west towns Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 With Carol Brown leaving and the RTA on again off again talking doom and gloom, will service cuts be part of the service boards 2010 budget hearings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 As I previously said, if they are on the agenda, they would have to be in the notice of hearing. Otherwise, just speculation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksone44 Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 It looks like the deficit will be $300 million for next year (according to projections already made by finance). So im guessing so.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotjohns Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 And yet Chicago is pushing to be an Olympic city? But they can't get public transportation finances straightened out? I know this is a problem across the USA, but this is a bigger problem here. If Chicago gets the bid, that will be the #1 item on the agenda from here to the White House. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroShadow Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 Pace should be posting something, either in public or when I get back to work on Monday. I've got a feeling that they're going to scale back some trips, if not some weekend runs. Or some of the feeders will be gone. Stay Tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
west towns Posted September 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 Wonder if the new express routes on I55, 3-55, 294 will go in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
west towns Posted October 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 It looks like the deficit will be $300 million for next year (according to projections already made by finance). So im guessing so.... Crain's CB is reporting CTA will be down $300 M in revenue with over $122 M proposed in admin cuts., They claim they will 'make up ' the rest in labor and other savings. Would they need to cut service? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 ... Would they need to cut service? Hard to tell, given the neophytes on the Board. I see that the 2010 Budget Recommendations are not up yet, and I guess I don't expect them until the Board orders them released. However, other than a perfunctory meeting to swear in Peterson and set his salary (which is set by law, anyway), the regular meeting has been rescheduled to October 21. So, unless they tell the Tribune something before then, or staff takes it on itself to post budget hearing notices, we'll have to wait. But since the article indicates (also not surprisingly) that the Union is not making concessions, layoffs would be the only alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroShadow Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 The proposals are up for grabs now...and we'll see a return to the express surcharge on the express routes (something they should've done ages ago). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 The proposals are up for grabs now...and we'll see a return to the express surcharge on the express routes (something they should've done ages ago).Unlike the Pace situation, I'm surprised that the Trib. found the legal notice it published. I'm also surprised that they are proposing cutting all X service, however, I guess it makes sense, because it is duplicative.* However, the question is whether they'll bring back the something like old local frequency, which was cut back to 15 minutes in favor of the Xs. The extent of the fare increases will externalize what free rides are costing. Maybe this will put a little pressure on the legislature, but probably not. Also, the cutbacks, while not meat-axe like Doomsday plans, might make the unions a bit more malleable, but again I doubt it. I'll have to wait for the budget book to try to make sense of the capital portion, but it appears, with the references to Option 4, that CTA will be using 5307 money to pay down the bonds on the existing 1830-2029 buses, not get new ones. It looks like the majority of the money for actual capital improvements is in the $600 M (within a few cents) "Supplemental," whatever that is. One would have thought they had the money to cover the maybe 100 rail cars (at about $1.4 million each) expected in 2010. ___________ *Maybe this explains the statement in a Tribune article posted last night that people in the Washington Park area were hoping for an express bus that "would run" along 55th. However, I'm sure those people were not informed about this proposed cut at the time that statement was made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 The proposals are up for grabs now...and we'll see a return to the express surcharge on the express routes (something they should've done ages ago). How do you enforce an express surcharge? Back in the 80s when they first tried it, it was across the entire route. People complained that it was unfair to pay extra if they weren't using "express' portion of the route. Then it was only applied to pickups in the downtown area before hitting the Outer Drive, but then the 135/136/145/146 didn't have surcharges but the 2,6, 14, 99, 99M, 162, 164 did. Would the fare readers automatically deduct the surcharge or would operators be required to ask everyone for the extra fare? How would a Chicagocard or transitcard know when/when not to deduct surcharge? If a given trip is started on a bus and a passenger transfers to rail, will the rail fare readers automatically deduct the surcharge in addition to the "transfer"? This didn't happen with the Chicagocard previously. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 That's a good question, and would primarily affect 147, which doesn't have a local equivalent north of Devon. I suppose that the rest of the north siders could take 151. 14 has 15, and 6 has 71. I suppose that someone on S. Hyde Park Blvd. may complain that they have to walk to Lake Park to get a local, but the ME may be cheaper (although Metra hasn't posted its 2010 fares yet). Downtown only seems to make more sense, but that doesn't seem implied here. Since most riders use cards of some kind (especially since bus transfers aren't issued), I don't see the driver reprogramming the reader for each passenger. I even wonder if they would be able to program the reader properly for an entire run. A related question, based on a thread in the CTA Tattler. I think someone posted the wrong answer, but I am not sure. Basically, the question is if you have a transit card, start on the bus, and then transfer to the L, does the L turnstile only take the 25 cent transfer off your card (or nothing if it is the third transfer)? That would result in a $2.75 fare under the proposed schedule, but a $3.25 fare coming back. Also, under the proposal fare schedule, the same question would arise if you transferred from the 155 to 147. Update: They now claim that Transit Cards and Chicago Cards act differently. Could that be the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfan2847 Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 That's a good question, and would primarily affect 147, which doesn't have a local equivalent north of Devon. I suppose that the rest of the north siders could take 151. 14 has 15, and 6 has 71. I suppose that someone on S. Hyde Park Blvd. may complain that they have to walk to Lake Park to get a local, but the ME may be cheaper (although Metra hasn't posted its 2010 fares yet). Downtown only seems to make more sense, but that doesn't seem implied here. Since most riders use cards of some kind (especially since bus transfers aren't issued), I don't see the driver reprogramming the reader for each passenger. I even wonder if they would be able to program the reader properly for an entire run. A related question, based on a thread in the CTA Tattler. I think someone posted the wrong answer, but I am not sure. Basically, the question is if you have a transit card, start on the bus, and then transfer to the L, does the L turnstile only take the 25 cent transfer off your card (or nothing if it is the third transfer)? That would result in a $2.75 fare under the proposed schedule, but a $3.25 fare coming back. Also, under the proposal fare schedule, the same question would arise if you transferred from the 155 to 147. Update: They now claim that Transit Cards and Chicago Cards act differently. Could that be the case? Last time I did this using my Chicago Card I was charged $2 on the bus then $0.25 transfer charge to the train, as I was catching a second bus, after the train, it did work out cheaper to catch the bus to the station rather than walk! I believe the same happens with transit cards. Unless they are reprogramming the whole system it will be cheaper to catch a local bus before catching an express bus or L if using a transit card or chicago card in per use mode! Transit cards remember which route was caught last and show up as invalid if you try to catch the same route again within 1/6th of an hour (is this true also for Chicago Cards that store value?). I do not believe this is the case with Chicago Card Plus which stores no value on the card itself and information from card readers on the buses are only downloaded when the bus returns to the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 I'm withdrawing this post, as Kevin from the Tattler says the posting was "hogwash." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 WGN TV says that Metra announced that it was proposing a 6% fare increase. That would put a Zone B fare at about $2.50. However, since Zone B goes down to 79th on the ME main line, and all the way to South Chicago, it looks like the South LSD express buses (2, 6, and 26) don't look like such a good deal in comparison at $3.00. Maybe Mike Payne gets what he wants Ii.e. better utilization of the ME) by indirection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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