RTA History

[Busjack]

Thinking that this was getting too afield, a new thread...

... I was just told that they were from WNC Transit, but the fellow who gave them to me may have remembered wrong or was thinking of something else.

The one that doesn't say Transit Management might have been when WNC was operating under a purchase of service agreement with the RTA. The private bus companies did that basically between 1976 when the RTA was founded, and 1981, when the RTA went financially bust, and most suburban service ceased. There was a lot of litigation at that time (dealing with whether the Illinois Commerce Commission could force the private companies to provide service, which it couldn't), and the RTA finally decided to buy them all (WNC, South Suburban Safeway, West Towns, and Suburban Transit). Thus, there must also have been a Transit Management of Oak Lawn

You can get more details by going to the Chicago Transit and Railfan Suburban Bus Routes History, and then start clicking with West. Of course, you would be more interested in Waukegan, where Bill says that the RTA restructured the WNC routes in 1977. So, that transfer is probably from 1977 to 1981.

[Railwaymodeler]

So I take it from what you said, too, that the Steve Dahl parody song "RTA" comes from 1981, when the RTA went bust.

I have that on a 45 RPM record, for what it's worth.

[Busjack]

So I take it from what you said, too, that the Steve Dahl parody song "RTA" comes from 1981, when the RTA went bust.

I have that on a 45 RPM record, for what it's worth.

I didn't know about that.

I had read that somehow Jane Byrne was responsible for the RTA going bust, but never figured out how. CTA fares about doubled during that time.

Update: I see you already found it on YouTube. The references to green and white indicate that while it is about the RTA, he was riding the CTA. No reference to slate and orange.

However, the main benefit of that clip is checking that both computer speakers work.:lol:

[Railwaymodeler]

Right, and the paper cover for the record, shows Steve Dahl in the front door of a CTA MAN bus.

The song does mention Byrne at one point.

[artthouwill]

There was a recent article on the homepage where two state senators were decrying the deficit in Metra's capital budget. One threatened to put into legislation a law requiring cooperation between the 3 boards, especially in regards to purchases. I wonder why this has to be a law. It would seem to be common sense for the RTA to purchase buses for both CTA and Pace (since they both will need new buses soon). The question is will CTA balk if NABI is the low bidder OR will NABI balk also?

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110730/news/707309906/

From the article:

Garrett also suggested a law that would demand the agencies work together to purchase goods and services and thus save money. She complained that there should not be bureaucratic roadblocks to joint purchases.

Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110730/news/707309906/#ixzz1TjPBNFPV

[Busjack]

Most of this is legislative posturing. Garrett is on the way out. Sandoval is peeved that he was not given the Metra Executive Directorship, and that board had the gall to search for a transit professional.

Most of what the article said was about micromanaging Metra. A bill mentioned in the CTA Tattler was to about the same effect, considering that CTA already has a project for open fare media and trackers.

Now, maybe Metra, being the finest commuter railroad of the 19th century, and having corrupt leadership up to about a year ago, needs micromanagement.

However, joint purchasing certainly will be of things like supplies. Metra is certainly not going to use NABI buses, and CTA and Pace certainly are not going to use Nippon Sharyo bilevel railcars.

If you are talking buses, there was an RTA joint procurement in 1976, resulting in 8000 series 35 foot RTA buses, and the 9600 series 40 foot buses on the CTA spec. So, even if there were joint procurement, it wouldn't necessarily be for the same thing. Our Minnesota friends can tell us if the Metro Council buys the same stuff for the outlying TAs.

Of course, the thing that Garrett and Sandoval can't figure out is if there were a unified transit system here, like in NYC, there wouldn't be a need for all this posturing.