Today in Transit News ...

By Margaret Lyons in News on Oct 16, 2007 7:53PM

The US House subcommittee on highways and transit will conduct a hearing here on October 29 to determine what kinds of transit improvements Chicago would need before we could host the Olympics. Why yes, October 29 is a mere 6 days before our public transit system starts collapsing into itself like a dying star! "Mayor Richard Daley, Blagojevich, officials from the Regional Transportation Authority, the three transit agencies and the U.S. Olympic Committee will be invited to testify," says the Trib. Looks like the best we can hope for is that the hearing lends a sense of urgency to the transit crisis. Related (loosely): The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee uses Comic Sans on its website. Noooo!

Clear your calendar: the CTA's public hearings about the service cuts are 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at Lane Tech High School (2501 W. Addison St.); 6 p.m. Nov. 1 at High School (10330 S. Elizabeth St.); and 6 p.m. Nov. 5 at CTA headquarters (567 W. Lake St.). These meetings are typically insanely boring and pointless, but ... anything to get closer to Chicagoist's current civic crush, Ron Huberman.

If you still don't have a Chicago Card or a Chicago Card Plus, get it now. The CTA is waiving the $5 fee
from now until Dec 31.

And finally, a suburban mayor thinks the CTA, Metra and Pace should close for a day to teach state legislators a lesson about what will happen if public transit doesn't get more funding.

You know how sometimes the El just sits still, and it makes you crazy? Thee Erin feels your pain.