CTA Chief Warns of Fare Hikes, Service Cuts
By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune
May 17–The new head of the Chicago Transit Authority warned today for the first time that riders would see fare increases and service cuts if Springfield fails to come through with $110 million that the transit agency needs to balance its budget.
CTA President Ron Huberman issued the warning during a meeting this morning of the transit agency’s board.
“I can say that shortfall will cause us to raise fares. It will cause us to cut back significantly on service,” Huberman said. “There is no other way to get around $110 million.”
Huberman declined to elaborate on specific contingency plans being put together for fare increases and service cuts, saying details will be provided at a board meeting later this month.
“We are continuing to crunch numbers. We’re continuing to evaluate routes so that the plan put forward is the most thorough and responsible plan that does the most to protect our ridership,” he said.
Huberman would not say what would happen if lawmakers provided some, but not all, of the needed funds.
The CTA faces a deadline to report its contingency plans to the Regional Transportation Authority, the umbrella funding agency for the CTA and the Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus agencies.
The RTA must come up with a revised budget by the end of June, and any fare hike and service cuts could take effect as early as July 1.
January 2006 was the last time the CTA raised some fares. Cash fares jumped to $2, and 25-cent cash transfers were eliminated. Users of the Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus were not hit with a fare hike.
Last week, as one of his first actions as CTA president, Huberman announced $12.5 million in administrative cuts from the transit agency’s $1.1 billion annual operating budget.
A total of 49 staff positions, of which 31 already are vacant, were eliminated. The CTA has more than 11,000 employees.
No frontline jobs like those held by bus drivers, train operators, janitors and maintenance workers were slashed. But Huberman warned at the time that the cuts were just the beginning, and service reductions were possible if the state legislature did not approve additional transit funding.
In other action today, the CTA board approved the $153 million purchase of 400 new, low-emission buses to replace buses on the street since 1991.
Additionally, staff reported to the board that seven more Brown Line trains are running each day during rush hours — three in the morning, and four in the afternoon — in the Belmont-Fullerton corridor on the North Side where track capacity has been reduced to three tracks from four for the line’s reconstruction.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune
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