As the Chicago Transit Authority’s doomsday approaches and negotiations with its unions remain gridlocked, the agency has started notifying riders of impending service cuts.
“The days of preparing for the storm have passed — we are now in its midst,” CTA President Richard Rodriguez said at the agency’s monthly board meeting today. “We want customers to have information as early as possible so that they can plan their travels based on the new schedules.”
The CTA has posted a list of service cuts on its Web site, detailing the specifics for each bus and train route. Nine express bus routes will be eliminated entirely, 41 will have their start or end times changed, and 78 more will run less frequently. All “L” lines will run less frequently except for the Yellow.
Last week, the CTA began running audio announcements on buses and displaying information on the system’s digital displays. Next week, the agency is planning to send “information specialists” to pass out pamphlets at bus stops and train stations.
The CTA maintained they could stave off a few of the cuts if the transportation unions would agree to shoulder some of the deficit’s burden, as non-union CTA employees and the state of Illinois have.
“The only party that has yet to step to the table to assist us has been, unfortunately, the unions,” said CTA Board Chairman Terry Peterson. “At the end of the day, the unions could really help us out by coming to the table and coming up with some concession that they could live with.”
However, that seems unlikely. During the board meeting, scores of protestors organized by the unions marched outside CTA headquarters, their chants clearly audible in the board room.
“I would love to help, but I see the help as a one-way street, and it has to go both ways,” said Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which primarily represents the CTA’s bus drivers. “Opening the contract is out of the question.”
Robert Kelly, president of ATU 308, which primarily represents the CTA’s “L” operators, has said he won’t discuss any sort of cuts until the city settles a dispute over the order in which the agency is planning to lay off its employees. An arbitrator is scheduled to take up the case before the end of January.
Windy Citizen 