The Death Spiral at CTA
The CTA has sent out just under 2,000 notices to bus drivers and other unionized employees that their jobs will be eliminated in the next two months.
The layoffs are part of a plan to close a massive $300 million budget hole. The proposal also includes raising El rides fares to $3 from $2.25 for a single ride, as well as the cost of a monthly pass.
“They want to mimic what City Hall did with the unions — the furlough days, the unpaid vacations and holidays, things of that nature,” said Darrel Jefferson, president of the bus driver and mechanic’s union, which is expected to bear the brunt of the layoffs. “We’re not open to that.”
Of course they're not. But the noose is drawing tighter. More layoffs mean more service cuts and maintenance delays. Higher prices along with the decaying infrastructure means more people will be tempted to use their own cars and carpool and find alternate means of transportation. Less riders means more layoffs and route cuts and service reductions.
And the slide into becoming Detroit II continues unabated.
And the slide into becoming Detroit II continues unabated.
Labels: city politics, we got nothing
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
27 Comments:
No great loss, as it's mostly dead weight that's being tossed.
Masters Masters Masters Masters
We already are Detroit II.
That's too bad. I bet people are going to be laid off right before Christmas again.
Do you think Daley will let the plows clean our fucking streets this year. What an asshole.
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Well,look who is in charge of the CTA these days. a real transportation ace. What was his qualification for Commissioner of the airport? Don't get the best you can get by way of a national search for the most qualified. Seems everyone that is given a position, CTA, CPS, OEC, Police, on and on....is apppointed jagoff without any idea how to run the department they were put in charge of CTA is a disaster, our department is a joke, a real Einstein for the CPS
What's the sad part, look who our Mayor is, When will it end.
Think about the added traffic congestion when it literally becomes cheaper to drive, instead of taking the CTA.
Finally! No more bus checks! I'm going to V.I.P.'s to celebrate! Take that Deputy Dugan! In your face!
Good! The CTA has so many useless shitheads getting paid for doing nothing. It's about time they got rid of them.
Clout contract scams for the right people, like digging up all the bus stops & putting sensors in the ground, have eaten up all the money. To hell with transportation.
Cut services, raise fares, fire a load of people & continue to steal
whatever money there is left.
It's the Chicago Way...
hey SCC.....
4 and 2 sounds great...but is
there a chance that you won't
work 160hrs in a period thus under
FLSA, you will not qualify for
overtime?....just asking
VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION!
Give me the CTA! With a salary to run it efficiently!
The CTA wants money, they can't run efficiently!
Consolidate bus routes!
For example: a milwaukee ave bus run from jeff park to devon bus turn around. Instead have it run up to turn around then return via the 85a central route which is edgebrook/sauganash route. back down central to jeff park.
Eliminate a route and add more stops for the buses!
My mother uses that bus, but it is not high volume. How about small busses for small routes?
COMMON SENSE IS GONE IN AMERICA!
We’re not open to that.
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When you are $300 million in the hole, there are very few choices.
CTA needs to be set up so the riders pay 100% of the cost of the agency.
Let CTA become its own again. Why stay hooked up with PACE? Pace is the one running in the red all the time. Why should CTA pay to support empty buses in the suburbs?
Six bucks a day for workers who use the CTA. It might actually be cheaper for some to start driving again.
Looks like Luberman ran a tight ship over there. Now he'll do the same for our schools.
Vote these fuckers out already.
"And the slide into becoming Detroit II continues unabated."
Something to celebrate.
Now do you see why Huberman was moved. When the heat is on, he always gets moved.
as a p.o. I have encountered quite a few cop hating cta employees. The want everything from the police but provide us with very little help. Hard to feel bad for them.
Cutbacks have already started. 1000 start special employment cut for this Friday 23 Oct 09.
Apparently commons sense flees the scene about 0139 hrs.
You've all been riding the small, short bus for too long if you think there's a simple solution to everything.
Unless of course, it's "Throw the bums out!"
The average CTA driver makes $74,000 a year and has better work rules than any patrolman in the CPD. I would not feel sorry for them
why does the cta busses pick up in summit on 63rd and archer road? why?
The CTA also served many adjacent suburbs. That's why they pick folks up in Summitt.
CTA employees are not required to live in the city. New hires only have to live in the CTA service area.
As for cop hating CTA employees go bite yourself. They exist. My brother is a CTA tradesman and he isn't a cop hater.
There's a subset of cops I'm not fond of and some folks might consider that "self loathing". If you're smart enough to get my point.
I don't know what the average CTA bus driver makes but their hourly rate tops out at $28 per hour according to the "google".
So if the average is $75,000 a year they are putting in some serious overtime.
My brother calls the bus driver job the worst in a very screwed up system. Do they deserve that hourly rate? That's debatable, but it isn't debatable that their job often sucks.
Is it my imagination or is it that anything Hubermann was or is involved in has serious financial issues. This guy isnt as smart as some people think.
The decimation of our formerly fine transit system is a tragedy and will damage Chicago materially, especially as oil continues to ratchet up in price.
Service cuts mean less frequent, reliable service and that means more economically marginal people running more cars, just to have reliable transportation.
More cars mean more people leaving the city for places where they can park the cars for free, without tow bills and parking tickets.
More cars mean more gasoline consumption and more sprawl and more congestion and more driving time.
They mean lower population density as well as more flight from the city, for a shrinking revenue base and less support of essential city services.
We need our transit. Chicago will never make it as a bedroom suburb. And I would not call the laid off drivers "dead weight"- they are on the streets doing a job, which is making transportation available to the increasing numbers of people who will not be able to afford autos as we head down the slope of permanent oil depletion.
As for the taxpayers footing the bill for transit, think what our cars cost us in tax subsidies, which include what we spend on wars in the middle east to secure our oil supplies. Never mind the $120 million a running mile our interstate highway system cost us- before the bank bailouts, one Libertarian think tank referred to our highway system as the country's biggest Welfare Queen- this was before the financial debacle, of course.
as a p.o. I have encountered quite a few cop hating cta employees. The want everything from the police but provide us with very little help. Hard to feel bad for them.
You are absolutely corrct.
Anyone who suggests that riders carry 100% of the cost is completely ignorant about public transit. The cost would be prohibitive for nearly all riders.
What should happen - but won't - is fare determined by distance a la Metra. In the SF Bay Area, BART operates this way. When I was there last month, the cars are in better shape than ever, and the ride is ridiculously efficient. Of course, since its inception back in the early 1970s, BART included signs which tell you exactly how long the wait for the next train. No distorted announcers. Some CTA stations now have similar digital signs but none are used in this fashion.
Sadly, what Chicago needs appears to be non-existent: a visionary mayor, completely unrelated to the Daley/Stroger machine. Unfortunately, that machine is so well-oiled that, while it drives the city off the tracks, it kills any potential competition.
Every reputable transit system in the world is publicly funded to some degree. Chicago is actually towards the bottom in that regard. The CTA needs new management who emphasize maintenance over costly expansion. The slow zones alone scare people away from riding the CTA. Much of the switching is still controlled MANUALLY with MECHANICAL controls, not AUTOMATICALLY with ELECTRONIC controls like any MODERN system. A lot is wrong though it can be fixed with simple, cost-effective solutions (and maybe some OBAMA CLOUT CA$H), but with these bozos running everything? Fehgetabouddit.
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