Service cuts and fare increases

Today is a day that we hoped would never come. Although I remain optimistic that state lawmakers will provide increased transit funding, I am disappointed that we are forced today to put our employees and customers through the uncertainty of planning for service cuts and fare increases.

Every day on this blog and every month at our board meetings we hear from customers who want more service and improved reliability. At four public hearings in May and June, the CTA board heard from hundreds of people who took time out of their busy lives to tell us how important CTA is to their communities. Hundreds more wrote, called, and emailed us with their concerns.

In particular, we heard concerns that eliminating bus routes would strand people with no other means of transportation. They would have no way to get to work, to school, or to their health care providers. We heard the voices of people who struggle to make ends meet each month. They are not business leaders or editorial writers or political gadflies for whom an extra $2 a day is a minimal change. For many of our customers, the proposed fare increase would be a significant hit to their household budget. And we heard from our seniors, students, and disabled customers, living on fixed incomes. Doubling their passes would be devastating.

Unfortunately, it is beyond the CTA board's power to avoid service cuts and fare increases altogether. After a full generation of shrinking funding, the money and the band-aids have run out.

But Ron and I did talk about ways to address the concerns our customers raised about the plan. I asked him to go back and take another look at the May recommendation, with a request to do everything we possibly could to mitigate the impact on our transit-dependent customers.

You can read more details about the plan in the contingent fare and service changes, the press release , and Ron's presentation to the Board.

Although revised slightly, the service cuts and fare increases will still have a major impact on our region's economy. We will still take precious capital dollars away from critical infrastructure projects to keep the trains and buses running, and - here's the worst part - if Springfield doesn't act, we will be back at the end of September preparing another deeper round of cuts for 2008.

I am confident that state lawmakers understand the importance of RTA, Metra, Pace, and CTA to this region, but I also know that transit is just one of many other issues with which they are wrestling. I remain hopeful, but I regret that our customers and employees must face this uncertainty.