Greg Hinz has an excellent recap of the events that led up to Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano's alleged suicide, and a look into how it feels to cover a suicide — and feel responsible for one [Crain's]
Tracy Swartz talks to the director of a company called Aftermath that often does cleanup after someone is hit by a CTA or Metra train [RedEye]
Eric Zorn comments on how Pagano should have known how traumatizing it is for a train's operator to kill a pedestrian [Chicago Tribune]
Metra's executive director, under investigation for his agency's financial irregularities, apparently walked in front of one of his agency's own trains this morning in Crystal Lake and killed himself, the Northwest Herald reported.
Phil Pagano, the commuter rail agency's longtime chief, reportedly committed suicide two hours before a Metra board meeting where it appeared he would be stripped of his powers.
Pagano, 60, had been executive director of Metra since 1990. Regional Transit Authority spokeswoman Diane Palmer confirmed that it was Pagano who was hit by the train. Read more...
Public transportation riders in Chicago got a reprieve from Springfield this week, as legislators gave the Regional Transportation Authority the ability to borrow more money to bridge a $260 million gap in payments from the state.
A bill passed Monday by the Illinois legislature allows the RTA to borrow as much as $400 million in “working cash” to cover its debts — a feat that will mostly be used to stave off the threat of cuts to CTA, Metra and Pace while the state struggles to pay up.
While the RTA has been calling for leeway to borrow more cash since it revealed the state’s non-payment came out earlier this year, it’s not a cure-all by any means, officials said. Instead, it’s a tool they’ll use to put off paying back the money they already borrowed. Read more...
WiFi is becoming an increasingly popular amenity on commuter rail lines nationwide, but stodgy old Metra is unsurprisingly resistant (Trib)
Police track down stolen cab with GPS (Sun-Times)
New Illinois Tollway team has CTA, RTA board members; Bus lanes on the table? (Sun-Times)
A controversial bid to make some seniors pay again to ride CTA, Metra and Pace failed yesterday in the Illinois Senate.
Promoted by the Regional Transportation Authority as a measure that could bring Chicagoland’s transit agencies closer to solvency, the bill would have allowed only low-income seniors to ride for free, making others to pay half fare.
The RTA said the measure, known as “means testing,” would have brought $37 million per year back into the system’s coffers — not enough to restore all of CTA and Pace’s recent service cuts, but enough to make a difference. Read more...
The CTA debuts its new 5000-series rail cars with fewer seats, but more space/Credit: Ben MeyersonThe Chicago Transit Authority will start rolling out its brand-new "L" cars for the public, the agency announced today.
The new cars are decked out with aisle-facing seating, LED screens for passengers and maps that indicate the next train station, among other features.
CTA riders have reported phantom sightings of the train for months, but they’ll finally get a chance to ride it on the Red Line this Monday. Read more...
As the state’s budget crisis comes closer to creating another transit doomsday in Chicago, the Regional Transportation Authority illustrated just how drastic new and sudden cuts to the system could be.
Without any money from the state by the end of May, CTA, Metra and Pace’s operations budgets would have to be cut 20 percent in June — and probably more, according to RTA officials. By contrast, February’s CTA service cuts for the were the result of a 30 percent drop in funding.
While the RTA has known about the problem for some time — the state already owes them $280 million — they haven’t asked CTA, Metra and Pace to create contingency plans yet. Read more...
The Chicago Transit Authority is hiring back some of its recently laid-off bus and train operators, President Richard Rodriguez told the agency’s board today, but it’s not an effort to restore February’s service cuts.
Instead, it’s a move to replace CTA workers who are retiring, and it’s required by law for a year after layoffs. New jobs aren't being created or restored —staffing will stay at the same post-service-cut levels.
A total of 29 full-time and five part-time bus and train operators have been hired back since the layoffs, Rodriguez said. Read more...
The CTA has started publicly testing a train-tracking system, which will allow riders to see when the next "L" trains are arriving.
The CTA Tattler reports wait estimates are popping up at stations around the system, including the Chicago stop on the Brown and Purple lines, the Fullerton stop on the Brown, Purple and Red lines, and the Polk stop on the Pink Line.
The CTA acknowledged the program's existence, but said the tracking information isn't ready for prime time yet, and didn't share many details about it. Read more...
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. Read more...
Chicago Transit Authority riders have been sticking with public transportation despite February’s deep service cuts, the agency’s president said today.
Despite service cuts started on Feb. 7, ridership fell just 1.3 percent in February when compared to the same month in 2009, CTA President Richard Rodriguez told the board today.
The February cuts reduced total bus service by 18 percent, and rail service by half that amount. In all, CTA officials said the system provided 39.5 million rides during February of this year. Read more...
CTA bus driver pay is No. 3 in the U.S., and No. 1 when adjusted for local cost of living. [Trib]
No racial bias found in transit cuts [Chicago News Cooperative/NY Times]
Riders clash with driver on Grand Ave. bus [CTA Tattler/ChicagoNow]
With negotiations between the CTA and its largest union at a standstill, the union is lobbing a molotov cocktail at the transit agency with a pair of lawsuits, as well as a formal labor grievance.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 said one of the lawsuits expected to be filed in federal court today seeks “millions of dollars” in unpaid training hours for bus drivers learning their routes.
A second lawsuit, which union officials say they're filing in state court, seeks to enforce 10 agreements that would each allow individual employees to come back to work. The union said the CTA originally said they would uphold the agreements, but last week reneged. Read more...
The overseer of Chicagoland public transit, Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Stephen Schlickman, announced today that he will step down this October at the end of a tumultuous five years.
As head of the agency that oversees and provides funding to the CTA, Metra and Pace, Schlickman was the most powerful full-time staff member at the RTA.
Since he took the post in 2005, he oversaw multiple “doomsday” scenarios as the RTA’s subsidiaries struggled to balance their budgets — including another that may rear its head before he’s out the door. Read more...
It’s been less than two weeks since CTA service cuts hit Chicago, and the specter of a new doomsday is looming again — perhaps as soon as this May.
That’s because the state still owes the Regional Transportation Authority $250 million, and the clock is ticking for the RTA to dole that necessary operating cash out to its subsidiaries CTA, Metra and Pace.
The only thing that’s keeping the RTA from cutting funding to the transit agencies is a rainy-day fund of borrowed cash it’s been relying on since July. However, that fund has dwindled to about $90 million — only enough to maintain current service levels through May, officials said at an RTA board meeting this morning. Read more...
