The Holiday Train To Ride Again

By vouchey in News on Dec 3, 2004 4:11PM

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.