The cost to ride CTA trains and buses won’t increase next year or the year after, but it comes at a hefty price: A number of service cuts and the elimination of 1,100 jobs.
The CTA board of directors approved its $1.27 billion 2010 budget today.
Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday pledged not to increase fares, but that means the CTA must tackle its budget problems elsewhere.
The CTA expected to earn $83 million from a fare increase, but will now issue bonds in 2010 and 2011, enabling it to use capital funding for operations.
The agency plans to reduce bus service by 18 percent and rail service by 9 percent.
“Although we are pleased to be able to hold fares steady, service efficiencies remain necessary to balance the budget," said a statement from CTA President Richard Rodriguez.
He added: "We will continue to talk with the State and meet with the unions to discuss alternatives. If there are options that can help us reduce the impact on riders, we will continue pursuing them.”
The CTA will eliminate 100 non-union jobs next year, and 1,000 union positions, which have yet to be determined, a spokeswoman said. Non-union employees will be asked to take 18 furlough days next year, and the CTA hopes the unions agree to similar wage reductions.
The agency hopes to reduce vendor contracts by $2 million in 2010. It will institute savings measures that could save $35.3 million in fuel costs in 2010.
Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, which represents ‘L’ workers, says he wasn’t surprised at the news of layoffs.
The city, he says, “has miraculously found enough money to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority to prevent fare increases. But it doesn’t solve the problem.” He called the CTA’s solution a “band-aid.”
He criticized the agency for spending millions on new, non-union employees in the last year, and said the CTA should have raised fares two years ago when gas prices were at an all-time high.
When asked if the union would accept wage reductions, he said, "Nope. My opinion is simple. We have a contract."
Kelly said the union's stance would likely result in even more layoffs.
“I’m sorry for the public. It’s not their fault. But it’s not the fault of the workers, either,” Kelly says.
He worries that by laying off workers, such as repairmen, problems greater than long waits will arise.
“Then what? We’re going to have another baby problem? A stroller gets caught in the door and we drag it down the street again because the doors aren’t working properly?”
Windy Citizen 