Bus rapid transit and traffic mitigation

Jake and others who wrote on this topic in other posts:

I'm glad to see you have generated a discussion about BRT. This is an enormously complex endeavor CTA is undertaking in an effort to alleviate the region's worsening traffic congestion. On the technical side, it involves CTA bus operations, scheduling, real estate, traffic flow, construction work, pedestrian flow, and parking. On the practical side, it will affect many neighborhoods and require changes in behavior and routine. Real experience in Eugene, Oregon and Los Angeles, as well as theoretical design, tells us it can greatly improve the quality of life for Chicagoans. Jon Hilkevitch and John McCarron have already laid out some of the challenges Chicago could face. I would like input from you and other stakeholders on this blog. As always, my fellow Transit Board members and I will look to public input before making any final decisions. There is clearly a lot of work CTA and others have to do to make this project work-- so let's hear what you have to contribute!

EDIT: President Huberman will be making a presentation to the Transit Board's Strategic Planning Committee on this proposal at the Board's upcoming Wednesday meeting (meeting begins at 8:30AM, his presentation will probably be around 9:00AM). The presentation will be uploaded to the CTA website later on Wednesday for your review and comment.

CTA and Google transit maps begins

Today, CTA and Google launched a transit mapping partnership that will hopefully improve your trip planning. I'm grateful to Google for their commitment to public transit, and I'm excited to use this new tool. I also look forward to programmers and other talented folks getting creative with the application and showing us some new and exciting ways to make our region more accessible.

Another voice for capital investment in transit

Illinois PIRG released its report, A Better Way to Go: Meeting America’s 21 st Century Transportation Challenges with Modern Public Transit, on some of the challenges facing our transportation infrastructure and articulating the clear benefits of a healthy public transit system can have on our quality of life--reduced auto emissions, improved air quality, better land use patterns, etc. I'm happy that Illinois PIRG offered their voice to the large but still growing chorus that Springfield must step forward with a state capital program to invest in transit infrastructure so CTA and others can address these challenges now.

I encourage you to pay close attention to this capital issue---it's CTA's next big funding challenge.

Citizens Advisory Board

Many of you may not be aware that there is wonderful group of citizen-customers who regularly engage and advise the CTA. This group is called the Citizens Advisory Board, and its members are regional leaders in government, transportation policy, business development, and community affairs dedicated to transit and CTA’s mission of providing safe, clean, on-time, courteous and efficient public transit for our region’s customers.

CAB members include:

• Greg White (Chairman)
• MarySue Barrett
• Marian Bond
• Jack Catlin
• Jacquelyne Grimshaw
• Hon. Linzey Jones
• Rickey Sain
• Hon. George Van Dusen
• David Weinstein

The Transit Board, CTA staff, and the CAB engage in high-level discourse on legislative affairs (including CAB members advocating on behalf of CTA in Springfield regarding operations and capital funding), day-to-day operations (including monitoring the slow-zone mitigation projects, bus bunching, the planned purchase of new rail cars and other service improvements), and more long-term strategic concerns (such as business improvements and customer service changes). Indeed, the CAB weighed in on many of the service improvements you are now experiencing, and they will continue to work with CTA to identify future areas of need.

The CAB will be having its regularly scheduled public meeting this Wednesday, March 5 at 1PM at CTA’s 567 W. Lake headquarters. CAB Chairman White and I encourage you attend to witness a very informative discussion about CTA’s future direction.

Purple Line and the Sheridan station

I've received a regular question or two on the possibility of Purple Line trains stopping at the Sheridan station during three tracking. Our Vice President for Planning provided me with the following response to the question:

"Only a very, very small portion of the boardings in the AM rush at Belmont and Fullerton (one to two percent) would shift their travel to use the Sheridan stop on the Purple Line--and there would be no significant benefit to customers at the crowded Belmont and Fullerton stations. Additionally, while some riders using the Sheridan stop might benefit by waiting for a Purple Line train, the Purple is running on a 15-minute headway, making it likely that most customers will choose to travel to Belmont to catch either a Brown or the first Purple Line train instead. Finally, a stop at Sheridan would delay the over 5,200 Purple Line through-travelers (who are the vast majority of Purple Line customers) and present them with even longer travel times in an already choked corridor with other inherent delays and slow-zones.

Given that the vast majority of passengers in the Brown Line corridor would not benefit from such a change, and the potential slow down in service for the majority of our customers, I do not recommend that CTA stop Purple Line trains at Sheridan during three track operations."

Sunday, March 30th

Yesterday, the Board took action on the Brown Line construction project that will mean some improvements for customers and some new temporary headaches. We're moving forward on time and on budget and are now at the second phase of the three-track operation at Belmont and Fullerton. Here’s what will happen beginning Sunday, March 30^th:

• Southbound Brown Line trains will be limited to one southbound track at the Belmont and Fullerton stations;
• To ease the temporary congestion resulting from three-tracking, we're adding eight car trains (from the current six car trains) to the Brown Line during morning and evening rush hours almost two years ahead of schedule;
• In order to safely provide eight-car trains, Paulina and Wellington stations will close temporarily because they can only berth six-car trains;
• We'll reopen the Southport station and open a temporary station at Diversey, both of which will be able to accommodate eight car trains (service will reopen at these stations almost three months earlier than originally planned). Work to install elevators and complete the stationhouse at Diversey will continue throughout the spring;
• Ridership capacity on the Red Line will be reduced by twenty percent;
• Current Purple Line service will not change.

I encourage you to read through the press release and visit the three track website (which I link above) so you can be prepared for your commute on March 30th.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we continue to move forward in completing this historic project. For those of you who haven't yet seen the renovated stations, I encourage you to take a ride (not during rush hour, ha) or visit our Brown Line project site for photos and a progress chart of what we've accomplished so far.

A historic day

By now you probably know that the House and the Senate have passed, and the governor has certified, a bill that finally gives our region a long-term funding source and gives CTA the tools it needs to address its spiraling pension and health care costs. This is a historic moment, both because it represents the culmination of 4 years of grueling work and because it sets our region on the path to sustainable, smart growth. More immediately, it also allows our riders to breathe a sigh of relief and our operators to not have to face the constant worry and fear over job loses. I am elated, and I’m proud to be the Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board today.

Finally, of course, I have to thank the Governor and the General Assembly, particularly Rep. Julie Hamos and her bipartisan House Mass Transit Committee members (both past and present), Sen. John Cullerton, Speaker Michael Madigan, President Emil Jones, and their Republican counterparts. I know what an enormous challenge this was to overcome, and I know that you have put your lives into improving regional transit. I am confident you will be remembered fondly for doing so. This was a long process, but in the end you and our entire region has a win.

Hoping in 2008

Here we are in 2008 and I still remain hopeful that our region’s transit system will finally get a long-term sustainable operating funding solution. Many of you may question my optimism after a year of short-term fixes and false hopes. Well first, I have resolved to be positive in 2008. Second, CTA provides 1.5 million rides everyday; we are a critical component of the region’s—and the state’s—economy. I continue to expect that Governor and the General Assembly will ultimately do what’s right for Illinois.

Governor Blagojevich and the legislative leaders continue to have transit front and center on their agendas, and in their own unique way hopefully move towards resolution of this long-overdue crisis. Ron, myself, CTA labor unions, Mayor Daley, all the media outlets, and just about everyone else it seems are pushing to make 2008 the year of positive transit change.

In the meantime, CTA is once again preparing for massive service cuts, fare increases and lay offs. You have surely heard our announcements on buses and trains, and as the day approaches you will see/hear more and more media coverage.

CTA is also moving forward prudently with what we can control—we’ve made significant progress on slow zones, with Harlem to Jefferson Park now running at full speed in the Blue Line and work beginning on the Red Line North slow zones, the Brown Line construction project is moving forward with new stations opening (Addison being the latest) and the other single-tracking happening soon, the bus-tracker pilot is up and running, and we’ll have some other projects to announce soon that will make riding the CTA a whole lot nicer.

Some of these projects, including our work on the Blue Line, were possible only because we shifted funds from other, important capital project budgets. This is not a good practice. And because the funding for many of these projects was programmed in the last state capital program, which ended in 1999, CTA’s infrastructure is in dire need of a new state capital program.

We have a lot at stake in 2008. I encourage you to stay vigilant and continue to let your state elected officials know that transit is important to you.

Watson and fares

This week, there has been a lot written about the recent Legislative Leaders’ meeting attended by Mayor Daley, including the Republican Minority Leader Frank Watson’s assertion in that meeting that CTA has not raised fares adequately over the years. The Senate Minority Leader believes that CTA could address most of its structural deficit through a 10 to 15 percent increase in fares. As most of our CTA customers and the readers of this blog already know, CTA is in its present woeful fiscal condition because we have faced a structural deficit since the early 1980’s caused in part by insufficient State funding. This funding has trailed the rate of inflation, short-changing CTA over $1 billion in operating dollars.

As you also already know, CTA’s structural deficit was confirmed repeatedly by the Auditor General in his voluminous audit of the RTA, CTA, Metra and PACE last year. Moreover, the Auditor General acknowledged in his report that it would be impossible for CTA to overcome its funding deficit through cost-savings (service cuts) and revenue enhancements (fare increases).

CTA customers have paid for this imbalanced funding through frequent fare increases. CTA has raised its in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 2004, and 2006. In fact, since 1985, CTA’s fares have increased 95 percent, exceeding the rate of inflation and causing us to lose millions of rides as a result.

Maybe the Senate Minority Leader has forgotten this. Maybe he doesn’t believe the facts (how do you not believe the Auditor General?). Maybe that is why he is advocating requiring another 10 to 15 percent fare increase as part of any transit solution. I’d like to remind you, just in case you’re swayed by the Minority Leader’s rhetoric, that CTA’s structural deficit cannot be and should not be solved on the backs of our riders.

Before any of you write: “Wait, Carole isn’t that what you are doing now with the January 20 Fare Increases and Service Cuts?”, please know that unfortunately, cutting service and raising fares is the only way that we can balance our budget right now. But I know it is not a solution. This structural problem can only be overcome by comprehensive, long-term legislative changes to our pension and healthcare obligations and by a permanent, sustainable increase in operating funding.

Fares and transit funding

This New York Times editorial from today’s paper is certainly relevant to the transit funding discussion that’s been happening on this blog and elsewhere. I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

2007 budget draws to a close, 2008 budget deficit looms

Our 2007 budget year will end without service cuts or fare increases because Governor Blagojevich gave CTA a one-time grant of $21 million that will allow us to get through December.

But because Springfield did not pass a long-term funding package, CTA must now prepare for even more dramatic deficits and consequently even more dramatic measures to balance our budget as required by law. To that end, the Transit Board voted on Wednesday to send CTA’s 2008 budget to the RTA for approval. Based on the RTA’s funding marks for us, the budget has a $158 million deficit. A deficit this size can only really be addressed by: (1) reducing expenses (service cuts) and (2) increasing revenue (fare increase) or, (3) securing a long-term sustainable funding package from Springfield that also gives CTA the tools to address its pension problems. It is this last option that we are continuing to spend our time working toward.

So, the new date we’re looking at for service reductions and fare increases is January 20, 2008. We remain optimistic that the General Assembly will act on legislation before then.

I would also encourage you to read John Hilkevitch’s front page story in today’s Trib reminding readers (elected and other) that the region’s capital infrastructure desperately needs state investment, and CTA’s $6 billion in capital needs are exhibit A.

Board public hearings continue

Last night at Lane Tech High School the Board convened its first public hearing to receive input from our customers and other stakeholders on President Huberman’s recommended 2008 budget. Those recommendations, as you’ll recall, will dramatically reduce service on both bus and rail and increase fares across the board. I have no doubt that Chicago will be a starkly different city if these go into effect.

These hearings are designed to give you and your fellow customers a chance to tell the Board what you think of the President’s proposed budget (not surprisingly, no one was happy about it last night), and also to weigh in with the Board on what you think we could do differently. We heard some very constructive comments last night—they reinforced the shared pain that CTA workers and its customers are facing as November 4^th and January 1^st, 2008 fast approach. Once these hearings are complete, the Board will incorporate public comments into its deliberations as it determines CTA’s final 2008 budget.

I am also staying abreast of developments in Springfield, including the House and Senate’s apparent planned action this week and early next. I remain hopeful if not optimistic that our state elected officials will resolve their differences and provide regional transit with long-term, equitable funding.

In the meantime, my fellow Board members and I would very much like to hear from you at our remaining two public hearings:

6 p.m. Thursday, November 1, 2007
Percy L. Julian High School
Dr. Edward H. Oliver Auditorium
10330 S. Elizabeth Street
Chicago, IL 60643

6 p.m. Monday, November 5, 2007
CTA Headquarters Building
567 W. Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60661

Music, history and transit

While CTA’s budget situation has caused justified concern across the region, I came across this story in today’s Sun Times that for me captures the resiliency and spirit of CTA customers. And I thought carrying groceries was a lot to haul...

2008 budget process begins

This past Monday CTA President Huberman presented the Board with his 2008 CTA budget based on the Regional Transportation Authority's funding marks. Thus begins CTA's 2008 budget process. As you have probably heard, his recommendations, if adopted by the Board, will be very, very tough for our customers and for the region at large.

On November 7th at 2pm at CTA Headquarters, the Board will convene to formally consider his recommendations, make changes they feel necessary, and vote to adopt the CTA’s 2008 budget.

My fellow Board members and I feel very strongly that the Board must hear CTA customers’ perspectives on President Huberman’s recommendations before then. Do you agree with them? If not, why? What suggestions do you have? To this end, the Board will be convening a series of public hearings on President Huberman’s recommendations:

October 30, 2007, 6PM

Lane Tech High School

2501 W. Addison Street

Chicago, IL 60618

November 1, 2007, 6PM

Percy L. Julian High School

10330 S. Elizabeth Street

Chicago, IL 60643

November 5, 2007, 6PM

CTA Headquarters

567 W. Lake Street

Chicago, IL 60661

I also encourage you to submit your comments in writing to our Board office, via our email address, ctaboard@transitchicago.com, or here on the blog. The Board always makes changes to the President’s recommendations based on this dialogue, and I assure everyone that we take it very seriously.