in your system safety program.
11. Evaluate all territories to determine the number of inspectors and the amount of time needed to ensure that adequate track inspections are conducted, and implement appropriate changes.
12. Schedule as a priority the maintenance oversight workshop and the training course that the Federal Transit Administration plans to develop for track inspectors and supervisors that will address the unique demands of track inspection in the rail transit environment.
13. Perform a comprehensive computational study of the existing ventilation system using various fire and smoke scenarios to identify potential deficiencies, and make improvements to the ventilation system and smoke removal procedures based on the findings of the study. These actions should address reinstalling fan 108 and replacing unidirectional fans (including fan 133) with dual direction fans as needed.
14. Examine and improve as necessary your ability to communicate with passengers and perform emergency evacuations.

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.

Aldermen: Conductors belong back on CTA
December 8, 2006
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Chicago aldermen demanded Thursday that the CTA restore conductors -- at least 25 to ride on subway trains -- to prevent a repeat of the confusion that sent soot-covered passengers down a dark and smoky tunnel after a Blue Line derailment in July. Richard Winston, the CTA's exeutive vice president for transit operations, tried to convince the City Council's Transportation Committee that technology -- cameras, intercoms and the ability to make cell phone calls on subways -- was enough to protect passengers."One-man operations have provided CTA with significant efficiencies and savings over the years. At the same time, CTA has seen a decrease in the rail system accident rate," Winston said. Angry aldermen didn't buy it.
"I've never seen a camera carry anybody off a train. If someone needs assistance, can a camera grab somebody by the arm and assist that woman and assist that senior off the train? If the train is on fire ... how does a camera help you tell somebody that it's time to go in this direction?" said Ald. Issac Carothers (29th)."Just tell the truth and say CTA doesn't want to pay for them and leave it at that rather than try to snow us and tell us how technology can take care of it." Job eliminated in 1999 Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) sponsored a resolution urging the CTA to use Homeland Security funds to restore subway conductors. She pointed to the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people as evidence that Chicago should err on the side of caution.
"People are out here in this world willing to strap bombs on their bodies and blow themselves up in the name of their beliefs. ... We're supposed to plan for the worst case and, then, work backwards and pray it never happens," Lyle said.
The CTA eliminated 300 to 400 conductors in a 1997 cost-cutting move, but retained 25 of them on subways. They got on at Fullerton, rode until Cermark, and turned around and did it again. Two years later, the subway conductors were eliminated, too, and absorbed into other jobs.
CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said eliminating conductors back then saved $13 million. Bringing them back just on the subway system today would cost $24 million because the trains run 24 hours. If conductors were returned throughout the system, it would cost $45 million, she said.
The union called Gaffney's figures "highball" and said it would cost $1.5 million to $2 million to restore 25 conductors on the subways.
The absence of conductors became apparent July 11.
A CTA Blue Line train derailed just west of the Clark and Lake subway station at the height of the afternoon rush. Passengers complained they were left to find their own way through a dark and smoky tunnel because they didn't hear any announcements from the train's motorman. Instead of using the train's PA system, the motorman went car-to-car with a flashlight instructing passengers to head to an emergency exit 400 feet away from the front of the train.
But the motorman didn't make it to every car. Among those he missed was the eighth and final car, which caught fire after both sets of wheels jumped the tracks.fspielman@suntimes.com

What people are saying
"I've had experiences where I wished they'd be there just to walk through -- to keep an eye on these crazy people, especially late at night."
Jesse Mathes, 29, Andersonville

"I haven't had any issues myself, but when you get stuck -- we were stuck on the bridge once for 30 minutes -- and they came on saying something about signal problems and it would have been nice to have a live person come out and tell us what was happening" on the Green Line train.
Ayana Henderson, 28, Hyde Park

"We need it -- we need more people on these trains monitoring things, the pickpocketing, the fights. You've got innocent people out there and they're late for work because of this kind of stuff. It's just an uncaring way about doing business, the way the CTA does business."
Wayne Hall, 43, South Side neighborhood.

Letting the Market Drive Transportation
Bush Officials Criticized for Privatization

By Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 17, 2008

It took a few moments for Tyler Duvall, the top policymaker at the Department of Transportation, to digest the news from the Hill. But when he realized what it meant, he was stunned. Last year, Congress decided not to dictate how the department could spend its discretionary funds. No earmarks, no strings, no arm-twisting from lawmakers to direct money to bus systems or other mass-transit projects in hundreds of communities nationwide. Duvall and other top department officials were staring at nearly $1 billion. And they knew exactly how to spend it.
They used the money to seed five high-profile experiments, in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami and Seattle, that feature "congestion pricing" -- tolls that increase when traffic is heavy. The idea is to reduce traffic by discouraging some motorists from driving during peak hours. "It's almost sort of un-American that we should be forced to sit and be stuck in traffic," said D.J. Gribbin, the department's general counsel and liaison to the White House, who worked closely with Duvall on the project. For Gribbin, Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads.
They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation. They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications. But their ideas and actions have alarmed transit advocates, the trucking industry, states struggling to build rail projects and members of Congress from both parties.
"They have a myopic view," said Rep. John L. Mica (Fla.), ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Pricing transportation to drive down traffic may make market sense, but it harms the public, he said. "This was a country based on some system of equality. People are paying their taxes and have representation. You can't exclude them from having a fair return."
Critics such as Mica do not oppose all tolling, but they argue that the traditional mechanism for funding roads and transit, the federal gas tax, which has not been raised since 1993, must be increased so that the nation's Highway Trust Fund does not run out of money in three years. Some Democrats contend that the Bush administration wants to starve the fund so that states will be forced to sell off roads to private firms, charge tolls and ration the best access to those willing to pay for a faster commute.
"Everything they're doing is designed to drive things to privatization," said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure highways and transit subcommittee. DeFazio said the nation long ago settled that roads are public goods. "They're just trying to undo 200 years of history and go back to the Boston Post Road."
Even if the next president reverses its policies, the Bush administration will leave a legacy of new toll roads across the country, a growing number of public roads leased to private companies, and dozens of stalled commuter rail, streetcar and subway projects -- including the $5 billion extension of Metro to Dulles International Airport.

A New Focus on Tolls
Tyler Duvall was on his way to a departmental retreat in 2006 when he hit 25 miles of traffic on Interstate 270. At the retreat, the Bush administration officials agreed that congestion should be the focus of their remaining time in office.
Since the 1990s, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has spent about $10 million a year to study tolls. Inspired by the writings of economist and Nobel laureate William Vickrey, considered the "father" of congestion pricing, Duvall decided it was time to crank up that work. Polling data said the public was fed up with traffic and willing to try something new.
"We thought, let's expand and let every state try congestion pricing," he said.
When Democrats took control of Congress and stripped most earmarks from last year's federal budget, Peters took $850 million that would have been shipped to hundreds of municipalities and poured it into Urban Partnerships, a pilot program awarded to five cities on the condition that they test congestion pricing.
The focus on toll roads alarmed the transit industry, which argues that public transportation is the best way to fight gridlock in cities. Industry leaders say the DOT has made it increasingly difficult for expensive rail projects to qualify for federal dollars. The number of major new rail and bus projects on track for federal funding dropped from 48 in 2001 to 17 in 2007, even as transit ridership hit a 50-year high last year and demand for new service is soaring. William Millar, who heads the American Public Transportation Association, says he set up three appointments with Duvall to try to influence how the Urban Partnership money would be spent, but each was cancelled. "They just see no role for transit," Millar said. Duvall, 35, is a fourth-generation Washingtonian whose father is a well-connected lawyer. He had no transportation experience when he was plucked from his job handling corporate mergers and acquisitions at Hogan & Hartson and was offered a political appointment at the DOT in 2002. "It was a friend of a friend of a friend sort of thing," he said. Within four years, he was setting national policy.
Tall and lanky, Duvall is a kinetic intellectual who talks animatedly about pricing theories and e-mails stray thoughts to colleagues in the middle of the night. In his office, he keeps a bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower, father of the interstate system. One recent day, he was reading a paperback copy of Barry Goldwater's book "The Conscience of a Conservative," lent to him by Peters.
Fans say Duvall savors a good policy debate; critics call him an ideologue who doesn't know how to compromise. All acknowledge his influence on major DOT initiatives and statements. "Tyler Duvall is a little pointy-headed neocon with grand ideas about the future of transportation, and they all involve tolling," DeFazio said. "He's bright, young, energetic -- just totally wrong, and has a bizarre, neocon view of transportation."
Soon after Duvall arrived at the DOT as a "schedule C" -- the lowest-level political appointee -- Peters asked him to interview for the job of general counsel at the Federal Highway Administration. He lost out to another lawyer -- D.J. Gribbin.
Duvall and Gribbin soon became allies, bonded by a shared passion to inject free-market theory into transportation policy.
Gribbin, 44, grew up well connected to the Republican Party. His father was a longtime aide to Vice President Cheney and a former head of Halliburton's Washington office. The younger Gribbin worked as a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business and as a national field director for the Christian Coalition under Ralph Reed. For six months in 2005, he moved his wife and seven children to Guatemala, where they performed missionary work.
A cautious man who leaves nothing on his desk at the end of the day, Gribbin hatched the DOT's controversial plan to charge airlines a fee for landing at New York's JFK and other busy airports during peak hours -- a proposal the airlines say they will fight.
"Milton Friedman said 30 years ago you should price roads for users, but you couldn't because you can't have a toll booth on every corner," Gribbin said, invoking the Nobel Prize-winning conservative economist. But now, transponders and automatic toll collection have made Friedman's prescriptions possible, Gribbin said. The cities that won the Urban Partnership grants -- New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami and Seattle -- are represented by Democratic leaders and a key Republican. "Basically, they bought off five urban areas," said Mica, who represents Miami. "I got the smallest amount, probably because I squealed the most about what they were doing."
Mica and other lawmakers curtailed the program this year by barring it from using more than 10 percent of the department's bus money.
But communities on the losing side last year were hit hard. Without funds for new buses, Dubuque, for example, had to rely on volunteers such as Shorty Harris, who drove passengers around northeast Iowa in his 2002 Chevy Cavalier.
"I couldn't believe they could get away with this, to just take that money away," said Mark Munson, director of the Regional Transit Authority in Dubuque, which has been frequently forced to deny trips to the elderly and disabled because there are not enough buses and volunteers can't fill all the gaps.
Duvall is unapologetic, saying the traditional pork-barrel process of divvying up transportation dollars is bad policy. The proof, he said, is the fact that increased government spending on transportation has not slowed congestion. None of the five Urban Partnership projects has opened yet, and several face local opposition. New York faces a deadline this month for approval from the state legislature and city council or it will lose the money. Duvall hopes at least one project -- on I-95 in Miami -- will be operating by summer and will demonstrate the value of his theories.
"There are 250,000 people a day sitting on I-95 in Miami," he said. "In four months, thousands of people will have faster commutes, guaranteed trip times."

Highways and Wall Street
By limiting the federal role in transportation, the Bush administration has sped the growth of a new business: private investment in roads.
As they have crafted policy, Duvall, Gribbin and other Bush officials have been working closely with private equity funds. The DOT persuaded Congress to change the tax code to make $15 billion in tax-exempt bonds available for private firms to build road and freight projects.
The department waived regulations to speed development of toll road projects and wrote sample laws to help state legislatures permit the lease or sale of their roads to private companies, with laws now enacted in 23 states.
As a consequence, private equity funds focused on transportation attracted an estimated $100 billion to $150 billion in 2006, according to industry analysts. The new opportunities for private equity have also created job opportunities for government officials. In the past three years, nine current and former top DOT appointees have worked for such funds or for engineering or construction firms interested in tolling projects subject to federal review.
Gribbin is one of those officials. He came to the department in 2003 from Koch Industries, which has a road-building subsidiary and is owned by a prominent donor to Republican and libertarian causes. As general counsel at the Federal Highway Administration, he wrote a report to Congress praising private-public partnerships, citing a study he commissioned on the benefits of tolling while he was at Koch.
That report also included ideas attributed to Macquarie Holdings, a major toll-road builder based in Australia. Gribbin left the federal government in 2005 to work at Macquarie, where he earned $265,000. He returned to the DOT last year as general counsel.
Peters followed a similar path. She served as federal highway administrator from 2001 to 2005, then worked as a senior vice president at HDR, a construction firm with several tolling projects, where she was paid a salary and bonus of $225,833 to craft its public policy. She returned to federal government as transportation secretary in 2006. Peters said she sees no conflicts. "Having someone like D.J. Gribbin who has worked in the private sector helping us decide what kinds of protections [are needed in tolling deals] is a big advantage," she said. "I don't think the policies that we're advocating are premised on the fact that it creates this opportunity for people to go out and work in this industry at all. We're doing so because we firmly believe these are in the best interest of America." Public distrust of privatization, however, remains high. Republicans lost control of the Indiana state legislature in 2006 partly because of controversy over the governor's lease of a public highway to Macquarie. Political opposition has also forced governors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to suspend plans to lease roads. Texas lawmakers put a two-year freeze on the governor's strategy to privatize a 4,000-mile network of tolled highways. Last month, the Government Accountability Office warned that tolls on privatized roads are typically higher than if the roads remain under public control, because of the need to generate steady profits for private investors. The report said the federal government needs to better protect the public interest. "This is all about making money," said Frank Busalacchi, the Wisconsin transportation secretary and a member of a congressionally chartered commission that last year studied transportation funding and supported raising the gas tax. "The financiers, bankers, people coming in -- the foreign dollars coming in and buying infrastructure in this country that American people put down." For Macquarie, the Dulles Toll Road has enormous appeal. The company approached Virginia in 2005 about leasing the road, pocketing motorist fees and financing the rail extension to the airport. But Virginia officials had other ideas. They wanted to keep the road in the hands of a public entity -- the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority -- and let it build the rail line.
According to four former senior DOT officials, Virginia's decision upset Duvall and then-DOT chief of staff John A. Flaherty. "They went ballistic," one of the officials said. "[They] wanted that to be their pet project in the nation's capital. Tyler would mention that frequently . . . that it would be better for the project to go to Macquarie." Duvall said the DOT is not trying to steer Virginia toward a public-private partnership for Dulles rail and that Flaherty was angered because the state did not notify the department, not by the substance of its decision. "My interest in this was solely to make sure the taxpayer was getting the right deal," he said. When the DOT said in January that it would not fund the rail project, Macquarie repeated its interest to Virginia officials, as did another private equity firm, the Carlyle Group, which created a $1.5 billion fund to invest in U.S. infrastructure and has hired Flaherty to head it. A final decision on the Dulles extension is on hold. But Duvall and his colleagues have ignited a national argument -- the first real debate about how to fund transportation in 50 years. "This is as big as it gets in terms of policy changes in America," Duvall said. "It's clear that we've ruffled feathers -- right, left and center -- in talking about new approaches. That said, I think the public is really dying for new ways to do things. . . . The genie is somewhat out of the bottle."

Mass transit use hits 50-year high on pump prices
Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:36pm EDT

By Rebekah Kebede

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans hopping buses and grabbing subway straps has climbed to the highest level in half a century as soaring gasoline costs push more commuters to take mass transit.

U.S. mass transit ridership began to surge when gasoline hit the $3 a gallon level in 2005 and has continued to rise steadily ever since as pump prices top record after record, according to a report released on Monday by the American Public Transit Association.

"As people are struggling with the increase in fuel prices, they have to make adjustments, and one of the ways they are doing that is driving less and taking public transportation more," said William Millar, the president of the APTA.

Mass transit use increased by more than 2 percent in 2007 to the highest level in 50 years, with Americans taking more than 10 billion trips on public transport while the number of vehicle miles traveled was flat in the first 10 months of the year.

Even when gasoline prices dipped last year and some people returned to driving, others appear to have switched to public transport permanently, according to Millar.

"We started seeing gas prices consistently go above $3 a gallon (in 2005) and we noticed that overall transit ridership was going up," Millar said.

"When gas prices moderated, some of those people said, 'Hey, this works pretty good for me, I'll stick with it.'"

The largest area of mass transit growth was in light rail use, which includes street cars and trolleys, with a 6 percent increase during 2007. Commuter rails were second with an increase of 5.5 percent in ridership and subway ridership had an increase of 3.1 percent.

Cities with less than 100,000 people also saw a large increase -- 6.4 percent -- in public transportation use.

With many analysts predicting $4 gasoline this summer, mass transit use is likely to become even more popular.

"If past experience is any indication, as the price of fuel goes up and particularly as it hits a psychological milestone, which I expect $4 is, I would expect that we would see a spurt in ridership," Millar said.

(Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Matthew Robinson and Matthew Lewis)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

CTA gets OK for capital improvement bonds

Tribune staff reports
Published October 11, 2006, 6:32 PM CDT

The Chicago Transit Authority received permission Wednesday to issue up to $275 million in revenue bonds to help pay for new rail cars and buses and to continue capital improvement projects.

"We are doing the bond sale now to take advantage of the market [interest rates] and also to maintain momentum with respect to the CTA's capital budget," said Dennis Anosike, the agency's senior vice president of finance.

The money will be used to help pay for 406 new rail cars with aisle-facing seating that the CTA will receive beginning in 2009.

The new buses include standard-sized buses and shorter buses that are easier to maneuver on narrow streets.

Other projects include renovation of the Howard and Wilson stations on the Red Line, rehabilitation of older rail cars, track and signal upgrades, and the installation of fiber-optic cables, officials said.

The CTA board Wednesday also approved the restructuring of tax-exempt building revenue bonds to fund construction of the agency's headquarters at 567 W. Lake St.

CTA to issue $275 million in bonds for projects

Published October 12, 2006

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Transit Authority received permission Wednesday to issue up to $275 million in revenue bonds to help pay for new rail cars and buses and to continue capital improvement projects.

"We are doing the bond sale now to take advantage of the market [interest rates] and also to maintain momentum with respect to the CTA's capital budget," said Dennis Anosike, the agency's senior vice president of finance.

The money will be used to help pay for 406 new rail cars with aisle-facing seating that the CTA will receive beginning in 2009.

The new buses include standard-sized buses and smaller onesthat are easier to maneuver on narrow streets.

Other projects include renovation of the Howard and Wilson stations on the Red Line, rehabilitation of older rail cars, track and signal upgrades, and the installation of fiber-optic cables, officials said.

New diesel a clear winner - Use of cleaner fuel is the law on Sunday

By Michael Hawthorne - Chicago Tribune staff reporter - October 11, 2006

The black puff of diesel smoke is joining leaded gasoline as part of America's toxic past.

Starting Sunday, most diesel pumps across the nation will flow with fuel that is dramatically cleaner, the first step in a decades-long effort to curb air pollution that can trigger asthma attacks, cause cancer and take years off lives. The new fuel contains considerably less sulfur than the dirty diesel it replaces, a change that is expected to reduce harmful soot and other forms of pollution by 10 percent. When the fuel is pumped into cleaner engines that will be standard on new vehicles beginning next year, the benefits will be even more substantial: a 90 percent decrease in the noxious mix of chemicals present in diesel exhaust today.

Top officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the combination of cleaner diesel fuel and engines eventually will prevent 8,300 early deaths and tens of thousands of respiratory ailments every year. "This is the single greatest achievement in clean fuel since lead was removed from gasoline a generation ago," said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. But the full benefits of the changes that officially start this weekend won't be seen until millions of older trucks and diesel-fueled equipment are taken off the roads. The EPA and industry groups agree it will take years, if not decades, for that to happen, in part because there are few incentives for companies to retire older vehicles.

Oil companies, engine manufacturers and automakers lost a federal court battle to block the tougher standards from taking effect. They now are joining the EPA and environmental groups in promoting the changes, which by all accounts should lead to a price increase of 4 to 5 cents per gallon at the pump. Johnson held a news conference Tuesday at the Columbus, Ind., headquarters of Cummins Engine, a diesel-engine manufacturer that earlier had helped lead attempts to thwart the EPA rules from taking effect. "This will usher in a new generation of clean diesel," said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, an industry trade group. Diesel exhaust--from trucks rumbling down expressways and construction equipment carving out new roads and subdivisions--is a major source of pollution that has made the air in the Chicago region among the dirtiest in the nation. Most of the other problem areas are in California and the eastern third of the country. Diesel exhaust is full of tiny soot particles that can cause a variety of ailments. It also contains nitrogen oxide and sulfur compounds that contribute to environmental problems such as smog, acid rain and global warming.

Scientists have known for years that diesel exhaust is one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution. But it took time for their warnings to be translated into tougher regulations, just as it did before lead was removed from gasoline in the 1970s. The move to unleaded gasoline resulted in a sharp decline in levels of the toxic metal in human blood. Now scientists and other experts predict the move to cleaner diesel will help curb asthma attacks and prevent other respiratory diseases. "This is a major step forward for clean air," said Richard Kassel, head of the Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

More stringent rules for diesel trucks and buses were adopted during the final days of the Clinton administration and kept in place by the Bush administration, which agreed with estimates that money spent cleaning up the exhaust will lead to significant savings in health-care costs.

As of Sunday, the rules require 80 percent of the diesel fuel sold for on-road vehicles to contain 15 parts per million of sulfur, down from 500 parts per million. All of the on-road diesel fuel must meet the tougher standard by 2010. Cleaner fuel must be used in the new engines because the dirtier diesel would quickly overwhelm the built-in pollution controls. Refineries and engine manufacturers have spent years preparing for the changes. Separate rules will require cleaner locomotives, boats and off-road diesel vehicles, such as construction equipment and farm machinery. Those other sources of diesel pollution release more soot into the air than all of the nation's cars, trucks and buses, according to the EPA.

The changes come as federal, state and local authorities have been encouraging cleaner sources of fuel and promoting efforts to install pollution controls on older, dirtier engines. For instance, the Chicago Transit Authority has been pumping the cleaner diesel fuel into its buses since 2003, and several older buses are equipped with particle filters and other devices that further reduce diesel pollution. Illinois also has been installing pollution controls on its school buses. Nearly half of the 2,300 buses in the Chicago Public Schools' fleet have been cleaned up during the past two years.

"That's something we need to see more of," said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health at the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago. "Especially in places like Chicago with chronically dirty air."

---- mhawthorne@tribune.com

Talks stall in suit by 60 against CTA

By Michael Higgins - Tribune staff reporter - Published October 18, 2006

Sixty passengers on a Blue Line subway train that derailed in July filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Chicago Transit Authority after their attorneys said settlement talks over the accident had stalled. The plaintiffs were riding on a Blue Line train that derailed on July 11 and sparked a fire west of the Clark/Lake stop.

The lawsuit, like several filed previously, alleged that CTA officials were negligent in their operation or maintenance of the rail system. Lawyers for the riders said Tuesday that they had hoped to reach an agreement whereby CTA officials would acknowledge responsibility for the accident and the litigation could focus on damages and other issues.

"Last week or so, it fell apart," said Dan Kotin of Corboy & Demetrio, which represents the 60 riders. "We couldn't really come to any kind of an understanding." CTA spokeswoman Wanda Taylor declined to comment on Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet issued a report, but a board member said the accident likely was caused by a misalignment of the rails west of the Clark/Lake stop. Kotin said the plaintiffs who filed suit on Tuesday suffered injuries that included broken bones and smoke inhalation. He said some had stress or other mental problems from the accident.

The condition of Elfa Lari, an 83-year-old woman who was injured in the crash, had improved in recent months, Kotin said. Lari had undergone treatment for broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and bleeding on the brain. As of about a week ago, she was getting around with the aid of a walker, Kotin said.

Since the July 11 derailment, track maintenance has increased and the CTA has created more slow zones.

-- mjhiggins@tribune.com

Please take a moment to help us, and all commuters:
Keep the O’Hare Route of the 54th/Cermak Blue Line.

To: the Honorable Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Board Chair Person Carole Brown:
We, the undersigned, want the CTA to keep the route of the 54 th/Cermak Blue Line open to O’Hare Field, more trains every hour & to restore Night Service...sign petition.

Your signature is greatly needed and appreciated!

Join Bus & Train riders, The Neighborhood Budget Group's Campaign for Better Transit, organizations, businesses and churches throughout Chicago to tell the City Council NO TO THE CIRCLE LINE & NO TO FARE INCREASES.

On Wednesday, November 9 th, 2005 the CTA board passed their 2006 Budget including a Westside “Improvement” Plan that includes:

ELIMINATING the present route of the 54 th/Cermak Blue Line past Polk St.: to/from Racine, Halsted, the Dearborn subway, northwest side, and O’Hare Field.

It will be replaced by the CTA spending $4 Million on a NEW rail service: Phase 1 of the Circle Line. Trains going from/to Polk St. will go directly to the elevated Green Line Ashland station over the elevated Paulina Connector, then into and around downtown on the elevated and back to Polk St. onto/from 54 th & Cermak.

Since the CTA has said it will NOT decrease service to/from O’Hare Field and there will be no new rail cars until at least 2007, this means that rail cars will be pulled from the Brown, Green, Orange and Red Lines to provide the new Circle Line service. It is not clear if the CTA will hire more train operators or take those from other rail lines as well.

All Red Line, Forest Park, Downtown and Northwest Side Blue Line Train riders wanting to go to/from Polk St., 18 th St., Damen, Western, California, Kedzie, Central Park, Pulaski, Kostner, Cicero and 54 th/Cermak will now have to transfer to the Circle Line at the Lake/Clark elevated station at the Thompson State of Illinois Center.

Red Line riders will no longer be able to transfer at the Washington and Jackson subway tunnels to the 54 th/Cermak Blue Line. Instead we will have to get off at the Lake St. stop, walk upstairs, outside and up to elevated to catch the new Circle Line to/from 54 th/Cermak at the State & Lake elevated stop.

All 54 th/Cermak Blue Line riders who now go directly to/from Racine, Halsted, the Dearborn Subway, Red Line transfer tunnels, Northwest Side and O'Hare Field will now be forced to transfer at Clark & Lake from the elevated down 3 stories to the Dearborn Subway to get to any of these stops.

All disabled riders who use the Polk St. station elevated will now have to transfer at least one more time at Clark/Lake.

Why is the Circle Line Bad News for Green, Brown, Orange and Purple Line Riders?

It will put 6-10 more trains per hour onto the Green Line and El/Loop, slowing down & stopping most trains at the Wells/Clark train crossing and going around the loop, especially during rush hour.

The Question for all CTA Bus & Train Riders is: Would we rather have a new service that will make travel more inconvenient for the majority of us or use the $4 million to improve our bus & train service on our existing routes?

How Will the Circle Line Affect Future CTA Projects?

The CTA plans to spend at least $2 Billion over the next decade to build all 3 phases of the Circle Line. This first phase calls for 2 new stations to be built: one at the United Center, one over the Eisenhower on The Paulina Connector. This will delay or eliminate the 3 stations West Siders have been waiting for since the Green Line was rehabbed 11 years ago: Western, Damen and Morgan/Halsted.

Frank Krusei, CTA President, has told audiences all over Chicago and the U.S. that the Circle Line is his priority over all other "New Start" projects. There is not enough money for any other project in the next 10 years if the Circle Line is funded and built.

CTA Articles

The Mid-City Transitway:
An Alternative to the CTA’s Silver/Circle Line

1. Cost: From Year 2030 Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS): Issued 2003:

2. Ridership: MCT projected to have higher ridership than CL

MCT Projected to Have Highest Ridership of all new Transit Projects in Region

3. Neighborhoods/Suburbs served: MCT 3 Times More than CL

4. Direct CTA/Metra Connections: MCT More Than CL:

5. Role in Regional Plans:

6. Community/Environmental Impact:

7. Economic Development:

8. Economic and Environmental Justice:

2005 Transit Services Come from the Operating Budget Regional 24/7/365 Services: Connect Buses to Trains 24/7/365 Everywhere in the City of Chicago and Suburbs the CTA operates:

1. All Train Lines : Blue (54 th/Cermak & Forest Park ), Brown, Green, Orange , & Red train lines will run 24/7/365; All stations on every line would be open 24/7/365
2. Train Frequency : All trains run AT LEAST every 5 minutes during the rush hour and every 7 minutes during non-rush hour days and evenings
3. Reopen Every closed entrance and station on every train line including all closed entrances and the California and Central Ave. Stations on the Forest Park Blue Line
4. Bus Services:
   All buses that make direct connections to train stations would run 24/7/365
5. Bus Frequency: All buses that make direct connections to train stations would run at least every 10 minutes during rush hours and every 15 minutes during days and evenings

Rail Services

1. Keep the 54 th/Cermak Blue Line directly open to O’Hare along its present route from 54 th Cermak to O’Hare through the Dearborn Subway

Building the CTA: Infrastructure/Capital Development Budget:

Since CTA President Frank Kruesi's appointment by his buddy Mayor Daley in 1997, Kruesi has proved himself to be an enemy of the poor and working people of Chicago, including both the CTA riders and employees. At the very beginning of his reign, Kruesi and his gang of bureaucrats, the CTA board, made a drastic 10% cut to services, disproportionately affecting low-income neighborhoods and the people who rely on public transit the most. These cuts were, and still are, an outrage. People lost jobs when they lost their weekend and night service. Getting to doctor's appointments and even leisure activities has become a constant struggle. The fight to restore this service has continued for 7 years now, refusing to back down.

Then at the beginning of this year, the CTA attacked all riders with a 17% fare increase. For all of us who depend on the CTA to get to work each day, this fare increase was literally a wage cut. The budget for the same year, while showing an increase in labor spending in the office of the President of 12%, showed a decrease on all other labor spending of 23%, this time ripping off it's own employees.

Now the CTA is making it's biggest threats ever. Service cuts of 20% have been proposed, including the elimination of 30 bus routes, 21 weekend bus routes and shortening 9 other routes, cutting night service on the Red and Blue lines, cutting daytime service on the Orange and Brown lines, and the elimination of 1000 union jobs. This is all while doubling the fee for the paratransit and taxi access program for the disabled, raising parking fees by 25 cents and U-Pass rates by 10 cents a day.

Kruesi claims this is all necessary if additional funding is not granted from the state. Don't be fooled though, extra money from the state does not mean that our interests will be served. When the CTA received $20 million from Illinois First!, none of that money ever went to restore the 1997 service cuts. Kruesi's spending habits have instead consistently reflected his ego's need for a legacy.

The CTA bureaucrats' recently built themselves a palace on Lake Street, complete with granite floors and a $119 million price tag. Grand plans are also still on the table to spend over a billion dollars on a new " circle line", increasing transport ease downtown while again cheating poorer neighborhoods of their transport needs.

Whether or not the CTA receives the additional funding from the State, Kruesi needs his bubble burst and to feel the pressure of the millions of Chicagoans he's angered. Fortunately, his attacks on both CTA riders and workers leave him vulnerable. It is riders and workers together who have the power to hit the bureaucrats where they'll feel it the most: the collection boxes and station booths.

In 1978 in Nantes (France), instead of going on strike, bus drivers kept the busses rolling but "forgot" to collect any fares. This tactic has been repeated all over, from Italy to Germany to Ireland to Canada. Riders have also refused to pay fares to resist fare increases. Several cities in France now in fact have free public transportation because people banded together and simply refuse to pay. This is where our power lies.

Sure the CTA budget is in a crisis, but why should poor and working people have to pay for their crisis? If the CTA is going to disrupt our lives we will disrupt theirs. There will be no business as usual as long as Kruesi tries to dig himself out of his mess by cutting services, labor spending or increasing anyone's fares.

TAKE ACTION!

Come give the CTA a piece of your mind at their public hearings:

Public Hearing on the Proposed 2005 Budget
Wednesday, October 27th at 4 p.m.
Palmer House – 17 East Monroe

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There’s a Dark Cloud in the Silver Line!

• Kiewit/Delgado, AJV is the general contractor for the project
• The Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), Eighteen Street Development Corporation (ESDC), and the Chicago Urban League (CUL) were retained as the employment initiative team members
• HACIA, JJNO, ESDC, and CUL held two community job fairs in 2001. The first was held at The Westside Technical Institute and at the second at Blessed Sacrament Church located at Cermak and Central Park. More than 1500 residents applied at the two job fairs
• HACIA, UNO, ESDC, and CUL have taken more than 4000 application as of September 20, 2002
• Of the more than 4000 applicants, more than 300 were union card holders
• The great majority of the applicants have never received or heard from Kiewit/Delgado, CTA, HACIA, ESDC, UNO, ESDC, or the CUL
• As of September 24, 2002, more than 30% of the project has been completed, however, out of a total of 219 workers (current) only 24 are local community residents (Kiewit?Delgado, AJV weekly head count: Ending 09-15-02)

Let's work together to Keep the Douglas L Open to O'Hare 24/7!

Campaign for Better Transit (CBT) / CTA / RTA / Metra

Great Article from CBT: “Is There Equal Access for All To Public Transportation in Metropolitan Chicago?”

http://transit.homestead.com/Blue.html

Citizens Taking Action at http://www.CTAriders.org

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