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CTA "Board members are pissed," about the planned elimination of the Holiday Train, says board member Sue Leonis. So, Chicago Transit Authority Board President Carole Brown directed President Frank Kruesi to get the Holiday Train back on track. Kruesi defended his move saying the train costs about $200,000 to run, and he couldn't spend that money in good conscious when 1,250 CTA employees are set to be laid-off on January 2nd.
We're glad to see the Holiday Train back in action, but we're still concerned about the threatened layoffs. CTA has got some bad problems. To put it all into perspective though, consider what Philadelphia is going through, where SEPTA is talkabout raising fares from $2 to $3 and completely eliminating weekend service. Ouch.
In related transit news, Metra's exective director Philip Pagano is not only paid more than Mayor Daley or Governor Blagojevich, but more than just about every transit boss in the country. Pagano made $238,000, compared to Daley and Blago, who made $203,800 and $150,691 respectively. Double ouch.
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I'd rather not see the holiday train in operation, especially if it means more layoffs for CTA employees. Or maybe Kruesi could take a pay cut?
it's not just philly that's also getting massive service cuts. pittsburg is losing a fat chunk and indianapolis and atlanta did earilier too, often mixed in with increased fares. being thankful we don't have it at bad as them is a strange way to put it though. we should be scared shitless that this is the trend all across the country. oh yeah, and in every place that service is being cut, massive, incredibly expensive, "improvements" are being made at the same time, like fancy train stations in the richer suburbs or express trains running to the airport. that includes chicago...
I've lived in Chicago for 3.5 years and every year I hear about the Holiday Train. I've actually only seen it once while driving alongside the Blue Line and thought "Oh, that's cute but I wonder how much that's costing us."
Well, just yesterday I was running down to the Lake/State Red Line station and saw it. There it was, in all it's ridiculous glory. Colored lights everywhere, frosted windows, silver poles decorated candy cane style, red and green lights, the Santa flatbed in the middle (takes up the space of 2 cars) and ELVES inside the train handing out candy canes. Lest I not forget the holiday music pumped in through the speakers, the seats covered in Santa fabric, garland on the windows. Again, it was cute, but seriously, who is the CTA trying to appeal to? Suburbanites who never take the train? Tourists who only use Lake/State, Grand, and Chicago stops? If the CTA really wanted to do something nice for those of us that take the L on a regular basis they could focus their monies on real problems: preventing train derailments, fires in the subway, and (oh my god) if I hear "Your attention please. We are being delayed because of an equipment problem on the train. Your operator is off the train to correct the problem." I think I'll scream.
My question to the CTA Board is this: if London, Paris, and New York can run a mass transit system as integrated and complex as they are, then why can't we? By comparison our system is not that large or complicated, so what's the problem?
Get it together, please.