Train wreck

They declared a crisis. The world yawned.

That's the sorry situation in which Chicago Transit Authority officials — and hundreds of thousands of commuters — find themselves as powerbrokers all but ignore the CTA's threats to sharply slash service and pump up fares unless it gets a cash infusion soon.

"I'm scared. I'm worried that they're not going to do anything," says CTA Chairman Carole Brown, referring specifically to the Illinois Legislature but talking more generally about the state's overall leadership. "I've never seen it like this, so much lack of cooperation."

Ms. Brown has reason to worry. But so does the city's still mostly sleeping business elite.

A hefty 61% of those who work downtown get there on the CTA or Metra, the commuter train line, which has its own financial problems. In the Stevenson, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Lake Shore corridors, the CTA alone carries at least 40% of total rush-hour traffic. Guess who loses if those folks can't get to work, or show up hours late?

Yet legislators report few calls from business leaders demanding action. "We need to step up more," concedes George Ranney, head of Metropolis 2020, one of the few groups that has.

Why? How did the city get this close to what could become a true transit meltdown?

The answer starts with the CTA. Years of grossly underfunding its employee pension plan, misdirecting capital funds, operating unreliable service with dirty vehicles, hiring City Hall rejects for middle-management jobs and extending its middle finger to the outside world have caught up with the agency. Its credibility is gone, and though new CTA boss Ron Huberman is off to a promising start, he can only do so much in a month.

Ironically, the CTA is in trouble now because then-President Frank Kruesi uncharacteristically chose to play nice last fall. Instead of justly declaring a budget crisis then — a card he played prematurely in prior years — the CTA and Regional Transit Authority assented to pleas to keep quiet until after Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Richard M. Daley and state and city lawmakers had been safely re-elected. The unstated promise from the pols: Help us now and we'll help you in the spring.

That was then.

Mr. Blagojevich now says he'll help the CTA after everyone else agrees to raise business taxes as much as he wants for health care. Senate President Emil Jones is so focused on gambling and other subjects that he hasn't even appointed a point person on transit. House Speaker Michael Madigan has done a bit, but even he passed a hold-the-line state budget notably without anything for transit.

Oddly, it's been suburban Republicans, the chairs of the collar county boards, who've been willing to talk about new taxes for transit and roads.

And Mr. Daley?

While waiting to hear him address a business group last week, I suggested to his spokeswoman that transit is a lesser priority for him. She disputed that. "They are aware of what his priorities are in Springfield," she said.

But when Mr. Daley spoke, he talked for a half-hour about the 2016 Olympics and how Chicago school kids are learning Chinese and other education issues. Transit came up, briefly, only when an audience member asked about it.

In the end, lawmakers this spring, summer or fall — whenever the feuding ends — could approve something. The best bet is capital money. Republicans want more cash for roads as much as the city does for mass transit.

Less likely is operating aid, aka subsidies — what's needed to keep the Skokie Swift, Evanston Express and 63 bus routes running, and fares from rising as high as $3.50 a ride. The best result would be a multiyear package that would resolve the CTA's pension woes and give it a chance to catch its financial breath. But odds of more than a short-term, partial fix are declining.

"There's a sense of surrealness in the air," says Rep. Julia Hamos, D-Evanston, chair of the House transit committee, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. "We need stronger support at this critical time."

©2007 by Crain Communications Inc.

From this week's Greg Hinz

 

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