Possible 20% cut to Chicago transit service looming

[marmar]

from the Chicago Tribune:



RTA to vote Thursday on $61 million in cuts
CTA, Pace to reduce service; Metra to stay the course

By Jon Hilkevitch and Richard Wronski | Tribune reporters
June 24, 2009


A second round of budget cuts this year is on the way for Chicago-area mass transit agencies because of the recession, greatly increasing the prospect that commuters will face cuts in service, officials warned Tuesday.

The Regional Transportation Authority board will be asked Thursday to approve operating cuts totaling $61 million at the CTA, Metra and Pace to make up for a deepening drop in sales-tax revenue to pay for transit, officials said.

Entire CTA bus routes could be terminated and bus and rail service overall reduced by as much as 20 percent, CTA officials said.

"Service reductions through route elimination would need to be drastic in order to ensure a balanced budget," CTA President Richard Rodriguez told the RTA in a June 11 letter responding to the planned funding reduction of $50 million, which later was adjusted to $35 million, for the CTA.

The pending cuts in public funding planned for the CTA follow a $155 million cut that the RTA ordered for the agency earlier this year, despite RTA pronouncements in December that 2009 would be a year of financial stability for the transit system. The CTA cut costs by $15 million in May, mostly from savings in labor, fuel, electricity and materials, officials said. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cta-budget_24jun24,0,6943473.story

[mucifer]

1. should be interesting olympics in a few years no money no transportation.