Riders, Experts to Rahm, Claypool: Clean Up CTA

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 12, 2011 7:40PM

Tribune Transportation reporter John Hilkevitch pens a convincing article today that's part reporting, part op-ed that strongly suggests Mayor-elect Emanuel and incoming CTA President Forrest Claypool work to get the struggling public transportation system on terra firma.

Claypool should have first-hand knowledge of how inconsistent the "L" system runs as a regular Brown Line passenger, and maybe Emanuel noticed some delays at train stations and bus stops shaking hands during his mayoral campaign. Claypool told Hilkevitch his first agenda item is to get a grasp on CTA's tumbleweed of a budget.

"You can't continue to use capital money for operating expenses," Claypool said at CTA headquarters. The transit agency has shifted more than $200 million in capital funds toward operating expenses in the last two years to cover a chronic budget hole. Meanwhile, the backlog of CTA facilities in poor shape is growing, officials said.

Claypool also cited the burden of repaying the state tens of millions of dollars borrowed to avoid a fare hike and to help keep CTA buses and trains running during the recession, when sales tax revenue relied on by Chicago-area mass transit agencies plummeted.

"There are some real financial challenges," Claypool said. "I think we have to focus on that first, and then if we get that right, other good things can come."

Hilkevitch also spoke to some public transit experts who said many of CTA's woes could be solved if they simply paid attention to where people live and neighborhoods where populations are growing. Hilkevitch interviewed Phyllis Palmer, who rides the No. 34 South Michigan bus from 130th Street to the 95th Street bus terminal. That's one of many bus lines that's overcrowded and in need of service improvements. Other bus lines heading out to the South and West sides are running nearly empty buses, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs and other businesses in recent years.

It makes sense: picture the possible relief along the Clybourn corridor if Claypool reinstated the long-dormant Elston/Clybourn bus route, allowing Chicagoans without cars to have easier access to the shops on Clybourn and nearby train stations

The Emanuel transition report cites extending the Red Line down to 130th Street and rehabbing tracks south to 95th. That's in addition to the proposed Red Line improvements being debated north of Belmont. Red Line extension and rehab makes the most sense to tackle short-term, given that the line handles 40 percent of all "L" system travel. Like most of the Emanuel transition report, there's no roadmap as to how this will be accomplished. A sign to how serious Emanuel and Claypool are in addressing the issue of improving CTA will be in who Claypool surrounds himself with.