Know that bill that would have restricted the free senior citizen transit rides to only the truly needy? It's dead in the water. The Illinois State Senate, apparently intimidated by old people calling their offices and shaking their canes at them, refused to even call the bill up for a vote. And without the vote, the bill gets buried. Senator Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) admitted that the "seniors are the ones who really carried the ball" on getting the measure quashed, and, as Hendon added, he was "pretty sure" that Govenor Pat Quinn would have vetoed the bill if it passed, anyway. A representative for Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said that it didn't seem that the bill had enough support to pass into law. more ›

Blagojevich derisively called Pace officials "bureaucrats" who "sock it to" riders by raising fares. more ›

Another contributing factor the the current CTA shortfall is the almost $20 million $26.5 million in projected lost revenue from providing free rides to seniors, the arm twisting maneuver that Blagojevich rammed into the most recent transit bill. Did we mention that Ms. Nix was the governor's on the free ride program? Yeah, neither did she. [S-T] more ›