If you want to piss voters off, mess with their commute. Those concerns might explain some surprising action taken by local pols related to a bill in DC that could have big impacts at home. more ›

Folks using the Stevenson Expressway to travel to and from the city take note: Pace's pilot program where buses will ride on the shoulder of the expressway begins today. more ›

Sometimes the fat government paycheck equipped with benefits and pension just isn’t enough for local lawmakers. So like any hardworking Joe they grab another job, a government one, that is also equipped with a fat paycheck, benefits and pension paid by taxpayers. more ›

We knew the financial situation is pretty dire across many city agencies and now the RTA has come out and said that it needs about $24 billion in repairs to CTA, Metra and Pace across the next 10 years. From Mary Wisniewski at the Sun-Times: more ›

The four Chicago-area transit agencies - CTA, RTA, Metra, and Pace - spent a total of almost $1 million in taxpayer money for lobbying efforts in Springfield in the year between July 2, 2008 and June 30, 2009. According to the report, which comes from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, here's how the spending broke down: CTA: $385,345; Metra: $264,504; RTA: $171,635; PACE: $132,000. The Tribune says that the CTA's bundle was, "the highest tab...among transit agencies and all 119 government bodies surveyed for lobbyist expenses." Reps for the agencies defended the amount, pointing out that they don't have "taxing authority" and rely primarily on public funds and fares. more ›

This morning, the Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch reports that the highest pay for CTA bus drivers ranks third in the nation at $28.64 per hour and, when adjusted for the city's cost of living, comes in first. The top bus driver pay in the nation goes to Boston's MBTA at $30.18 an hour; New York comes in sixth overall at $27.99 an hour. Top pay for Pace drivers is $24.93 an hour, 17th overall. The report comes at a time when the CTA is trying to draw the CTA unions to the negotiating table to reconfigure contracts in an effort to save the city money. (The current contract runs through 2011.) Hilkevitch reports: more ›

There were fewer trains and buses and the ones that did run were more crowded, but CTA President Richard Rodriguez called the first full work day with reduced CTA services a "typical Monday" and the CTA reported "no major delays." more ›

• Jury selection began today for Andre Crawford, accused of raping and killing 11 women during the 90's.
• No one was hurt but 12 vehicles were damaged today when a Pace bus driver passed out while driving the bus along it's Oak Park route.
• Block 37, lawsuit, CTA, delay, blah blah blah.

To our friends celebrating Rosh Hashanah, L'shana tova! more ›

On Wednesday, Metra will roll out a new website offering riders the convenience of buying tickets online by credit card. Revolutionary, given that for more than 150 years you could only buy a Metra ticket with cash or check. The "Ticket-by-Internet" feature will allow a rider to order up to two monthly tickets and three 10-ride tickets per transaction which Metra sends to you by mail. Regular commuters can go to the website and create a "My Metra" account to manage billing information, create a custom view of train schedules, and set up personalized e-mail alerts for service updates. You won't be able to buy tickets with a credit card at stations yet, but Metra says we can expect that in March 2010. more ›

With all the talk of fare hikes, doomsdays, and state funding shortfalls we've heard about our public transportation system since the beginning of the year, well, there's going to be even more talk over the next several days. Starting tomorrow and running until next Tuesday, September 1, the RTA will conduct 13 hearings to help them set next year's budget. WBBM 780 has more on the meetings as well as a break-down of the schedule. more ›

It looks like the CTA could be on its way to introducing a new fare card. First up for the agency will be seeking proposals for studies on the change and then will be implementing the change itself. If all goes as planned, the CTA - who has been joined by Metra and Pace - could implement the new system which would allow riders to pay fare via just a credit card by mid-2012. CTA President Carole Brown told WBBM, "It's quicker boarding, we think that we will be able to increase ridership because it's just an ease of ridership so that they don't have to find the media. It takes us out of the fare-media business which we think will save money." more ›

• The Chicago Park District has made the controversial decision to rename the site of "The Ft. Dearborn Massacre" (located at at 18th Street and Calumet Ave.) to "Battle of Ft. Dearborn Park."
• Will County Judge Stephen White today delayed a change of venue hearing on Drew Peterson's case until October 2nd and began preparing the jury pool.
• The Spire is looking even less likely than before.

As expected, the Regional Transportation Authority board agreed this week to slash public funding for Chicago-area transit services by $67 million over the next six months. The nine board members in attendance voted unanimously for the cuts, in the hopes that they will bring the transit agencies' growing budget deficits in line with lower tax revenues. more ›

In a refrain which is growing tiresome yet still just as worrisome, it seems the CTA is once again threatening service cuts ahead of an RTA vote. The vote, happening Thursday, would cut $61 million worth of services to make up for a drop in sales-tax revenue. If approved, overall cuts would breakdown to $35 million for the CTA, $19 million for Metra, and $7 million for PACE. CTA President Richard Rodriguez has warned that cuts would result in about a five percent reduction in service for every $10 million lost. There's no indication which specific services the CTA would be cut, but officials have said whole bus routes could be lost in addition to overall reduction in service. PACE will look to reduce services on routes with low ridership, focusing on late nights, early mornings, and weekends. As for Metra, officials for that agency seemed to be downright sunny in comparison, saying the cuts wouldn't result in lost services as the agency did not fill some vacant job posts and have held tight on spending. [Tribune] more ›

Cell phones and the CTA. For now, this relationship serves only one purpose: to annoy the hell out of us when people of trains and buses decided to TALK WAY TOO LOUD on their cell phones in transit. Inside voices, folks, and chances are the conversation can wait 10 minutes. But now the RTA is looking into a relationship between the two that might actually prove useful. The Tribune is reporting that the RTA hopes to one day in the very near future - as opposed to the BladeRunner future - putting in a system that allows riders to swipe their fare by cell phone rather than fare card. While the RTA is already developing a new "smart card," they're looking into a recent trial that San Francisco's BART system tried. Joseph Moriarty, the RTA's principal analyst, said, "I think it's one of the most promising technologies out there. More people carry a cell phone than carry credit or debit cards." Check out the Trib's story for more info, including what the phones in SF needed in order to correctly operate. more ›

Under a proposed plan, some Pace buses could get traffic light priority along some routes thanks to a service called "Arterial rapid transit" or ART. more ›

In what has become a rite of passage for Chicagoans, like that first glorious spring thaw or the annual Cubs collapse, it's time again for another CTA Doomsday warning. This time, the culprit seems to be the economy and according to the Trib's Jon Hilkevitch, "The new numbers are so bleak that the "doomsday" service cuts and fare increases threatened more than a year ago appear mild in comparison to the sweeping measures that would be needed to fill gaping budget holes the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace are facing." Yikes. The CTA, Metra, and PACE are all facing huge tax revenue shortfalls which mean huge funding reductions for both 2008 and 2009. more ›

CTA riders aren't the only ones facing an impending fare hike as PACE has announced its new fares, effective January 1, 2009. Adult fares for the bus lines will increase to $1.75, a 25-cent increase for most routes and a 50-cent increase for Metra-feeder routes. One small piece of good news: neither the Metra Plus Bus Pass or the Metra Link Up Pass will increase in price. more ›

Governor Blagojevich is currently putting together a plan that, if passed, would force all transit agencies that hike fares in 2009 and 2010 to institute a salary freeze. Yes, the same Governor Blagojevich who played chicken with the CTA during last year's doomsday threats just so he could implement free rides for seniors, a program that is costing the CTA a nice bundle of money. Still, in Blago's defense, his plan only affects nonunion employees - union salaries are determined by collective bargaining agreements - and is mainly aimed at executives, many of whom actually saw a pay increase in 2008.

Salaries for dozens of transit executives continued to rise in 2008 after state bailout money started to flow, records show. The Chicago Sun-Times Watchdogs column reported Monday that the number of Pace executives who make more than $100,000 a year increased from 13 in 2006 to 20 this year. more ›

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

The CTA isn't the only transit organization looking for a 2009 fare hike; it looks as if PACE will be raising their fares by 25 cents, up to $1.75 per ride, early next year. The board meets on Wednesday to discuss it. Metra has said there are no plans for any additional fare hikes besides the 10 percent increase that's coming in February. more ›