Chicago Transit Authority officials admit that pending service cuts set to take effect Sunday will have a devastating affect on many riders, especially the working poor.
Chicago Transit Authority officials admit that pending service cuts set to take effect Sunday will have a devastating affect on many riders, especially the working poor. “These reductions will make traveling during rush hour more difficult for the majority of our riders and we regret having to take these actions, however, by law we are required to operate under a balanced budget,” said CTA President Richard Rodriguez. The service cuts will eliminate nine express routes, including the X3 King Drive Express and the X4 Cottage Grove Express, X20 Washington/Madison Express and the X55 Garfield Express; change service hours for 41 routes (start later and/or end earlier) and call for less frequent service on another 119 routes. In addition, service will operate less frequently on the Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink and Brown train lines. The agency’s 2010 budget is $1.28 billion and it expects to save $95 million from the service cuts. Rodriguez added that the only way massive service cuts could be avoided now would be if the unions agree to concessions proposed by the CTA. “Because nearly 90 percent of CTA’s workforce is unionized, we have tried to work with the labor unions to implement cost-saving measures to help scale back service reductions,” Rodriguez explained. “Unfortunately, CTA has been unable to reach an agreement with the unions so service reductions and the corresponding layoffs of more than 1,000 employees will go forward.” Riders are up in arms over the service cuts. “I have to travel from the Roseland community (on the far South Side) to (suburban Skokie) every day to my job and it takes me an hour-and-a-half to get there,” said Greg Miller, 45, who earn $9 an hour as a security guard. “It’s bad enough I don’t make a lot of money and that I spend $90 a month on transportation. But now I am going to have to wait even longer, which means my commute to work will be longer.” For Miller to get to work by his 10 a.m. start time he takes the No. 353 Pace bus to the CTA’s Red Line train terminal at 95th and State Streets. From there he rides the train to the Howard station (end of the line) and then transfers to the Yellow Line train, which takes him to Skokie. Once he reaches Skokie he must then take one more bus to reach his destination. But longer wait times for bus and rail service is not the only inconvenience riders will face. Some buses will stop running earlier rather than later. That forces riders like Tracy Fielder, a 39 year-old single mom of three, to find a new route to take to get home. Fielder works as a housekeeper at the downtown Sheraton Hotel and gets off at 1 a.m. Currently she takes one bus to work and home. But now she will have to find a different way to get home to her three sons when she gets off from her $9.75 per hour housekeeping job. Normally she takes the No. 6 Jackson Park bus, which departs from Wacker Drive and Columbus, all the way home. But after Sunday’s cuts would mean the last departure from Wacker during weekdays will be 12:45 a.m. instead of 1:30 a.m. “I’ll have to find another way home now. Clearly taking one bus home was a luxury for me especially late at night but now it appears I may have to start taking the Red Line to 69th Street and then take a bus from there,” she said. “As a single mom I already have it rough so having my ride home extended will only make it that much harder for me.” Business owners are also concerned about the cuts because if employees start arriving to work late or not at all it could hurt productivity. “We have a shift that works overnight here and most use the CTA to get here. And if employees start having problems getting here then from a business standpoint it means low productivity and for sales that translates into lost sales,” said Leroy Williams, a manager at Kmart in south suburban Lansing. Gaffney said only bus routes that are already being serviced with another bus would be cut. For example, the X3 King Drive bus on the South Side and the X20 Washington/Madison bus on the West Side are among express buses being eliminated even though both buses are heavily used, according to Gaffney. And while extended wait times will vary depending on what route and day and time for some buses the wait time could be between eight and 30 minutes and for trains six to 15 minutes. Ridership for the CTA, both buses and train, in 2009 was 521.2 million, a decrease of 1 percent (over 5 million rides) over 2008. CTA had projected 2009 ridership at 517.4 million rides. However, rail ridership was up at 202.6 million for 2009, an increase of 2.2 percent or 4.4 million rides, compared to 2008. And bus ridership in 2009 actually went down to 318.7 million, a 2.9 percent decrease from 2008. For a complete list of effected bus and rail routes go to the CTA’s Web site at transitchicago.com or call 888-YOUR-CTA.
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