Welcome! I created this blog to answer some of the questions people have been asking about the CTA's funding situation. We on the board have asked many of these same questions, and we want to help get the word out. So please feel free to send comments or questions to CTAboard@transitchicago.com, and check back regularly for answers and updates to our efforts to increase transit funding. -- Carole
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...
posted by Carole Brown | 10/18/2007 06:14:00 PM
29 Comments:
Hi everyone,
I received an e-mail from ChicagoCard@transitchicago.com warning that on October 18, there would be inclement weather that could affect CTA service and to plan travel accordingly in the event of a delay. I think this sending of e-mails is a good practice to help remind (or make customers aware) that a situation may occur on a particular day that could cause unexpected delays.
My only concern is that while the e-mail was dated/timed:
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:05:35 -0500
I actually am receiving the e-mail at 1:17 AM on Friday, Oct 19. So while this was a good reminder, it actually came much too late to be of any use. I really don't know if this is a problem on my end or on CTA's end (all other e-mails I am receiving normally and on time). Has anyone else received the e-mail late?
Thanks in advance.
I got it at 4:55 and a co-worker received it 10:30ish. They seem to have gone out alphabetically, since people with last names lower down in the alphabet got theirs before I did.
Carole, I was sad to see that a bus driver got attacked, I hope you get those screens quickly.
Thanks for the reply, anon 8:44.
Carole, I had a question regarding the new ties being installed on the Blue Line. From what I understood, old wooden rail ties were being replaced with concrete ties. However, I read on the CTA press release on the CTA website:
"Construction crews will be replacing more than 67,000 wooden rail ties with recycled plastic rail ties..."
So does this mean that concrete ties are not actually being used? If so, what does this mean for the life-expectancy of the ties? Would concrete or plastic last longer?
Thanks!
cta rider: I believe concrete ties are going in the subway and the plastic is going on the at-grade tracks along the Kennedy.
MC High Life,
thanks for the response. Do you know why they chose concrete for subway and plastic for surface? Does one work better than the other depending on the location?
Thanks!
cta rider: I'm not totally positive it is exclusively concrete in the subways and plastic at grade. That was just the way I interpreted the press releases.
I'm not an expert on ties and their materials but my guess why concrete was used in the subway was due to durability. Concrete is king but when compared to plastic, it is more expensive and more difficult to install (heavier and tougher to modify in the field), Fire could be a concern. Concrete certainly won't burn but the plastic could be a fire concern and in the tunnels, that is a big no-no.
Plastic also has more give than concrete and since the above ground tracks are exposed to a lot of thermal expansion/contraction, there could be an issue with the essentially "fixed" concrete. The tracks down in the subway just doesn't experience the wild temperature swings that the tracks above ground do.
These are just guesses, of course. Perhaps someone with intimate knowledge could offer more insights.
ok thanks mc high life!
Ok, Carole, the story was cute. However, its a little disappointing that you aren't having more frequent posts regarding the crisis at hand. Julie Hamos just gave up an update and its very, very bleak. It would be interesting to hear what you think things will be like come January 8th, when 50% of the bus routes are gone. Its been much too quiet over the last 2 weeks at the CTA about the crisis. Have you guys just given up completely now?
I see that Emil Jones has stated that the CTA is in "la-la land" for expecting the state to do its job(http://tinyurl.com/ypa7w6). The budget committee chairman, who unbelievabilly also is from Chicago, expects that Daley should solve the issue even though this involves all the suburbs as well. Does he know that the suburbs did not elect Daley and the taxpayers there do not contribute to any source that Daley could generate revenue from? Maybe he expects the mayors of Dupage County and Lake County to solve this issue as well. Oh wait, there is no mayor of Dupage County or of Lake County and pretty much all the suburban local governments couldn't do anything without voter permission (not to mention they aren't set up for these types of issues and they certainly wouldn't be able to coordinate anything with each other). He even refers to the money the city got from such things as leasing the Chicago skyway and other city revenue as "Daley's personal piggybank". Huh? Does he have information that Daley is using these funds for himself? Of course not. The only people who are in "la-la land" are these two idiots(and many of their collegues) and I think they will finally realize that after their constituints and others scream at them if these service cuts go into affect on November 4th.
Doesn't matter, this pretty much sums it up:
"Neither the House nor the Senate is scheduled to convene between now and the Nov. 4 date when the fare hikes and service cuts are scheduled to take effect. "
Concerning the rail ties in the Blue Line.
mc high life, you are correct: our head engineer told me that we are using concrete for the subway ties and plastic for the at-grade ties because plastic burns and concrete does not. The plastic ties we are installing are expected to last approximately 50 years.
An idea: why not ask Chicago and all the suburbs served by the CTA to contribute more to the operating budget by some amount (based on population/usage?), and lower the fares at rail stations and on bus lines that operate within the municipalities that pay the extra amount.
So if the City of Chicago pays up and no one else does, then the fare for boarding within the city would be $X and the fare everywhere else would be $X + $1.00 or whatever.
This would be a little tricky with bus routes, but should be pretty easy to do with the rail stations.
Well, first of all, that would do nothing to solve Metra and Pace's financial problems. I suppose that Metra and Pace could do the same thing (make the fares more expensive in places that don't contribute more tax money) but it would be unrealistic. Most of the places they serve do not even have home rule, which means the governments couldn't decide by themselves to use their tax money to fund transit. They would need to ask the voters for permission. And in most cases the voters would be too narrow-minded to think that transit affects people who don't use it, so they will vote against any such thing. Even if you are just talking about the CTA, it still wouldn't make very much sense. The best way to fund public transportation is an a logical and efficiant manner. Having local governments contribute money seperately does not accomplish this. And it is not as if only the people from the communities that would get the higher fares would be affected. It effects people who commute to these suburbs from other places (usually the city). And, of course, if you are going to raise the fares enough to make a difference it will significantelly drive down ridership. When you suggest they charge $1.00 more for rides from these cities and you acknowledge you can't really charge people more to commute to them then it is really only $0.50 extra. And that is only the same amount that they said the fares would rise from the current level in January (assuming you are using the Chicago Card) when they are also cutting around half of the service. It clearly would not be sufficiant. And if it was made to be more sufficiant there would not be enough people who ride the CTA for the revenue to increase the way that would be neccessary for the idea to make a difference.
the fare for boarding within the city would be $X and the fare everywhere else would be $X + $1.00 or whatever.
This would lead to some absurdities. Oak Parkers who caught the Ridgeland/Narragansett bus on the south side of North Ave would be charged $3, but they could get a dollar discount if they crossed the street? If they caught the Green Line at Ridgeland, they'd be charged $3, but if they caught it at Austin, they'd only pay $2.
Besides, the problem here isn't that Chicago is willing to pay, while the inner ring suburbs are reluctant. The legislators from inner ring suburbs are as in favor of assistance as anyone.
I'd argue one big problem is that accountability has been divorced from authority -- Daley decides who works at the CTA, how hard they work, what they work on. The legislature has responsibility for approving any bailout, but they have little authority to change things (or rather, they have only the clumsiest means -- only by restructuring the agency can they do anything.) And the beneficiaries don't neatly map into either of those jurisdictions -- suburbanites can't vote against the mayor, so they have no recourse there, while the whole state can vote for legislators and the governor, so Springfield isn't particularly responsive to our concerns.
I'd love to see power given to a CTA head elected by the city and the 35 municipalities in the suburbs that have CTA service.
The state should just require the six counties to contribute (in Cook County's case, contribute more). Apportion the needed contributions among the counties in proportion to whatever the 1/4% sales tax was going to bring in from each county, and then index it each year by population growth and inflation.
The governor gets to keep his promise not to raise sales taxes, the legislature doesn't have to approve the governor's alternative revenue sources, the RTA gets the sustained revenue source it needs, and local control is maximized.
[oops... last post got cut off]
...Each county board could decide for itself whether to raise the needed funds through a sales tax, parking tax, some other tax, or some combination of taxes and reallocating existing revenue.
"The governor gets to keep his promise not to raise sales taxes"
That actually does not make any less sense than raising the cigarette tax and claiming that this is not a sales tax increase. I believe I read somewhere that this is one of the things being discussed and that Blagojevich supports it. It's sort of tough for him to go around saying a sales tax increase "is too tough on working people" (or whatever his line is) and support a cigarrete tax increase. What's the difference except that only some people would end up paying the increased tax and these poeple would end up with a higher increase than a general sales tax hike. Not to mention that a higher percentage of lower and middle income people are smokers, and these are the people the governor claims to be so concerned about. And I say this as someone who doesn't smoke.
What's different is that the governor might sign it. Given that 3/5 of the legislature can barely agree on what time of day it is, at some point having the governor on board might be useful.
(And btw, a cirarette tax would disincentivize disgusting behavior, so at least it has some positive side effects. A general sales tax would just disincentivize... the whole economy! Not good.)
"And btw, a cirarette tax would disincentivize disgusting behavior, so at least it has some positive side effects. A general sales tax would just disincentivize... the whole economy! Not good."
The cigarette taxes in the city are already so huge that I think it is clear that they also disincentive the entire economy. In fact, I'm sure there are probably a fairly large amount of smokers who choose not to live in the city because of the high taxes on cigarretes. That means these folks will not be contributing to the economy. Those that remain will often decide to buy the cigerretes in the suburbs, particularly the coller counties, if they travel through them regularly (and suburban residents who work in the city will make sure they don't buy them here). This means the stuff they might also buy along with the cigarettes, say some snacks or a prescription, will instead be bought in the suburbs and the economic benefits and tax revenue will go to them. The difference in the cigerrete tax between the city and the coller counties is huge. I don't think there is any doubt that this has many effects on the economy. An increase in the tax even higher (even if the difference remains the same) will make it even worse as there will be a further incentive for people to purchase them in the suburbs.
The sales tax increase that was proposed would have meant spending an extra 50 cents when you purchase a $200 television. That is nothing. You wouldn't notice it. The economy wouldn't be effected to any observable degree. It is unfortunate the governor opposed it.
A 1/4% here, a 1/2% there... Add another 2% for Cook County... All on top of a tax that's already 9%.
All these "you wouldn't even notice it" taxes add up. They're noticeable. People are a lot more likely to go to the burbs to buy a major appliance to save a percent or two in sales taxes than they are to go to the suburbs every week to save a buck on cigarettes.
Perhaps a compromise: tax cigarettes, but give people a discount if they take Metra or PACE on their way to buy them. ;-)
Sun-Times reports that a gas tax is the Governor's solution. That's great - and environmentally beneficial - but it took him how many months to think that up? People have been proposing that forever.
Assuming the plan doesn't come with casinos or gimmicks attached to it, the House should pass it and elect a different Speaker if Madigan stands in the way.
Anon 1134:
I never said people would go to the suburbs specifically to save money on cigarrete taxes. I said if they are already there (say if they live in the city and work in the suburbs) they will quite often make sure they purchase the cigarretes and anything they might buy with it at that time rather than wait until they get back to the city. I would not be surprised if the city and county actually loses money in tax revunue as a result of the several times it has raised cigarrete taxes, when you include the sales tax of the goods that people would purchase along with the cigarretes and the income tax lost from fewer retailers existing since fewer cigarretes are purchased. Not to mention the fact that, like I said before, there probably are many smokers who choose not to live in the city just for this reason. And this has effects on property tax revenue and further sales and income tax revenue.
I'm not a huge fan of increasing sales taxes. And yes, they are already very high and they do add up. But at least what Madigan had supported was extreamly small (if you just purchased a $200 television and found out you are now 50 cents richer would you consider this a significant thing?) and we knew where the money was going. Stroger proposing a bad tax increase used to fund wasteful government shouldn't make anyone oppose a wise tax increase used for good and clear purposes. Fight Stroger's idiocy. There's no reason that should affect anything else.
The end is near...
Abandon all hope, ye who board here.
This is looking to be a truly scary Halloween indeed!
CAROLE!!! Are we actually getting a roof which doesn't leak at Bryn Mawr????? I noticed that the roof has been removed, does this portend actual dry platforms?
What ever happened to the bus tracker? Is it being cut or delayed as part of the service reductions - without being the subject of hearings?
re: Bus Tracker
Ron Huberman said a couple weeks ago in a RedEye interview that they'll be making an announcement regarding Bus Tracker soon. They recently updated the site to include color coding for additional routes, but it's still just the #20 that shows buses.
That's exciting about the tracker.
They've updated the graphics too, at least on the map portion. It looks better with the new grey.
Note that the wireless link is now up and running. That's sweet.
One thing they haven't updated -- quaintly, for about 6 months, the link to the tracker on the CTA home page has been clove in two -- with one link behind the B and another behind the 'us tracker.' Maybe if someone in CTA web design is helping Carole with her blog, you could go ahead and fix that. It'd take ya two minutes.
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