The part of it that cracks me up is the fact that every so often they start crying "Wolf!", and after hearing "Oh no, give us more money, the sky is falling!" however many times in the last 12 months, only to be told at the last minute "Oh no, it's OK really", I don't really believe them.

Of course, that's just my (admittedly totally uninformed) opinion. I don't know anything about local politics or the actual funding of the CTA, so I could be totally wrong, and they could very well have just staved off financial Doomsday each of those times. I just personally find that unlikely.

In each of the last two instances, the governor bailed them out by advancing them money but not by changing the actual funding, which only the Legistature can do (my oversimplification of the situation). This has led to a spiraling to the point where the situation just compounds itself. The January 20th reductions are much more severe than the earlier ones since the CTA has effectively used up all the cash they would have had if funding had continued at the old rate. The announced plan eliminates over HALF of the bus routes, including essentialy every north-side express route. That's going to dump thousands of extra passengers on the already over-crowded Red line, forcing more people into their cars and onto the already maxed out expressways, and so it goes. Meanwhile, with each passing day of full-capacity operation the CTA digs themselves into a bigger and bigger hole. Should they have gone ahead with more modest cutbacks earlier? Very possibly, but hindsight.....

If I were mayor of Chicago I'd be looking to cut every single non-essential service I could find in order to support the CTA, but I don't think there really is much discretionary money there either. Obvious things, like closing recreational facitities, are in the hands of the Park District, which is yet another taxing body. I'm not even sure that Chicago could legally subsidize the CTA, since it is part of the larger RTA/Metra/PACE system which I don't fully understand.

Bottom line, the CTA - problem ridden as it is - is about to collapse unless some miracle occurs in the legistature, which I'm really doubting will happen. It is about to get ugly in Chicago, transporation-wise.

Something I need to read up on is my understanding that once CTA drivers are laid-off they go into some status that would require them to be retrained and recertified, meaning that the CTA can't just close down for a day or two, get miraculous funding, and then resume normal operations the next day. Like I said - Ugly.

it's not really crying wolf but, from a PR standpoint, it always looks that way. I wish Springfield could just get it together!

it's not really crying wolf but, from a PR standpoint, it always looks that way. I wish Springfield could just get it together!!

Also...the political cynic in me just wonders how much stalling is going on because no one wants to fix the problem...yet.

If Chicago gets the Olympic bid, the amount of federal and private money that will flow in to they city (and the transit system) might make it attractive for the folks in Springfield to sit on their hands and hope that, by only patching it up now, they can get someone else to pay for it later.

You're really very wrong. The funding formulas are set by the state government, and they need to be changed. What has happened each time is that the governor and the assembly wait until it gets down to the wire, then still don't do anything and instead come up with some emergency money to stave off the route eliminations. The CTA is really unhappy with this, because they know very well that a lot of people think like you do, that they're just crying "wolf".

I'd be happy if Springfield would cough up enough money to "patch it up", problem is they aren't even doing that.

A colleague just pointed out to me that there is also some related issue having to do with pension savings amounting to $10M per month. The legislature also hasn't acted on this, leaving them another $10M short each month.

All I know is, you could let me loose inside these organizations and I bet my life I could find a ton of money wasted.

They could start with about 50% of the supervisors and hardly lose anything.

The deal that GA didn't act on had to do with the Union and changing pensions plans, etc. So now that progressive deal with the union is shot.

Also, by law the CTA must put all those signs up. Talk about a waste of $$$$ 3xs over now. Can't wait to see what 'fix' they come up with on Jan. 18th because we know that no one will be in Springfield on a Sat. (the 19th).

No need; we the taxpayers spent $1 million on an exhaustive audit. I invite you to read the 650-page report from the Auditor General (I have!) -- sixth from the top:
http://www.auditor.illinois.gov/Audi...nce-Audits.asp

Like I said above, the cynicism is simultaneously perfectly understandable and yet maddeningly unwarranted.

I could list out all the various revenue tricks that the state has used to buy a few additional months, or weeks, or days, of transit service over the past FIVE YEARS, but I have a flight to catch in seven hours.

And yes, every single time they go through the motions, CTA incurs several million dollars in legally obligated costs (like mailing out layoff notices) which is just money that our idiot "governor" and nincompoop "general assembly" have thrown down the drain. CTA's unions accepted a substantial cut to their pensions, but understandably made it contingent on CTA actually fulfilling its pension obligations (which, like maintenance, it has ignored for years in order to keep the buses going) -- which, in turn, requires the legislature to change CTA's enabling legislation. Of course, TPTB don't care: Rod's up in his private jet buying Wrigley Field, Emil's pondering how to buy off his preachers with nonexistent casino spoils, and Daley is off buying up IOC votes for his next contractor payoff. Meanwhile, the "L" literally crumbles to dust.

I'm sorry, is my disgust showing?

Has anyone noticed the recorded announcements on the buses which go something like:

"Due to insufficient state funding, CTA will be forced to cut services on ....."

and then a pause like it's getting another recording (in a slightly different tone, I believe), then

"..... January 20th ....."

then going back to the same voice:

"..... Contact your state legislators, etc, etc"

One gets the feeling they just got the recording the used last time and cut and paste a recording with the new "Doomsday" date over it.

Sounds like the General Assembly has FINALLY reached an agreement - which will be an increase in the State sales tax. The Governor said he'll sign the bill if it provides for free rides for seniors. So, back to the House and Senate, but it sounds like the crisis is just about over.

Do you have the details of this, please? What's the new sales tax gonna be, and how much of the extra revenue is going to the CTA?

Thanks.

The legislation would increase the sales tax by a quarter of a percentage point in Cook County and a half percentage point in the five collar counties, which could use the extra money for transportation or public safety. The bill would also give Chicago the power to raise the city's real-estate transfer tax, a requirement under the deal that was first put together last summer.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...i_tab01_layout

So, I think it all goes to RTA/CTA

Gotta love Blago making up a new requirement at the last minute.

Not sure I completely agree with it. I would have liked to see some some sort of income limit on the free senior rides. I'm fine with helping out those on fixed incomes, but what about professionals over 65 who are commuting and still earning plenty? Why should they get a free ride?

But, if it ends our long regional nightmare of constant doomsdays (and if this really is a long term solution so that we don't see this again next year or the year after), I'm for it.