The head of the CTA bus drivers' union is meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today in Washington, the union says.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 President Darrell Jefferson will lobby LaHood, a former Illinois congressman, in support of a House bill to let transit systems use as much as 50 percent of federal funding to pay for day-to-day operations.
Jefferson will also meet with members of Illinois' congressional delegation to tell the unions' side of the story in the recent CTA service cuts.
Currently, federal funding is almost entirely destined for long-term capital investments in transit infrastructure. Diverting those funds to pay for operations is a major union priority, though all parties involved say diverting capital funding mortgages transit's future.