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Ron Huberman
President
Chicago Transit Authority
567 W. Lake St.
Chicago , IL 60661-1498

Download this letter
Proposal for a 31st Street bus route (detailed map)

April 25, 2008 - RE: 31 st Street bus

Cc: City of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Cicero Town President Larry Dominick,

RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman, Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano, PACE Executive Director T. J. Ross, 2 nd Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti, 3 rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, 4 th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, 11 th Ward Alderman James A. Balcer, 12 th Ward Alderman George Cardenas, 22 nd Ward Alderman Ricardo Munoz.

 

Dear President Huberman:

We would like to thank you for taking the time to brief LVEJO and the Little Village community on the current experimental period of the West Side/West Suburban Service Plan. We are making a proposal which we believe you will find to be a valuable addition to this plan.

We propose that CTA restore regular bus service to the 31 st Street Corridor (Please see the attached map and connections list). Community residents proposed this as part of a Community Visioning Project that we have been conducting in cooperation with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Based on input from the community, we recommend this bus run every 10 minutes during rush hour, every 12-15 minutes non-rush hour: 5 am-midnight: 7 days a week. Here are some reasons why we believe this is an incredible opportunity for the CTA.

The proposed bus would travel through 7 Community Areas and 6 wards, an area with an approximate population of 240,000 people.

Currently these Areas have a major gap between available east – west bus routes:

• Between the lakefront and Western Avenue, there is a 13 block gap, ~1.625 mile gap between east – west bus routes (#21 Cermak to #35 35 th St) .
• Between Western Ave and Kedzie Avenue, there is a 9 block, ~1.125 mile gap between east-west bus routes (#60 Blue Island, 26 th to #35 35 th St).
• Between Kedzie Avenue and St. Louis, there is a 13 block, 1.625 mile gap (#60 to #39 Pershing), and
• Between St. Louis and Cicero Avenue, there is a 21 block, ~3.125 gap between east-west routes ( #60 to #47, 47 th St. bus).

This stands in stark contrast to areas north of I-290 which have bus service every 4 blocks (eg #70 and #72 buses are 4 blocks apart). The proposed 31 st St. route would reduce these gaps and provide numerous useful connections. (Please see the attached list for connections.)

We propose that the CTA begin the 31 st bus service on a 6 month trial period, starting June 1, when people will be going to events at the beach, parks, museums and other lakefront venues. We request that the CTA Board review and approve this proposal at the May 14, 2008 CTA Board Meeting.

Additionally, we recommend the installation of EVM (Electronic Value Machines) in Little Village at high traffic locations in the following order of priority: 1) Little Village Lawndale High School, 2) 26 th Street and Pulaski, 3) 26 th Street and Kedzie, 4) 26 th Street and Central Park, 5) 31 st Street and Pulaski, 6) 31 st Street and Kedzie, 7) 26st Street and California. We are willing to confer with you further as to identify specific locations for the EVMs at each of these intersections.

Sincerely,

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

Download this letter
Proposal for a 31st Street bus route (detailed map)

Enc (2) Proposed 31st bus route: (Eastbound)*

• Start: 25th & Cicero CTA bus turnaround-connections with #54 Cicero, #54B South Cicero, #X54 Cicero Express, # 60 Blue Island/26 th St.
• Connect to Cicero Metra Station 1 blk south at 24th & Cicero.
• Depart south on Cicero to 31 st – Connect to Pace #392; jobs & shopping at Cicero Avenue shopping malls -Home Depot, Food 4 Less, etc.
• East on 31st to Little Village/Lawndale High School at Kostner; use school turnaround for public safety for 3 hours before and 5 hours after school hours to accommodate students, faculty, and staff present during non-school hours for academics, sports, etc.
• East to Piotrowski Park, restaurants, businesses, churches, industry.
• East to connect with #53 Pulaski and #53A South Pulaski buses at Komensky turnaround and at Pulaski.
• East to connect with Gary & Dominguez schools.
• East to connect with #82 Kimball/Homan bus
• East to connect with # 52 Kedzie/California bus; jobs & shopping at Aldi's, Kellogg’s food plant, new development at 31 st and Kedzie, etc.
• East to new 22 acre park along 31 st from Albany to Sacramento (Celotex)
• East to connect with #94 South California bus; Cook County Courthouse and Jail – jobs, court cases & visitors.
• East to California Gardens Senior Housing.
• East to Arturo Velasquez West Side Technical Institue, City of Chicago Animal Shelter, Rauner YMCA at 31st & Western
• South & East to connect with #49 Western, #49X Western Express buses. Connect to CTA 35 th/Archer Orange Line Station, #39 Pershing, #50 Damen, #62 Archer.
• East to Archer and Ashland, connect with CTA Ashland Orange Line, #9 Ashland, #X9 Ashland Express buses, mall, Dominick’s, etc.
• East on 31 st St. to new park near Halsted, Connect to #8 Halsted St. bus, southern Chinatown, Bridgeport, US Cellular Field
• East to Wallace, Connect to Wallace - #44 Wallace/Racine
• East to Wentworth – Connect to #24 Wentworth (Southbound)
• South on Wentworth to 35th/Dan Ryan – Connect to #35 35th, Red Line (Howard/Dan Ryan)
• East to Lasalle – Connect to #24 Wentworth (Northbound)
• North to 31 st Street.
• East 31st/State – Connect to #29 State, Illinois Institute of Technology
• East to Michigan - Connect to #1 Indiana/Hyde Park, #4 Cottage Grove
• East to King Drive - Connect to #3 King Drive, #X3 King Drive Express, #X4 Cottage Grove Express, #35 35 th St.; Michael Reese Hospital (Future Olympic Housing)
• North to McCormick Place - Connect to METRA Electric
• North to Soldier Field/Museum Complex - Connect to #12 Roosevelt, #146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express; McCormick Place, Soldier Field and Museum Campus-Planetarium (bus trunaround), 12th St. beach, Northerly Island Park/Concerts, Aquarium & Field Museum.

*The westbound route would reverse this order

Our proposal would also provide South and West Side CTA riders an additional route to access jobs and cultural events at the Museum Campus, which currently is only accessed by one (1) North Side bus route and one (1) West Side bus route. This bus would run along the service drive East of Lake Shore Drive from 31st Street to McCormick Place to Soldier Field to the Museuam Campus, Northerly Island, etc.

Download this letter

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To: Mr. Bill Lenski
Regional Transportation Authority - Cook DuPage Corridor Study - 175 W. Jackson Boulevard (Suite 1550) - Chicago, IL 60604

March 27, 2008

Dear Mr. Lenski:

Below, please see our organization’s recommendations for the Cook-DuPage Corridor that the RTA is currently studying.

Overview:  

We strongly support the public transit components, and are skeptical about the highway components. We oppose any component that involves widening or extending existing highways. We are critical of the absence of freight planning in this study as it is a limiting factor in the expansion of viable mass transit and commuter options. We are insist on the need to focus on transit equity (environmental justice, civil rights, disability rights, climate justice, gender justice) at every phase of this Study process.

The chief priority of our transportation agencies should be to make up for decades of underinvestment and unequal investment in transit/rail and facilitate the Chicago region’s transition away from car/truck dependence. Public funds are needed to prepare Chicago for the low-carbon future. Our economy will be crippled if we don’t have good transit and rail-based freight options in place. Emphasis must be placed on reducing traffic congestion by moving people and goods onto transit and rail, not by expanding roads that will be just as congested in ten years.

What do you think of the major projects included in the proposed system?

Mid-City BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)
LVEJO strongly supports the Mid-City Transitway (MCT). We believe it should be the highest priority for the region because it would expand transit access to the densest areas under study, would provide a convenient link between O’Hare and Midway as well as transfers between the Blue, Green, Pink, Orange, and Red Lines, and Metra’s east/west commuter lines. Also, MCT would improve regional transit equity on the basis of race, class, and other factors. It would extend rapid transit to a number of low income, working poor communities and traditionally oppressed African-American, Latino communities of color and immigrant communities that are currently poorly served by the existing transit network. Mid-City Transitway would enhance the access of these groups to the major job centers of the region, reducing regional poverty significantly. We strongly support this project and emphasize the need to consider this not only as the top priority within the Cook-DuPage Corridor Study, but also as a more important priority than the CTA’s Circle Line proposal.

Despite our strong support for this project, LVEJO questions why the MCT has been proposed as a BRT rather than a new Light Rail or Heavy Rail El line. In a 1998 document called Destination 2020, the Chicago Area Transportation Study wrote, “The Mid-City Transitway is projected to have the highest ridership of any of the proposed projects, making it an excellent candidate. There is also a freight railroad right-of-way (the Union Pacific and the Belt Railway of Chicago) for most of the alignment, making it easier to construct without a lot of costly and politically-difficult demolition.” LVEJO believes this corridor can and should accommodate both mass transit and freight rail. Further study should identify how best to take advantage of this.

Also, several studies and planning documents indicate that the MCT would have far more riders than CTA’s proposed Circle Line and the Inner Circumferential Rail (ICR) Line, yet the Circle Line is well ahead of the MCT in the Alternatives Analysis process; the ICR Line has been proposed as rail. Making the MCT a bus line might also hurt the prospects for high-density development in the neighborhoods it serves, and would make it difficult to service high riderships. What are the ridership figures reviewed by the commission? The MCT has the potential to greatly improve transit in Chicago and extend high-density development to large parts of the city, but this opportunity may be lost if we settle too easily on BRT.

Finally, the MCT should be considered in conjunction with the CTA’s Red, Orange, Yellow Line Extension Alternatives Analysis. Even though these Extensions fall outside the Corridor’s area of study, they may allow for a maximization of the utility of the MCT Corridor and are long overdue.

Inner Circumferential Rail Line
As stated above, we question why this O’Hare-Midway link has been proposed as rail, while the higher ridership Mid-City Transitway has been proposed as a bus line. The ICR Line seems like a useful addition, but should be a lower priority than the Mid-City Transitway.

Elgin-O’Hare Expressway East Extension to O’Hare
LVEJO opposes this project. Highway extensions should be the lowest priority - public funds should be invested first and foremost in public transit, which has suffered from underinvestment for decades but is far better in creating livable and sustainable cities. Furthermore, State of Illinois and other government agencies should unilaterally call for a halt to all airport expansion. It is estimated that 40% of existing O’Hare air traffic is to and from Midwest regional destinations. Air traffic accounts for a massive share of global greenhouse emissions that are contributing to unstable climate change. Instead, massive public reinvestment in a Midwest regional freight network through initiatives such as the CREATE program should be promoted as a lower carbon alternative to O’Hare airport expansion and the Peotone third airport proposal. Modernizing the freight rail network will also facilitate local/regional mass transit improvements.

DuPage J Line BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), I-355 BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)

The Bus Rapid Transit projects should take advantage of the existing lanes without any widening of the roads. Public funds should be used to acquire low emission buses. The passing lanes of existing highways should be converted to Bus and High Occupancy vehicle only lanes without any lane widening. This can be done through administrative/legal controls with minor engineering controls. This may be on a rush hour basis only at first, but with increasing hours as more buses become available. This should be considered a low cost transitional phase to immediately reduce car traffic. Non-passing lanes can then be leveraged to speed truck traffic, improving mileage of these vehicles and expediting freight transport as a transitional improvement until freight rail infrastructure improvements can be completed.

I-290 HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) Lanes, I-290 BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)
LVEJO opposes the widening of highways, which only encourage further reliance on cars. These funds should be devoted to public transit, not more subsidies to cars. A combined Bus/HOV- only lane might be culled from existing lanes without highway widening. This could be used to reduce the supply for individual cars and increase the demand for bus ridership without widening the highway. The remaining lanes could be used for truck traffic until freight rail modernization and enhancements are completed. Of course, we recognize that space limitations on I-290 between Cicero Ave and 25 th Ave make this idea questionable.

Blue Line Extension
LVEJO opposes the Blue Line Extension. The low density of the suburbs would yield low ridership and would not justify the massive costs of doubling the length of this heavy rail corridor ( Forest Park). RTA needs to provide more detailed ridership projections, information about how far apart stops would be, and how often the line would run before this proposal can be taken seriously. It might make more sense to build convert existing I-290 lanes into a combined Bus and HOV only route that connects with the Blue Line at Des Plaines Ave. Also, Bus-only lanes and traffic signal upgrades should be considered for the Cermak corridor connecting with the 54/Cermak El.

Furthermore, CTA Blue Line service should be restored to the 54/Cermak branch of the CTA El system, at least every other train run. Forest Park Blue Line should not be expanded, but the 5 existing closed stations and entrances along the existing rail route should be reopened and renovated for revenue service.

Instead of Blue Line extension, focus should be placed on enhancing service on the existing ROWs used by Metra, with expanded bus connections throughout the corridor. Freight rail enhancements along these routes will make this more feasible and cost effective.

Other Comments: Download letter to Mr. Bill Lenski

Lack of freight improvement

RTA needs to integrate freight into its Study. Years of disinvestment in Chicago’s freight network has caused bottlenecks of both freight and passenger rail service locally, regionally, and nationally. The success of this Corridor Study hinges upon the integration of freight rail modernization, enhancement and expansion plans. More projects such as CREATE should be integrated into this process, in order to mitigate freight as a limiting factor to mass transit expansion.

Fares

RTA needs to incorporate a unified fare structure for all modes that CTA, Pace, and Metra operate. The focus should be on making fares convenient and easy to pay, with a steady decrease in the price of transit.

Public Participation

We are concerned that the opportunities for public input have been too few thus far. The commission should provide much more information about why it made the proposals it did, and give the public many more opportunities to participate in this important plan. We would like the RTA to publish the Alternatives Analysis Public Hearing Schedule as soon as possible.

Also, the Spanish-speaking community, along with other non-English communties represent a significant and growing proportion of the riding public. The RTA needs to make a greater effort to do multilingual outreach, especially in Spanish to the Latino communities of the region. Also greater outreach is needed to low income communities in general and African-American communities.

Environmental Justice, Civil Rights, Disability Rights & Gender  

LVEJO is concerned and upset that there has been no explicit inclusion thusfar of Environmental Justice, Civil Rights, Disability Rights, or Gender in this study. RTA needs to explicitly demonstrate how this project would address systemic inequalities in land use and transportation on the basis of race, class, income, national origin, immigration status, disability, and gender. Specifically, RTA should demonstrate whether and to what extent each of these proposals mitigates the Chicago region’s air quality, which is consistently out of federal compliance, and which disproportionately impacts low income, working and communities of color. Similar projections should be made regarding the impact on water and soil quality, as automobile usage has been shown to have far reaching effects on both. We are also concerned by the lack of explicit attention to the paratransit and disability needs of residents travelling to/from/through this Corridor. Please refer to Executive orders related to Environmental Justice, as well as Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Americnas with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Climate Impacts

In addition to the environmental impacts and environmental justice implications of these proposals, RTA should undergo efforts to collaborate with the scientific, environmental justice, and climate justice communities to identify how these proposals would reduce the region’s output of tons of carbon.

Mass Transit as Green Collar, Economic Justice

At some point in the study process, RTA should partner with groups working on economic justice and green collar job as to how public investment in transit can be used to regenerate the region’s historic role as a leader in the global transit construction and manufacturing industry. Public investment in this sector provides the opportunity to restore good paying, manufacturing and construction work for Chicago’s population. These jobs have largely declined in an era of deindustrialization and neoliberal globalization.

We thank the commission for its work and applaud the cooperation demonstrated by the many public officials involved in the process. I hope that unified planning will continue in this spirit of cooperation, because our region will suffer terribly if it cannot expand transit options before carbon taxes and rising gas prices make car-only transportation systems obsolete.

Sincerely,

Michael Pitula
Community Organizer – Public Transit
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Download letter to Mr. Bill Lenski

Transit Averted
By Michael Pitula, Kyle Schafer and Peter Zelchenko

Chicago residents have narrowly escaped another CTA "Doomsday," but at what cost? We are thankful for the funding H.B. 656 provides but recognize that the transit crisis runs far deeper than the bill addresses. It is time to turn our attention to these issues and develop long-term solutions.

Transit riders want improved service. Yet the state bill only provides funding to maintain service. Recent cuts remain in effect, and the entire system remains in desperate disrepair. Streets will remain mired in traffic and pollution, affecting riders and non-riders alike.

Where the CTA is acting to expand, its skewed priorities are reinforcing the system's current racial inequities. The South and West Sides of the city are drastically underserved compared to the North Side, with less frequent bus service and scant rail service. Yet, the CTA's prized projects - the airport express and Circle Line - represent luxuries.

Enhancing bus service, extending the Red Line to 130th Street, restoring the Blue Line, and building the Mid-City Transitway (MCT) to connect the far Northwest, West, South, and Southeast Sides are all viable, more equitable alternatives. A Red Line extension has been on the table since 1973 and has $590 million in federal funding waiting if local officials can provide matching funds. An MCT rail line would require nearly the same capital investment as the Circle Line, but would yield more riders, cover nine more miles and bring rapid transit to communities most in need.

Significant financial burden is falling on workers and public transit's most dependent riders as well. Even with the new bill, recent CTA fare increases for cash-paying riders stand, Metra fares are increasing by 10 percent, and we have no guarantee against future hikes. Meanwhile, paratransit riders have been ignored entirely - on February 1, their monthly pass will rise from $75 to $150, and single rides to $4.

The bill also calls for increasing the sales tax and real estate transfer tax, hitting low-income folks hardest. Illinois already claims one of the most regressive tax structures in the country, since the lowest-earning 20 percent carry nearly triple the tax burden of the top-earning one percent. While the bill lowers costs for seniors, it fails to help others in need, such as students, reduced-fare riders and family travelers. Additionally, the bill supports pension and health care cuts for CTA workers. We need to create better jobs, not dismantle existing ones.

More progressive funding is possible. Chicago's corporations rely on public money to transport their employees to work, and ought to pay taxes for the service accordingly. Some businesses could even contribute assets, like parking spaces for park-and-rides.

The City of Chicago must also step up. The city contributes only $3 million annually, about 0.0005 percent of the 2008 budget. A fraction of the $500 million the city collects from TIF districts could go a long way toward improving transit without relying on regressive taxation. The federal government has a role as well. Restoring operating funds it eliminated 10 years ago would provide $50 million each year.

Finally, we must make decision-making more inclusive. Chicago Transit Board Chairwoman Carole Brown took just 53 trips on the CTA in 2006, yet a regular commuter would take 500. Those who operate and depend on public transit know the system best, and we cannot solve the crisis without their direct involvement. Workers and riders deserve seats on the RTA and CTA boards. The public deserves legitimate participation in planning and oversight in auditing. Holding public meetings only after important decisions have been made is unacceptable.

We all benefit from public transit. We get more accessible communities, easier commutes, good jobs and cleaner air. A world-class system that affordably serves everyone in our city and is truly accountable to the public is within reach. Now is the time to unite to make it happen.

Michael Pitula is a community organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. Kyle Schafer is a Transit Committee member of the Sustainable Chicago 2016 Coalition. Peter Zelchenko is a Leadership & Organizing Committee member of the Rider-Driver Alliance.

Posted on January 20, 2008

LVEJO en Me TV

Michael Pitula, el Organizador del Transporte Público de LVEJO, aparece en la TV este fin de semana.
Sintonicen WWME, Canal 23 y miren Une Me para una conversación profunda en español sobre el transporte público de Chicago.

LVEJO's Transit Organizer, Michael Pitula, will be on TV this weekend.
Tune into WWME, Channel 23 and watch Une Me for an in depth discussion in Spanish of Chicago's public transit.

Une Me
Sabado - Saturday, 19 Jan, 6:30 AM
Domingo - Sunday, 20 Jan, 7:30 AM

Avisenos si pueden grabar el programa.
Please let us know if you can record the program.

SUPPORT CDT STRIKERS!
Download Flyers for: SUPPORT CDT STRIKERS!

500 workers are on strike against Cook-Dupage Transportation (CDT), the largest para-transit supplier in the Chicagoland area. The workers have been without a contract for over two years and trying to negotiate their first contract since voting in ATU local 1028 in March, 2006.

CDT is raking in $37 million from PACE for three years. Hundreds of drivers make 4,200 trips every day. Their starting pay is $7.94/hour and tops out at $12.74! While they take patients to their health care appointments, the vast majority cannot afford the health insurance “offered” by the Jans family that owns CDT. In fact, health insurance premiums shot up 22% during the contract talks, while racist CDT boss Tim Jans says he doesn’t “have a driver worth a $5 raise.” Out of 500 workers, only 112 have single coverage, 10 have coverage for two. NOT ONE SINGLE WORKER CAN AFFORD FAMILY COVERAGE!

Aside from poverty wages and a lack of health insurance, CDT now wants drivers to get a Commercial Drivers License to keep their jobs, even though they are driving small cars and vans. CDT workers are subject to all sorts of racist harassment, from driving vehicles with dirty seats and seat belts to being handed 3-day suspensions while CDT investigates complaints against them. They have to buy their own uniforms, and told to get them at a thrift store!

CDT strikers are caught in the crossfire of attacks on mass transit and public health. CDT is the only unionized para-transit sub-contractor, and the union busting Jans family is out to break the union. Para-transit has been reorganized into three zones, with CDT getting Zone 2. This means that CDT will get less of the action and is threatening to slash half the workforce.

All workers should support the CDT strike, especially CTA operators and Cook County health care workers. If the bosses can sub-contract and privatize para-transit, why not cancelled routes or closed clinics? These are especially racist attacks in that they target large concentrations of black workers who service even larger black and Latino populations.

When told she was in an uphill battle, a 19-year CDT veteran said, “Sometimes those battles are the most satisfying, when you get to the top of that hill.” Don’t let CDT workers go up that hill alone. They need our help. We’re all in this together!

JOIN THE CDT WORKERS AT RACINE AND FULTON MARKET

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, BEFORE OR AFTER WORK

Download Flyers for: SUPPORT CDT STRIKERS!

Transit Allies (10/05/07)

Attached is the newsletter handed out at the union meeting last night. It was a great success as RDA got to speak with union leaders and rank-and-file members about working together. The newsletter was well received during the meeting. Thanks to everyone who put so much hard work into getting this beautiful newsletter together. Now we have to use it to help build the unity of riders and drivers and stop these threatened cuts on Nov. 4th.

(10/05/07) Download newsletter

Congratulations to everyone who came to our first showing of "Bus Riders Union" Saturday.  Sixty people came from around Chicago; it was a great success.  Our friends in Los Angeles are sending seven copies of the film to show around the city and suburbs.

Monday night we formed the Rider-Driver Alliance (RDA) with the attached Mission Statement, Immediate Demands and
Long Term Goals.  On Tuesday, we handed out hundreds of fliers at the city administration's rally at the Thompson Center.  We invited people there to the second showing of the film this Saturday, now at DePaul University (see below and attached flier in English and Spanish).  Please let everyone know about the address change.  On Wednesday we held a joint press
conference with IMPRUVE. 

Today IMPRUVE and RDA are celebrating a major victory. IMPRUVE and supporters from the RDA, Committee for a Better Chicago, LVEJO, SEIU and other groups went to the Regional Transportation Authority's headquarters.  We went to demand that RTA leadership contact Pace about the impending crisis in paratransit.  We were able to speak with Stephen Schlickman, Executive Director of RTA.

Pace's plan to take away the monthly pass would create a life threatening situation for people with disabilities.  Riders on dialysis would be confined to their homes, unable to afford transportation to and from their healthcare.

In response to our demands, RTA executives enacted a 2-week, $37.50 pass as a stopgap measure to be honored until September 16, the date when CTA contingency cuts would go into effect.  Pace fare hikes would also take place on that date.  These passes will be available to paratransit riders at the new RTA Customer Service Center, 165 N. Jefferson at the CTA Headquarters at Lake and Jefferson. 

Service cuts and fare hikes for PACE riders were scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 1st.  Paratransit riders would no longer have been able to use monthly ADA passes.  Also to be cut are CTA 1, 2, 3, and 7-day passes on Pace buses,even if Senate Bill 572 passes.  Lay-offs, fare hikes and cuts in the CTA are threatened for September 16th. 

Thanks to this major victory by a small but committed group, people with disabilities will continue to be able to meet their
transportation needs during these couple of weeks. They will be able to receive healthcare, pay bills, get to church
and the grocery store.  Imagine what we can do with more small but committed groups and individuals working together!

We invite you to spread the word: email this letter and attachments to others.  Print off and distribute copies of the flier and spread the word to transit workers and riders.  Come to the film-showing and action planning meeting on Saturday:


We do not need to keep accepting these doomsday manipulations.  We are not pawns.  We are not numbers.
 We are human beings.  The Rider-Driver Alliance is organizing and fighting for what we need and deserve:
a world-class public transit system.

Rider-Driver Alliance - Contact us:

LVEJO 773-762-6991 - IMPRUVE 773-416-7366
publictransit@lvejo.org

Michael Pitula - LVEJO Public Transit Organizer being interviewed
for News Broadcast, regarding CTA policies and rider requests

The CTA threatens to cut 63 bus lines and the Purple and Yellow Lines!
CTA also wants to raise the price of ALL fares, transfers, and passes...read more
Download CTA "Final Meeting 2007" flyer as Word doc or PDF

"In its first two weeks alone, the Pink Line has been creating major delays for CTA customers
across the city"...read more

C.T.A. 2006 Blue/Pink Line Rider Comments

10/09/06: "CTA’s Circus" Letter from Howard Ehrman, M.D. and Michael Pitula LVEJO Public Transit Organizer

Transit Links:

CTA: A Riders Perspective    http://ctariders.blogspot.com/
A blog written about the CTA by RedEye staffers
http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/ctablog/2008/04/whats-shaking-c.html

Federal Transit Administration - Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal Transit Administration - Transportation and Environmental Justice

Administración Federal del Transporte – Una Perspectiva sobre la Transportacion y la Justicia Ambiental

Transportation Equity http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/transequnews.htm
Chicago Community Bicycle Project http://www.chibikeproject.org
Sustainable Chicago 2016: Declaration of Support for Public Transit and the Workers
Or call 836-7000 from any area code in the Chicago area until 1am for trip information from a live operator.
The Gray Line Website: http://www.grayline.20m.com

Check out LVEJO Member Alfie Martin's transit photos!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfiemartin
http://www.community.webshots.com/user/alfie389

The Pink Line Pop Quiz

#1 True or False? The Pink Line cost extra money the CTA doesn’t have.

#2 True or False? The Pink Line is in support of a cure for breast cancer.

#3 True or False? The Pink Line is more direct to O’Hare than the Blue Line?

Download Bi-lingual Flyer as Word doc. or PDF

Un examencito sobre la Línea Rosa

#1 ¿Cierto o falso? La Línea Rosa costó extra dinero que CTA no tiene.

#2 ¿Cierto o falso? La Línea Rosa apoya una cura para el cáncer del seno.

Events - Media - Research - Riders' Comments

The Pink Line: a closer look (Download flyer)

Environmental Research Foundation / Rachel's News Archive now housed with LVEJO (En Español)