Chicago in crisis

Chicago IL - The Chicago area transit network is in crisis and literally on the verge of collapse. The Chicago Tribune reports on the frustration being expressed by the transit systems in the Chicago area over insufficient funding.

The problem is a lack of adequate state funding claims the RTA who oversees and divides the existing funding among the CTA, Metra and PACE operations.

There is more to the story that isn't being reported on. The funding crisis goes beyond public transit and effects the road infrastructure as well. One must ask, what are the underlaying causes and the answers aren't simple.

• The CTA has an old rail infrastructure that is in desperate need of repair. Rail operations inherently are more expensive and far less flexible than bus operations to start with. This often leads to putting off needed repairs to the infrastructure.
  
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• The CTA also has had far from stellar management over the years. Internal waste at the CTA is rampant.
  
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• Having an "umbrella agency" structure also doesn't help. The RTA who distributes the funds among the 3 operating agencies takes a slice of the operating pie to run the show.
  
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• Look at the city itself. There are 5 major transit systems in critical and dire straits currently. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. A common thread among all 5 of these cities is that they've been controlled by Democrats for decades (all also have well established rail operations).
  
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• Chicago's transit ills have recently gotten worse as they have been selected as the city for the United States bid to host the 2016 Olympics. What does this mean? More strain on the system due to required transit projects that will have to be done. While this may get them some funding to fix the infrastructure, it also means less money will be available to operate.
  

While adequate and reliable funding for public transit is needed, little is usually done to stem the internal hemorrhaging of money within the system. In a sense, increased funding is little more than a Band-Aid being placed on a torn artery with how public transit is run currently. The core problem that creates the need for increased funding is rarely repaired and that leads to more problems in the following years.

The funding crisis in Pennsylvania, for example, is forcing PAT and SEPTA to finally start addressing many of the core problems within their agencies. The RTA in Chicago is still trying to ignore the core problems and address it with another financial Band-Aid with the hope that the influx of funds will balance out the cash hemorrhage.

With public transit being turned into a social service thanks to years of government ownership, nobody in charge is willing to do what has to be done for fear of the backlash. All 5 cities I have mentioned have another common thread which is that they run mostly on historical routes and all systems need a complete route overhaul to streamline the operation. Such route overhauls are never popular but if the system is to survive, it is something that has to be done.

While I disagree with Illinois' state government for putting transit funding on the back burner, it may be what is needed to force the RTA and the three Chicago transit operations to clean house and start addressing the cancer that has been slowly killing them for years.

The RTA in Chicago looks to the wrong solution

Chicago IL - A report on WBBM-780 tells of stagnant transit growth in the Chicago area despite increases in ridership in other cities. While I am dubious of the nationwide transit growth numbers to start with, Chicago does have a problem attracting ridership.

The RTA has part of the answer but are looking towards the wrong solution. RTA Chairman Jim Reilly said, "Public relations can do only so much," and said a more flexible and reliable system would draw more riders. Part of that is having the money to build additional projects, to operate additional routes. I understand all that," he said.

Reilly is partially correct, they need a more flexible and reliable system but building more expensive transit projects is not the answer. Even running more routes is not the answer. The answer is running a service that takes people where they want and need to go on clean and reliable vehicles with reliable and convenient service.

For years I had thought my home city ran garbage on wheels until I saw Chicago. They had buses on the road that my local transit system wouldn't put out even if it was the only thing they had that ran.

Another part of the problem in Chicago is that they are running mostly historical routes. The entire operation needs an overhaul from the route standpoint. Routes that worked well 40 years ago may not be running as well today and that is due to changing demographics of the city. Most transit systems are very slow to react to population shifts and other demographics that effect service.

Adding more to a system that isn't working properly to start with will not solve the problem. All it will do is put further strain on the system, both financially and operationally.

Chicago can promote transit until the cows come home and it won't have much of an impact. The transit network in Chicago is falling apart, literally, and the major inefficiencies in the operation aren't helping matters. People are well aware of this.

Mr. Reilly, you need to fix what you have before adding more. Considering the budget crisis for transit in Chicago, the last thing the area needs are things added to the mix to suck down the money. It will be far cheaper and attract more riders if the routes in place were overhauled to reflect the current population demographics than building more projects and adding more routes.

CTA: We'll run it but we won't ride it

Chicago IL - Chicago Transit Authority officials appear content to run the system but they don't want to ride it themselves. Does this surprise anyone? The Chicago Tribune has a story on what is actually a common problem that effects every public transit system in North America.

While there are some CTA officials that do ride the system regularly, many don't. This has led to much criticism from riders who believe that the CTA management is out of touch with what they manage. The riders are right.

CTA President Frank Kruesi does ride regularly and encourages his employees to ride the system. "...it is important that we experience the service we are asking people to pay for" states Kruesi and he is right on the mark.

Some CTA board members, the same ones that make the ultimate decisions in the agency, seem to think that an occasional ride will suffice. CTA Board Chairwoman Carol Brown thinks it's helpful if the board members have an experience with the system "but every individual is different and sometimes lifestyle doesn't fit into it". If that's that case Ms. Brown, then those that won't ride the system shouldn't be on the board making decisions on how the CTA operates.

I have the same issue with my local transit system where the vast majority of the board members and management won't ride the system yet they dictate how it is run. This just isn't a Chicago problem.

The fact that the majority of transit boards are made up of individuals that are lucky if they even know what the inside of a bus or rail vehicle looks like is rather scary. They are out of touch with what they are in charge of. It's like having a lawyer doing open heart surgery. He may know all the malpractice laws but it doesn't mean he knows how to repair a clogged artery. The transit board of directors is much the same. You have people on it that may have specific specialities (such as financial laws) but it doesn't mean that they understand how a transit system needs to be run.

The linked story goes to Google's news page. Click on the link from there to view the source story at the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago's RTA - Two reports

Chicago IL - Two news stories on the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) which oversees the transportation services in Chicago and the Suburban Chicago area literally contradict each other.

The first report is from the Chicago Tribune tells of an audit that shows what a disaster the RTA really is. The second report is from the Chicago Business site tells us that the Chicago Transit Authority, PACE and Metra needs to concede power to the RTA if it wants the money it needs to operate.

First off, the RTA is what I call an "umbrella agency" which does little beside skim off much needed money from the actual transit system. It is basically extra administrative layers of red tape that needs to be waded through to get anything accomplished. This red tape ends up wasting money in the long term and public transit can't afford to be wasting money on mega-administration agencies that do nothing to put service on the street.

In theory, such agencies are to handle paperwork for funding and expenditures but in reality, they produce rules, policies and dictates which do nothing but create more ways to waste precious operating money and skim off of any funding they do receive on behalf of the transit systems that they are over.

The audit which is reported on by the Chicago Tribune tells of wasteful practices, poor leadership and screwed up priorities at the RTA but State Representative Julie Hamos (D) wants to give this screwed up umbrella agency even more power according to the Chicago Business report. This doesn't surprise me when a Democrat wants to give more power to a screwed up bureaucratic agency as the two go hand in hand since Democrats think government is the answer to all the problems.

The RTA has literally created a situation where the CTA, PACE and Metra fight over everything. Instead of working together, the RTA has inserted wedges between the groups. Again, this doesn't surprise me at all since the RTA is strictly a bureaucratic red tape machine.

The Chicago area would do better to disband the RTA and let the CTA, PACE and Metra do their own thing. They will work together if given the opportunity but the RTA doesn't create the political environment to let them work together. To give the RTA even more power will only serve to make things worse for public transit in the Chicago area.

What is happening at the RTA in Chicago should be a warning sign for other cities that are planning on creating a regional transit authority which will act as an umbrella agency over the existing transit systems. These umbrella agencies create waste and ultimately become corrupt, ineffective and too powerful as time goes on.