Chicago Transit 'Doomsday' Looms

[marmar]

from The State Journal-Register, via MassTransitMag:



Chicago Transit 'Doomsday' Looms


Mike Ramsey, Gatehouse News Service, The State Journal-Register



There's at least a scrap of good news for mass-transit agencies in the Chicago region and the 2 million riders who rely on them daily.

After previous budget Band-Aids, many state lawmakers seem to finally agree that commuter buses and trains need a permanent source of new money to keep running. The problem is - and it's a big problem - elected leaders continue to disagree on how to raise those hundreds of millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking toward the Chicago Transit Authority's Nov. 4 "doomsday," when lack of money will force the CTA to reduce service, lay off employees and raise peak-hour fares. Deeper cuts and larger fare hikes for 2008 were previewed Friday by CTA President Ron Huberman, who urged Springfield to deliver permanent relief.

"The sooner that the state legislature acts, the sooner we can take these doomsdays off the table," he said. "We know that people are nervous, we know that people are scared."

Many transit proponents are pushing for a quarter-cent increase in the Chicago-area sales tax that helps pay for the CTA in Chicago and Metra trains and Pace buses in the suburbs. A House bill to authorize the hike has stalled, in part because legislators from outside the Chicago area have demanded a new statewide capital program as a quid pro quo.

"I think lawmakers, particularly downstate lawmakers, understand we haven't had a road-and-bridge construction program in eight years," state Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, said. "They know if we don't do something for mass transit, we're not going to get that." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=4603

[Fovea]

1. User fees for single occupant motor vehicles

in Cook county.

[marmar]

2. That would be my proposal too....

Although any politician who suggests it might be burned at the stake.

[Fovea]

3. seems to be working pretty well for London

And I think it would work here.

[marmar]

4. It is working for London. I visited last November, and central London....

.... though still congested, was not nearly as nightmarish as I remember from several years earlier. I hear that Paris is considering a similar congestion tax.

[Fovea]

5. At the mid america regional council

I got odd looks when I suggested it.
But that's ok. I am used to getting odd looks, particularly from politicians.