Mister C, you win! Your guess of May 1 for the end of Frank Kruesi's career in our Frank Kruesi Dead Pool has won you a lovely Chicagoist T-shirt. Email Rachelle@chicago.com to claim your prize. For the rest of you — well, you can rejoice as well because the glory days of CTA President Frank Kruesi are over. Mayor Daley announced at this morning's press conference that Kruesi is retiring. Ron Huberman, the Mayor’s chief... more ›

Chicagoist wants you all to go to this story and look at the expression on CTA Board President Carole Brown's face as she rides a bus this February. Classic. The picture accompanies an article detailing Brown's plan to have the CTA's Office of Inspector General do an audit to see if buses and trains are cleaned as often and thoroughly as they should be. At a board meeting Wednesday, Brown was given the party line... more ›

The Orange and Green line trains are "back to normal" this morning. With yet another crisis is behind them, the CTA needs to start demonstrating that it’s acting in the best interest of its riders. more ›

Yesterday the original Belmont El station was closed, and a temporary entrance was opened 75 feet to the east, similar to the relocation of the Fullerton stop. The temporary entrance will be in use for the next two years, during construction of a new accessible station with improved lighting, turnstiles and platforms. The old station will be preserved and relocated across the street. Transit superfan Tony Coppoletta’s Flickr stream notes that the station initially “opened as a local and express stop on the Northwestern 'L's initial line from downtown to Wilson.” more ›

For CTA President Frank Kruesi, yesterday was a bad day at the office. more ›

Yesterday, Crain’s published an editorial begging Mayor Daley to replace CTA President Frank Kruesi and laying the blame for the agency’s numerous problems at his feet, including spending “hundreds of millions on an ill-conceived ‘super station’ at Block 37.” Today, Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch reveals a new scheme for a private firm to develop express train service to the airports from the “super station” (or, as we like to call it, “Kruesi’s Kastle”) in “an acknowledgment by the Daley administration that the city cannot entrust such a major transportation improvement to the Chicago Transit Authority alone.” more ›

And not in a good way. Chicagoist, along with hundreds of other people, were forced to walk home tonight because of a fire on the rear car of a Blue Line train. No trains were running in either direction between Washington in the Loop and Damen Avenue. The alternate route is the #56 bus that runs up Milwaukee Avenue, but that was so packed that the drivers were not even stopping at the stops.... more ›

Everyone's gonna be screwed when construction on the Dan Ryan starts next month. We all know that. But now the CTA is doing their part to help out ... or maybe just trying to figure out a way for them to make some money off it. In an effort to encourage those who would normally take the Dan Ryan to take trains and buses, CTA President Frank Kruesi recommended that the CTA waive the fee for its Chicago Card through May. So waive the fee initially, make a shitload in the end. Of course, it would give all of us the opportunity to get the card for free for a couple months. more ›

Believe it or not, some people actually seem to get off on tragedies such as last week's London transit bombings. While the rest of us try to go about our day-to-day lives, mourning with our English counterparts and nervously eyeing bag-toting passengers near us on the L, a select few bastards out there use these unfortunate events as an opportunity to spread even more fear. What fun! Early yesterday morning, authorities shut down the CTA... more ›

Governor Rod Blagojevich has tried to characterize his first administration with three pledges: No new taxes, more money for schools, and no more "business as usual." The Mell-Blago family feud has made his third pledge hard to believe, but last night's budget deal with Democratic Senate President Emil Jones and Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan will deliver the first two pledges -- as well as avoid the CTA's Five Faces of Death, and probably close the spring legislative session by the end of the month. All significant accomplishments, considering how much wrangling Springfield has endured this year. more ›

For the love of Frank Kruesi, Chicagoist just cannot take it anymore! We’ve been trying to wrap our melons around the CTA’s financial crises ever since they began whining about underwhelming state funding and threatening service cuts last year, but two pieces of news this week leave us scratching our heads extra hard, and wondering if they’ve placed their financial operations under the control of people that lack the economic wherewithal to operate a “My... more ›

Remember that scene in presidential look-alike classic Dave, when the schmo everyman accountant played by Charles Grodin came into the Oval Office and cleaned up the entire United States government’s budget in, like, 20 minutes? That rocked. more ›

An article in the Sun-Times today reported that CTA President Frank Kruesi and Senate President Emil Jones have reached an agreement to delay major cuts in CTA service. The CTA has its "doomsday" meeting tomorrow and is set to vote on the cuts. If the cuts pass, CTA would eliminate 30 bus routes, lay off 1,250 workers and stop overnight L service. Kruesi and CTA board president Carole Brown have said they would delay the... more ›

The Chicago Transit Authority officially started raising the alarm yesterday: Yet another fare hike is on the horizon. Just this February riders saw fares increase 25-cents to $1.75 -- the first increase in twelve years. more ›