well, here is what I wrote to a bunch of people, though some of the links may not transfer over ...

Hello All,

For some of you, nevermind how I got your email address, I have it. I think that you probably live in Chicago or the Chicago region if you got this, now let's just move on.

If you have been following the local news, you are probably aware that the Regional Transportation Authority, which includes the CTA, Metra and Pace, is strapped for cash. As this is public transportation it, like any other transit system in any other city in the world, requires government subsidies. The return on the investment is business, a vital city, cleaner air, less cars on the road, and so on. It simply enhances the quality of life -- while Chicago's system is not perfect and could use expansion, it is a very good system that, with upkeep and an injection of cash, could be among the nation's best.

There is a bill that will be voted on in the Illinois Legislature on September 4th called Senate Bill 572, and I urge all of you who live in this great city, and who take pride in this city and region, to take action in showing your support for this bill.

Before I get to my main "Targets", whom I have chosen based on my prior correspondence with their offices, or by just having read about them in the news regarding Chicago-area transit, let me say a few things about contacting these elected officials. First of all, it is easy. Just either call or email, and you are one more person they can flout (or consider if they are not a supporter of the bill) as someone who supports the bill. Secondly, I don't expect you to contact every single one of the below officials; in fact, I would suggest contacting either Governor Blagojevich, or one of Representative Hamos or Mathias for reasons listed below. Lastly, they don't have to be your representative. Still, you can let them know you are out there, and that you feel strongly about this bill

Targets:

* Governor Rod Blagojevich (D)

Governor Blagojevich is threatening a veto of Senate Bill 572 should it make it through the legislature. While I believe the Governor's intentions are good, now is no time to be an ideologue. As a populist, it sounds good to say close "corporate tax loopholes" as the Governor has suggested, but that also makes it more of a state issue, which would erode the needed support of officials from the rest of the state. Also, as Rep. Julie Hamos has pointed out, one man's corporate tax loophole is another man's business expansion incentive. Call or write Governor Blagojevich and tell him to support S.B. 572!

* State Representative Michael Madigan (D-Chicago)

Michael Madigan, the House Speaker from Chicago's South Side, has thrown his considerable weight behind S.B. 572 after no funding was provided for the CTA in the state budget recently passed following months of gridlock in Springfield. Call or write Speaker Madigan and tell him you are behind him in his support S.B. 572!

* State Representative Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)

S.B. 572 is Ms. Hamos' baby, and she deserves a call or a note of thanks and support.

* State Representative Sidney Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove)

LIke Ms. Hamos, Representative Mathias has put in a tremendous amount of effort in supporting this bill. He also deserves a call of support. (I am unable to locate an email address.)

* State Representative Tom Cross (R-Plainfield)

Rep. Cross seems to be holding S.B. 572 hostage in favor of holding out for more money for roads in the area. The purpose of this email is not for me to be (too) preachy, and I strongly disagree with Rep. Cross. This bill is just too important at this time in the region's history to hold up for any reason. This isn't just about having nice, shiny new trains, it is about the region's economic survival. Call or write Representative Cross and tell him to support S.B. 572 unequivocally!

* State Representative Brent Hassert (R-Romeoville)

Admittedly, I had not heard of Representative Hassert in following the developments regarding the region's transit funding. In a story in the August 30th online edition of the Daily Herald, however, he was quoted as saying that this bill was " ... a dog and pony show ..." Personally, I would call the remark flippant if it was not so nonsensical. I already emailed his office regarding this remark, and I have yet to hear back from anybody.

* Senator Emil Jones Jr. (D-Chicago)

The lead Democrat in the Democratic-led Illinois Senate. As a Democrat from Chicago, Senator Jones has been noticeably quiet during transit talks. Call or write Senator Jones to support S.B. 572!

* Senator Frank Watson (R-Greenville)

Senator Watson holds the highest ranking of Illinois Senate Republicans. Greenville is in southern Illinois, east of St. Louis; so, while his silence is not necessarily surprising, call or write the highest ranking Republican Senator to support S.B. 572

Remember, these are not rate hikes because inflation has caught up with costs, or because the CTA has some great new plans it just needs a little more money for, they are being proposed because there is a budget shortfall. This means that the fares will go up, and the service will actually get worse if no new funding is allotted to the RTA.

Please take action. Please feel free to forward this or any email on the subject to friends and RTA customers.

Other resources:

http://www.transitchicago.com/

http://savechicagolandtransit.com/actnow.asp

http://drivelesslivemore.com/index.php

http://movingbeyondcongestion.org/

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/sb572

Cheers,
Matthew

Wow you need to be in charge of IDOT. I agree with everything you said.

we're fucked, and i think i might try to get transferred back to europe. fuck suburbanites and chicago is just what most of us chicagoans know deep down: we are a provincial backwater, with the cultural centers on the coasts.

rest of the rust belt, here we come ...

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/loca...243192315.html

I moved to Chicago from Europe 4 years ago and you can have the 17.5% sales tax and the unbearable cost of living there just so you can ride a train more often. Either that or do us all a favor and move to the "cultural meccas" on the coasts immediately where you can feel better about yourself. It's not like you are going to escape government funding problems and declining services. Welcome to the rest of the world 2007.

Bottom line is suburbanites shouldn't have to cover the cost of the El anymore than we should have to cover the cost of their highways. Neither is right. Tell me why you should have to pay for their highway needs out there. It is hilarious watching some of us complain when our El system is f*cked due to mismanagement and then go ahead and blame it on the suburbanites because they won't bail the CTA out. Ridiculous.

What's unbelievable to me is the solution some of us expect is to raise the already record setting sales tax in Cook County. I believe Chicago with it's 9.0% sales tax is the highest in the nation. Let's raise it again shall we because CTA employees have huge pensions and retirement benefits.

I hope the bill does not pass so the CTA can get streamlined. We need a doomsday scenario to wake the management up. There needs to be a lot of firing going on, and a wake up call for Daley. It's a bureaucratic mess that is not even coming close to paying for itself. So the solution? Let's become the UK and just get it over with. Let's raise the Cook County sales tax to 17.5% and continue to fund loss leading mismanaged transit services and just be done with it.

Blago was a complete idiot for never matching federal funds for transit/highway, but I have to agree with him that raising the sales tax on the entire county in order to pay for a bureaucratic mess, when our sales tax is #1 in the nation already, is just ludicrous. What's funny is most of us don't even use the CTA but we all pay for it. I'm a firm believer that people should pay for what they use in government outside of emergency services. I'm not really sure why we need larger government in order to manage and funnel our money. I shouldn't have to subsidize exurban highways like I do and they shouldn't have to subsidize a broken CTA. All the highways in this region need to get converted to tolls and the CTA fare should match at the least the cost of running it. But instead we have this attitude that other people should pay for it.

The one area I agree with you is Chicago is f*cked when it comes to transporation lately. There is very little on the table and very little planned to ease traffic congestion, get rid of bottlenecks, and shake up a completely mismanaged CTA system. The only area of our transporation/highway network that seems to be working and adequate is Metra (save for their horrible parking wait list).

Have fun in Europe.

CTA explores Block 37 deal
Millions over budget, city talks privatization with Skyway firm

(Crain’s) — The massive subway station under construction at Block 37 is running as much as $150 million over budget, a shortfall that has prompted city officials to move to privatize the project.

Sources close to the matter say the city has begun discussions with Macquarie — the Australian investment bank that two years ago paid the city $1.82 billion to lease the Chicago Skyway — about buying or leasing the Chicago Transit Authority station underneath the high-profile retail and office complex now being built.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-b...26228&seenIt=1

eh, i haven't liked your posts at all since you started posting. you have the completely wrong outlook on how government should work, i.e., "i don't use it why should i pay for it?", and i'll respond to your silly post later. (also, you don't even have the slightest idea of how this funding bill works, nor what is at stake. actually, "taking the train more often" is exactly the point.)

i will have fun in europe, cheers.

^

No offense but I could care less if someone I never met "doesn't like my posts." Especially someone who calls Chicago "backwater." What do I care what some self loather who thinks Europe and "the coasts" are cultural meccas with no funding problems or declining services of their own thinks of my opinions on government funding.

The bottom line is that the money to run anything has to come from somewhere. Your entire argument boils down to that we should have everyone pay for things you like, but you shouldn't have to pay for anything you don't like--i.e., because j korzeniowski lives nearby, uses it, likes it, and thinks it makes us more cool "like Europe," other people should pay for it 40 miles away, but he shouldn't have to pay for anything he doesn't use or like out there no matter how important it is to the region, like I-94, go figure.

I prefer a world where I don't have to help fund highways out in the exurbs and since I don't live by a double standard I don't expect them to fund the new Pink Line on a system where most of our cash fares goes to employee pensions. And that's the point. Not the transit versus highway part of it, it's that you like the idea of "trains" at any costs, even faced with the reality that the agency is mismanaged and we are paying more for their pension plans than the actual system. We need far more than suburbanites who live 40 miles away to help continue to fund a loss leader. We need a real shake up. We need Daley to get involved and the pension situation needs to be fixed. If $1.55 of every cash fare goes to CTA employee retirement benefits and health care than I'm sorry, but I don't consider raising already record setting sales taxes on everyone to be a real solution to the much more glaring core problem.

Who are you to say who has the "wrong view" of government anyway. It's all philosophy and opinion. I have no doubt my method would work better than your's and I'm sure you feel the same way.

Good luck in Europe. You certainly won't escape increasing automobiles, funding politics, and aging and declining infrastructure, that's bloody sure. But I hope you find what you are looking for.

eek ... your reading comprehension sucks and you talk out of both sides of your mouth. and you still really don't know what your talking about. my calling my beloved chicago a "backwater" was more out of frustration, but i lived in europe for 3.5 years myself, and i travel there regularly. they actually invest in mass transit, and your characterizing my advocacy of transit as my love of getting on trains is silly. if you don't understand the importance of mass transit to a region then i can't help you.

^

Why do you continue to quote my entire posts and take up so much thread space.

I hope you don't act this way toward people you know when they disagree with you or you don't get what you want. Your solution to someone who disagrees with you seems to be to throw a tantrum at them.

Your argument basically boils down to this: We need to fund trains at any cost and use anybody's money to do it, and since you disagree with me then you are not only wrong, but you can't read, you talk out of both sides of your mouth, your previous posts suck, you just don't understand government, you just don't understand transit, I just can't help you get it, insert next ad hominem attack here. I guess that is political discourse in the world of j korzeniowski's government. It's no wonder I have a problem with your form of government--it is clearly j korzeniowski's government and no one elses.

In the end, you missed my entire point. It's not mass transit I am against. I ride the CTA every week (buses). My prior home was EC1N London and I didn't own a car. I have grown up with transit. Why the hell would I be interested and talking about transit on an online forum dedicated to urban discussion if I wasn't interested in solutions.

But I can admit when I see a big turkey. When most of my cash fare for a train ride goes to pension and health benefits, then we have to think more deeply on what exactly we are funding here. And yet you continue to ignore this and offer no solutions. Since the end result of the management is a train ride you are willing to ignore any and all MISmanagement. CTA is a mess not only because it doesn't get funding, it's also a mess because of decades of inaccountability and mismanagement.

Either way, get real. You want Chicago to be London or Paris or Berlin. Chicago is not Europe and you can't alter its history. Most of its metropolitan area has developed within the last 50 years when the automobile was affordable and commonplace. European cities were pedestrian-only cities long before the automobile (or Chicago!) even existed. Of course they are going to invest in transit more--they don't have a choice. What are they going to do--widen High Holburn to 8 lanes and plow right through the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the country with a highway?

Either way I have to put you on my ignore list. I have little doubt you will attack me for my opinions and I'm a vet on online forums enough to where I know when you can't win with someone and they aren't interested in discourse. Yeah yeah I get it, I just don't get it, I don't understand, etc.

Does anyone else remember personal chat rooms? Can people still do that?

I agree, but didn't Huberman renegotiate the pensions with the unions as part of his shake up ? Maybe it is still not adequate but I think he said he was or did worked on that aspect which I agree was a major impediment.

Anyone who knows the labor financials of the CTA maybe could answer?

^ While I agree that Chicago is a mess, do you think cities on America's coasts don't have similar problems? :haha:

This is America, my friend. Land of the free, home of the brave. We don't ride trains, nor do we pay for them. You already knew that. Americans don't want to pay for things that help a lot of black people and immigrants, even if a sizeable chunk of whites and affluent people use it.

Europe is nice, too, but expensive beyond belief. Get convenient train rides, pay 8$ for a loaf of bread.

It all balances out--you just have to choose what's important to you.

Amazing how silly people can be here sometimes.

Good post but I can't help if you are being sarcastic or just overly simplistic. The reason everyone I know that doesn't ride or want to fund trains en generale has little to do with fear of other races or immigrants. It's just that these people don't have a pressing need for one as they own an automobile and in reality have absolutely no trouble using it. For the vast majority of Americans, heck even here in the middle of Lakeview one of the densest neighborhoods in the country, the roads are plenty adequate even for the dense population and an automobile is the preferred way to get to and from work (especially in February). It's just the way it is. Thank God we have the bus system and the El though.

As for the suburbanites, I think of my parents. White, middle class suburbanites who would never agree to have their taxes raised for mass transit around where they live in Milwaukee, even though it's been proposed by several politicians there many times. Why? Because they would never use it. It's really as simple as that. Why would they want to have their taxes raised on something they don't need and would never use. You can't blame people for that. Nothing to do with not wanting "black people" coming to their suburb, which is happening anyway regardless of any transit links (suburbs are becoming VERY diverse lately if you haven't noticed).

On the other hand these same people ride and love the Amtrak Hiawatha from General Mitchell to downtown Chicago and use that as their preferred method over the automobile to travel the 80 miles from Milwaukee to Chicago, so they are very pro-train. But like anyone they need to see some pull factor (such as the convenience of the Hiawatha).

I really don't see a problem with paying $2.50 or $3 to ride the el. Especially if it actually runs adequately (see blue line). I'll take that over an increase in the outrageously high as it is sales tax any day for the same reasons I would take tollways over income tax funded/property tax funded highways.

And we really have to think about implementing a DC-style system so that people commuting from 95th to Lake don't pay the same rate as people commuting from Harrison to Lake. Although there is the major political hurdle of a huge chunk of city workers living on the far nw or far sw sides.

Maybe at 3am the roads are adequate.


So lets get rid of the CTA and dump a million plus cars on the road each day. You think traffic is bad now. Gridlock is bad for the economy, btw.

And using your train of thought. I require no governemnt services. So I don't want to pay taxes for schools, I have health insurance so no taxes for medicaid or any health service, I want financial aid for college gone, etc. You see where I am going with this?

The 'problem' with this way of thinking is that many people consider it to be a regressive pricing structure, by hitting the lowest-income people the hardest. In contrast to simply higher fares or distance-based fares, using peak/off-peak pricing is generally considered more 'progressive', as low-income people take a disproportionately higher share of off-peak rides.

It's also important to remember that part of why sales taxes are so high is because income tax and property tax are so low. The overall tax burden living in Chicago is not at all unfavorable compared to most other older major cities, we just load up on the consumption (sales) tax as opposed to the productivity (income/gross receipts) and wealth (property) that most other locations use.

thank you, sir, you saved me a lot of time in going back and responding to whyhuh' in earnest.

cheers.

the other problem i often see is the notion that people have that, with increased fares, the service will become better. the rates are going up because the is a budget shortfall. you will pay more for the same service you get now. actually, it could get worse, as there will be more broken down trains and buses as i believe they will start using money originally designated for maintenance for day-to-day operations.

it's crunchtime, people, please visit this site:
http://www.savechicagolandtransit.com/actnow.asp

eek .. triplicate post ... forum slow for me today ...

see above

awesome ... there were four of these ...

The sales tax is naturally regressive as well, with the poor paying a higher % of their income in taxes. Also, the middle and upper class residents can alter their behavior and drive out to Oakbrook to buy the higher end items where the sales tax hits the hardest (tvs, computers, etc.). In many cases the poor cannot avoid the higher rate by driving outside the city/county limits

Chicagoian just got back from Seoul.
 

Am looking for a sharp object to slit my wrist. We got on the Blue line from O'Hare and thought it would shake apart. How did Seoul create such and extensive well run and clean system after WWII and the Korean war and we cannot even keep the couple of lines we have in good shape? Depressing.

Chicago is NOT first tier world class when it comes to public transportation. Wish we were really a first class city.

As a Chicagoan just back from Houston:
"Wow, I missed Chicago's public transit."

Comparing Chicago to Seoul is.....well, complicated. The built environments and government structures are so drastically different that comparisons are mostly meaningless and can't transcend the purely aesthetic ("Seoul has cleaner and faster trains! Chicago/US is inferior!"). Better to compare Chicago to say, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, etc. Seoul is so much denser, and auto ownership is so much lower than Chicago, that transit operates on a completely different paradigm.

^jkor,
Marcu was referring to raising the base fare even higher in exchange for better quality service. Since the public operating funds (48% of operations) are totally maxed out, this wouldn't accomplish too much in terms of service quantitysince the farebox recovery ratio is mandated to be about 52%. However, if the state was good for an increasing share, then obviously quality would increase. However, some of the additional fare monies could be spent for badly needed capital improvements.

thanks, viva', now i see.

ho-hum, sb 572 failed. it fell 10 votes short of the needed super-majority. funny how the news about chicago "officially" entered the international olympics race the same day.

the region's downward spiral begins in 13 days

i am really depressed about this, though ms. hamos did allow for this to be voted on again. i guess this still goes to the senate, it just has no chance of making it past blago' now??

OH man!! That sucks! So are these assholes going to actually do anything before the service cuts? Metra and Pace have scheduled cuts as well on the horizon. Metra's cuts totally decimate the weekend schedule. Do we have any hope at this point for a sensible funding plan? Maybe Blago will propose some business tax or something. Good luck getting it passed though. God what a bunch of retards we have in the state government.

Moving in Oct.
 

I live in Dallas, and I'm just up-and-moving to Chicago for no real reason at all, other than I liked the city and wanted a mature transit system. I'm just tired of waiting on Dallas to "get there."

How detrimental will the failure of this bill be to Chicago? It seems like service will still be OK. I haven't heard of any cutbacks on rail lines.

^ Fares will go up and weekend service (especially bus service) will suffer. It's certainly not the end of the world like many would have you believe. No need to spread fear to promote an agenda.

F8ck these state politicians. They're all pathetic. And Blago most certainly won't be getting my vote when he's up for reelection. I may be a hardcore democrat, but there isn't a single thing he could possibly do to earn my vote if he allows this state to completely overlook the CTA.

:previous: Yeah, I'd take Ryan back over Blago in a sec (seriously).

I agree that this is not the end of the world for the CTA. It will be a pain in the ass late at night and on weekends, but this is in no way apocolyptic. It doesn't bode well for the state figuring out transit funding issues, but it is one of many issues the state needs to figure out. It pisses me off incredibly that this (and many other state funding issues) all comes down to dick swinging on the part of Blago, Madigan, and Jones. F'em all.

We're doomed!

No brint, this won't be too drastic if these cuts go through, with the exception of only a couple routes most of these have adequate duplicative service and the fare hikes (to $2) are not unreasonable assuming you get a smart card for payment (Chicago Card). No rail service will be cut, but I'd expect it to get a bit more crowded in the peak periods as riders readjust to a new equilibrium with the reduced bus capacity.



Of course, no one seems to be talking about what happens January 1 when the pension contributions law that Madigan made last year kicks in and CTA has to start contributing something like $150-200million additional per year....even if the sales tax hike doesnt pass, they've got to at least deal with passing the reforms of the pension and health care obligations (and the real estate transfer tax that would help pay for them, and only be in Chicago) so there isn't an implosion by about July 08.

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

Yea Mr.Cross, do your part to bring down the whole metro transit infrastructure because your little town of Oswego need to widen its roads.:hell:

Thanks for the reassurance, Viva.

Do you know if the price tag on monthly pass will increase as well? Or will it just become that much better of a deal?

It will go up from $75 to $84 as published online on the CTA page and many other publications.

Thanks for bringing that up. So the increase for an everyday transit user will go up by about $100 a year. Really not that bad considering the property tax transfer would have likely upped rent by at least that much and would have put Chicago residents at a financial disadvantage.

I can't blame Tom Cross for wanting to tie this into a bigger package. That's just how politics works. He doesn't want to come home having spent 2 weeks (which is something like 10% of the legislative session since they take months off) on something his constituency percieves as effecting only cook county. It's really no different than what any politician would do. Cook county constituents are a little hypocritical on this point.

Perhaps you don't know that Metra and Pace services areas "outside" Cook County. The package that didn't pass was all incompassing for Chicago, Cook and collar counties. So nothing hypocritical taking place in Cook County.

And I would NOT mind helping fund roads in Oswego if they had some sort of transportation master plan. But am feeling that their being republican and pro-growth their answer to all problems is more blacktop. In context the man should be arguing at this point for an extention of Metra from Aurora or a branch shooting off from the Joilet line......not attaching cars.

If one thing...I would make it a Constitutional law that all bills are voted on seperately and only amendments pertaining to subject at hand can be included.

This will all get dealt with the moment Metra has to slash service or having anything less than the most pristine capital assets of any commuter railroad in the country.

I agree. I recently rode MARC in Maryland - no comparison to Metra.

Maybe you've had a different experience than me. I drive in rush hour every single day, morning and afternoon, on the local roads through the north side to/from Evanston and/or Children's Memorial and/or Northwestern Memorial Streeterville from Belmont. Sometimes I take Lincoln/Western, sometimes Ashland, sometimes Lakeshore, this afternoon home I decided to take Western to Foster to Damen and Damen home. I mix things up because I like to see the different neighborhoods and get bored with the same old route everyday. ALL of these routes have been plenty adequate and have ALWAYS been faster than taking mass transit. I'm sorry but this is just the truth.

BTW last time I decided to take the El from my home in Lakeview to Evanston Memorial it took me one hour and 42 minutes door to door. And I live very close to the Belmont stop. I can't even begin to imagine what type of road/weather conditions would be necessary for it to take me that long to drive up there. It takes me about 30 minutes to drive in the morning and 35 minutes in the afternoon. And owning a car already that's paid for and I can use for many other things besides just commuting, it's even cheaper to boot day-to-day (gas to Evanston or Downtown < CTA fare).

Maybe you are in the wrong thread because no one in here insinuated anything close to getting rid of the CTA. How ludicrous would that be. I said it needs to get shaken up, have more accountability to its customers, and Daley needs to step in and get serious about it (to **IMPROVE** it!) but that is the extent of it.

The money has to come from somewhere. Either way tax everyone and redistribute the monies to pay for services, or we charge people for using them. In my opinion, whenever it is realistic and feasible, we should pay for what we use (i.e., city dwellers should not subsidize suburban highways and suburbanites should not subsidize the 77 Belmont Bus). I know many people live in this world where we just need to form a Robin Hood society and have a public pot of money for everything, and this may work with some things, but that type of system for *everything*, which it sounds like you want, is intrinsically inefficient beacuse it requires bureacratic redistribution, politics and then there is the question of whose money is it really and who is accountable for it? Why do you think the CTA is in so much trouble? Mismanagement of *other* people's money and redestribution of your and my wealth in an inefficient manner while giving employees cushy pension plans and benefits that we continue to pay for with the *majority* of our fares.

But you seem to be reading someone else's message because I even specifically stated that things like education, that you mentioned, is not entirely realistic to self-fund and I specifically stated that I wouldn't cut funding for that nor many other government services so I don't know what you are exactly responding to.

So I don't see why this is all even an issue for you. Just drive, since it's so much better for your lifestyle.

Really!? I take the "el" from Belmont and I don't live next to Belmont to Davis in Evanston then walk to Chicago and it takes me only 40-50 minutes or so door to door.

Traffic in Lakeview is a breeze? Ha!

I didn't say the usual time was 1 hour and 42 minutes, I just said that day it was (and it was the last time I have taken the El to work because that can't happen to me again). It would never, ever take me that long to drive there. Never. I don't care if there is a blizzard.

Unlike some jobs, I can't be 50 minutes late like I was that day. I'm a doctor. It just can't happen. I can't rely on the El, to put it bluntly, and it makes me angry. I have tried many many times which goes to show you I would like to use and support transit.

BTW it takes you 40-50 minutes to get from Belmont to Davis. That's unacceptable. To give you an example, I drive from Belmont to *well past* Davis (to Central!) in Evanston every morning/afternoon during rush hour. I usually choose Ashland or Western, and it takes me a very reliable 25-35 minutes every single day. That is faster than the express train you take to a stop much closer to where I am driving and I don't have to go outside when it is 20 below zero.

Never said it was a breeze. I just said it is more than adequate and always faster than taking transit for just about everything I have ever done.

If I had my way, I would take the El every day. I like transit. Don't you think I would rather just lay comatose or read on the train every morning and afternoon rather than be alert and drive? But it is slow and broken and worst, UNRELIABLE and could get me in big trouble from prior experiences--that is the point I'm trying to get across.

I am sincerely happy transit is working for you guys. I really am. Just sharing my 2 cents because some people on here act like roads are the enemy when MOST PEOPLE that live here use them to get to work, and they have a reason.

here is what my post said:

"Really!? I take the "el" from Belmont and I don't live next to Belmont to Davis in Evanston then walk to Chicago and it takes me only 40-50 minutes or so door to door."


My post said "DOOR TO DOOR" which includes walking to and from the stations. I should have also added as I walk from Broadway/Belmont to the Belmont station I notice a line of traffic gridlock. I walk faster than the drivers drive by far and think thank god those driving in non moving traffic days are over for me!

Okay, so yes it seems silly in the midst of a funding disaster to discuss system expansion plans, but I think the best way for the CTA to survive is for it to grow into a fully interconnected system that people can use for daily life.
And anyway, it's just a thought exercize.

I was looking at all the trafic on Western Ave, and thinking it would be really nice to have a CTA line.
For fun, assume funding magically appears. What do you think community reaction would be to an elevated line above Western Ave, running right down the middle of the street?

It would start at the north at the Brown line. There would be a stations at Irving Park, Belmont and Fullerton. A tie in to the Blue line at Western, then a station at Chicago. Then down to stations at the Green and southern Blue lines, maybe an Ogden Ave station, before ending at the Orange line at 35/Archer.

Personally I would love to have the stations at Western/Belmont and Western/Chicago. That's what got me going on this thought exercize. But is this something that everyone else would want? If the city built it, would people ride it?

^ The only rapid transit that can get built in this country these days is either subway or along freight ROW. Otherwise it will fail the Environmental Impact Study. LRT is feasible but impractically expensive for the relatively low capacity it gives you. More plausibly, keep developing the X49 as a BRT corridor: signal priority, improved stop facilities at the the half-mile streets where the X bus stops, bus lanes/no parking zones, and of course real-time bus information (estimates of arrival time and travel time).

Of course, the X49 is about to get cut on Sunday...

Surprise!!!!

CTA slammed in federal report
Mismanagement, poor maintenance cited in probe of 2006 derailment, fire
By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune transportation reporter
1:57 PM CDT, September 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Chicago Transit Authority's track-inspection process is "a case study in organizational accidents,'' marked by a management culture that allows falsification of records, deferred maintenance of bad rails and poor safety oversight, a federal report said Tuesday.

The findings issued by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded a yearlong investigation into the CTA train derailment and fire in the Blue Line subway that injured more than 100 passengers July 11, 2006. Inadequate information about the eight-car train's location in the tunnel, between the Clark/Lake and Grand/Milwaukee stations in downtown Chicago, slowed the emergency response to evacuate the approximately 1,000 passengers aboard the evening rush-hour train, the safety board said.

There were also problems with the 55-year-old tunnel's ventilation system in removing smoke caused by electrical arcing between the last car and the 600-volt third rail, the NTSB said.



Investigators determined within days that some wheels on the last car lost contact with the running rails due to the gauge of the track being out of alignment.

But a subsequent examination of documents, interviews with CTA workers and repeated walk-throughs with track inspectors in the Blue Line tunnel turned up severe systemic problems, the safety board said in a blistering report.

More than 80 percent of inspection records were missing for the Blue Line, the board's report noted. CTA tracks are supposed to be inspected twice a week, but one track inspector told a safety board investigator that he had inspected his assigned area only once in five months, the report said.

"We found hundreds of records missing, literally hundreds,'' said Cy Gura, an investigator who served as chairman of the safety board's track, signal and engineering group. "The CTA said the work was done, but there was no record. The [track] gauge problem was not reported and the fixes were not reported.''

In many other instances, investigators found that inspection reports were falsified to indicate that track was inspected when in fact it was not, the report said.

Gura, who accompanied CTA inspectors on their rounds, said they routinely marked off on their reports as having walked and measured track in the entire 6 miles of their territories, even though they actually came up about 1½ miles short by the time their shift ended.

"It looks like a lot of people were looking the other way,'' said safety board member Steven Chealander, referring to CTA management.

Problems uncovered included failures in setting up effective training, track inspection, maintenance and supervisory programs, leading to unsafe track conditions, the board said.

Mud and standing water in the subway tunnel, wet and rotten rail ties, corrosion of rail fasteners and worn or broken screws and tie plates accelerated the track's failure, while CTA inspectors failed to identify the obvious problems, the investigation found.

"The track had clearly been deteriorating for a long time. It did not happen overnight,'' said Bob Chipkevich, director of the safety board's office of railroad, pipeline and hazardous materials investigations. He said the conditions found at the CTA were the worst he has seen at any U.S. transit agency.

CTA officials said they have replaced some top management personnel and initiated changes, including improved inspector training and the use of more sophisticated track-gauge measuring equipment.

But Kitty Higgins, a NTSB board member who accompanied investigators to Chicago after the derailment, said the failures found at the CTA "should really be a wakeup call to transit agencies across the nation.''

"This accident is about the failure to understand and invest in a system of this age that carries thousands and thousands and thousands of people everyday,'' Higgins said.

The investigation also found that CTA employees were required to pull double-duty--working as both track maintainers and track inspectors, creating a conflict of interest.

"The maintainers are the same people doing the inspections. Where is the quality assurance there?'' said safety board member Robert Sumwalt.

A human factors expert at the safety board said the CTA's corporate culture apparently allowed mistakes and other failures to take place and occur repeatedly.

Referring to the management style at the transit agency, Gerald Weeks, chief of the board's human performance and survival factors division, said: "It sounds like a case study in organizational accidents.''

Sumwalt noted that budget pressures at the CTA often meant reduced staffing of maintenance personnel and inspectors.

"The result was that inspectors were often called away from inspections to make repairs,'' Sumwalt said.

The investigation also singled out the Regional Transportation Authority, which has rail safety oversight responsibilities, for failing to closely monitor the CTA, leading to unsafe track conditions continuing to exist, the safety board said. Lax monitoring by the Federal Transit Administration was also cited in the safety board report.

"Clearly there was very minimal oversight going on between the FTA and the state program,'' Chipkevich said.

Surprise!!!!

CTA slammed in federal report
Mismanagement, poor maintenance cited in probe of 2006 derailment, fire
By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune transportation reporter
1:57 PM CDT, September 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Chicago Transit Authority's track-inspection process is "a case study in organizational accidents,'' marked by a management culture that allows falsification of records, deferred maintenance of bad rails and poor safety oversight, a federal report said Tuesday.

The findings issued by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded a yearlong investigation into the CTA train derailment and fire in the Blue Line subway that injured more than 100 passengers July 11, 2006. Inadequate information about the eight-car train's location in the tunnel, between the Clark/Lake and Grand/Milwaukee stations in downtown Chicago, slowed the emergency response to evacuate the approximately 1,000 passengers aboard the evening rush-hour train, the safety board said.

There were also problems with the 55-year-old tunnel's ventilation system in removing smoke caused by electrical arcing between the last car and the 600-volt third rail, the NTSB said.



Investigators determined within days that some wheels on the last car lost contact with the running rails due to the gauge of the track being out of alignment.

But a subsequent examination of documents, interviews with CTA workers and repeated walk-throughs with track inspectors in the Blue Line tunnel turned up severe systemic problems, the safety board said in a blistering report.

More than 80 percent of inspection records were missing for the Blue Line, the board's report noted. CTA tracks are supposed to be inspected twice a week, but one track inspector told a safety board investigator that he had inspected his assigned area only once in five months, the report said.

"We found hundreds of records missing, literally hundreds,'' said Cy Gura, an investigator who served as chairman of the safety board's track, signal and engineering group. "The CTA said the work was done, but there was no record. The [track] gauge problem was not reported and the fixes were not reported.''

In many other instances, investigators found that inspection reports were falsified to indicate that track was inspected when in fact it was not, the report said.

Gura, who accompanied CTA inspectors on their rounds, said they routinely marked off on their reports as having walked and measured track in the entire 6 miles of their territories, even though they actually came up about 1½ miles short by the time their shift ended.

"It looks like a lot of people were looking the other way,'' said safety board member Steven Chealander, referring to CTA management.

Problems uncovered included failures in setting up effective training, track inspection, maintenance and supervisory programs, leading to unsafe track conditions, the board said.

Mud and standing water in the subway tunnel, wet and rotten rail ties, corrosion of rail fasteners and worn or broken screws and tie plates accelerated the track's failure, while CTA inspectors failed to identify the obvious problems, the investigation found.

"The track had clearly been deteriorating for a long time. It did not happen overnight,'' said Bob Chipkevich, director of the safety board's office of railroad, pipeline and hazardous materials investigations. He said the conditions found at the CTA were the worst he has seen at any U.S. transit agency.

CTA officials said they have replaced some top management personnel and initiated changes, including improved inspector training and the use of more sophisticated track-gauge measuring equipment.

But Kitty Higgins, a NTSB board member who accompanied investigators to Chicago after the derailment, said the failures found at the CTA "should really be a wakeup call to transit agencies across the nation.''

"This accident is about the failure to understand and invest in a system of this age that carries thousands and thousands and thousands of people everyday,'' Higgins said.

The investigation also found that CTA employees were required to pull double-duty--working as both track maintainers and track inspectors, creating a conflict of interest.

"The maintainers are the same people doing the inspections. Where is the quality assurance there?'' said safety board member Robert Sumwalt.

A human factors expert at the safety board said the CTA's corporate culture apparently allowed mistakes and other failures to take place and occur repeatedly.

Referring to the management style at the transit agency, Gerald Weeks, chief of the board's human performance and survival factors division, said: "It sounds like a case study in organizational accidents.''

Sumwalt noted that budget pressures at the CTA often meant reduced staffing of maintenance personnel and inspectors.

"The result was that inspectors were often called away from inspections to make repairs,'' Sumwalt said.

The investigation also singled out the Regional Transportation Authority, which has rail safety oversight responsibilities, for failing to closely monitor the CTA, leading to unsafe track conditions continuing to exist, the safety board said. Lax monitoring by the Federal Transit Administration was also cited in the safety board report.

"Clearly there was very minimal oversight going on between the FTA and the state program,'' Chipkevich said.

Well now that the CTA will have less bus routes less things can go wrong due to a combination of mismanagement/lack of funds/incompotence.

And I guess this is why the CTA pushed so hard to get the transit bill through the legislature before this week. There's no way anything is happening now until there is a major shakedown at the CTA (yes another one). The fact that 80% of the records were "missing" is simply appauling.

so at this point will the state step in and provide the funding?

Yeah I know what you were saying my response should have been more clear.

50 minutes getting from your place on Broadway/Belmont to Davis/Chicago is unacceptable when it would take you half that time to drive. This goes to show you how broken the CTA has become especially given that most of your travel is dedicated right of way with no stop lights and NO STOPS from Belmont all the way to the very northern border of the city.

You can poke fun at local traffic all you want, but it is local traffic. With the density of the surrounding neighorhoods there is no reason to drive long distances.

As far as commuting, I live a few blocks from you and to give you some perspective, with the horrible traffic that you are glad you don't have to deal with anymore, it takes me 25-35 minutes max during peak rush hour, door-to-door, from Racine/Belmont all the way to Central/Ridge (considerably farther north than your destination). That's a savings of almost one hour each day because I drive. That's unacceptable.