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| Sound Familiar?; CTA [Chicago] "Doomsday" Scenario | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 24 2007, 09:15 PM (367 Views) | |
| Mark | May 24 2007, 09:15 PM Post #1 |
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Advanced Transit Fan
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CTA Presents Doomsday Scenario By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune transportation reporter Published May 24, 2007, 11:54 AM CDT The CTA would eliminate 63 bus routes and two rail lines, and raise fares to as much as $3.25 a ride on trains if no new state funding is provided, CTA President Ron Huberman said today. The CTA also would institute separate--and higher--fare structures for rush hours. The combination of fare hikes and service cuts would begin in mid-September, and would result in a loss of 260,000 rides each weekday, according to the CTA's projection. CTA buses and trains now provide 1.6 million rides each day. The CTA says it needs an extra $97.5 million in state money. Under the plan, only bus routes that currently operate on Sundays would be retained. Those 91 routes would continue to operate at current levels. Purple Line/Evanston Express service would be eliminated as would rail service on the Yellow Line, which runs between Dempster Street in Skokie and the Howard Red Line terminal, Huberman said. The Purple Line would continue to operate between Howard Street and downtown Evanston to Wilmette. The cuts would be needed to bridge a $97.5 million gap in the CTA's 2007 budget, Huberman said. Also included in the contingency plan is the transfer of $56.9 million in capital improvement funds to operations and $5.6 million in new administrative cuts, he said. Those administrative cuts are in addition to the $12.5 million in cuts announced two weeks ago. About 840 CTA employees would be laid off, he said. Huberman said the agency's plan was not an attempt to pressure state lawmakers to come up with more funding. "If we made no changes, the CTA would be out of service in October," he said, adding that the agency would be unable to meet payroll. Among several options studied, the combination of service cuts and fare increases is "the least burdensome" on riders, he said. Under some of those other options, fares would increase as much as $7, he said. Fare increases would range from 25 cents to $1.25 per ride depending on the time of day and mode of travel, he said. Higher fares would be charged during rush periods, with $2.75 a ride on buses and $3.25 on trains. The agency's goal would be to shift more riders to off-peak hours. Under the plan, the CTA would run 422 fewer buses and 68 fewer trains during peak travel times each day, Huberman said. In non-peak periods, fares would go to $2.25 for buses and $2.50 for trains. The current cash fare during peak and off-peak periods is $2 a ride. There are no transfers. Prices for unlimited-ride passes would increase an average of 63 percent. Cost of the 30-day pass, the agency's most popular, would increase from $75 to $122. Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune |
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| Tritransit Area | May 24 2007, 11:46 PM Post #2 |
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Transit Enthusiast
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WOW! That's horrible - in some cases, worse than SEPTA? All routes not running on Sunday being eliminated? That's quite a bit rash! Hopefully everything works out - I didn't realize Illinois had such problems with their state transit funding as well. Anyway, check out this website for the PA transit crisis. There's some information about what some other state TA's are doing: http://www.rideonpa.org/transit/site/default.asp In Chicago, I still can't get over that proposed increase in the 30 day pass - 47 dollars! |
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