* With the cancelled session this week and, therefore, no prospect for passing a CTA/RTA bailout before Sunday’s mass transit “doomsday” deadline, Sen. Emil Jones tried to convince the CTA to put off its fare hikes, service cuts and layoffs, without success…

Senate President Emil Jones asked the CTA to delay launching its “doomsday” plan to raise fares and cut routes this weekend, but the transit agency shot down the plea Monday. […]

With no prospect of either the Senate or House meeting before next week, it appears likely no relief for Chicago area bus and train riders will come before then.

That realization prompted Jones to ask the CTA to do “the appropriate thing” and push back its Sunday deadline so his legislative chamber could take up the issue when it next meets Monday.

But the CTA’s chief rejected the idea.

“The CTA has always said we chose the date because it was the last possible date we could implement cuts and still meet payroll for the year. Any delay in this date, without a solid funding source, would potentially create a systemwide shutdown as the CTA would not be able to meet a system-wide payroll,” CTA President Ron Huberman said.

* More from the RTA…

By Monday, the moves could push as many as 100,000 transit riders off the system and either on to roads or out of work.

“We are not backing off,” said Jim Reilly, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Pace and CTA officials say they can’t pay the bills and leave service and fares as they are. The two agencies are about $180 million in the red.

“We literally do not have the money,” said Rocky Donahue, a Pace spokesman.

* The media absolutely loves doomsday scenario stories, so we can probably expect a whole lot more coverage between now and Sunday, when tons of reporters will likely be dispatched throughout the city and suburbs to find stranded commuters…

Frustration doesn’t begin to describe the anxiety CTA customers are feeling.

“I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to get to school, and then back, too, if anything changes,” said Amina Doctrove, a regular CTA bus rider who recently moved to Chicago from Shreveport, La., to attend Columbia College.

* Despite the delays in Springfield, are things moving ahead behind the scenes? Maybe, but there are still big problems ahead…

Some lawmakers said the delay signaled that real negotiating was going on, rather than the public bickering that has colored much of the state budget process this year.

In fact, Gov. Rod Blagojevich traveled to Greenville last week to visit personally with Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson in his hometown. Watson called the meeting about a state capital construction plan “very productive.“

He said it was helpful to speak directly to Blagojevich about the negotiations.

“It all really revolves around the fact of trust,” Watson said.

Watson said Monday the plan is still to pay for new schools, roads and bridges across Illinois with money made from new casinos. But, how many is still an open question, as Watson said votes from his fellow Republicans grow fewer as more casinos enter the proposal.

* The Republicans want to tie the capital bill to the transit bailout, so until the capital bill is resolved, they won’t get on board. But resolving the capital package is tricky because, as noted above, the Republicans aren’t thrilled with the idea of three new casinos.

The Repubs are also worried that the governor won’t release the money for their projects, which is what Senate Watson was talking about when he brought up the “trust” subject…

[Watson’s spokesperson] said Republicans also want assurances that needed projects in their districts will be funded.

“We want assurances that this will not be a political document, but solely based on the infrastructure needs of the state,” Schuh said.

* Meanwhile, part of the problem with the CTA/RTA bill coming up short in the House was that the governor pulled his allies off the bill. Sen. Carol Ronen, the governor’s floor leader in the Senate, seemed to signal her intentions to support the mass transit bill in that chamber, even if it does include the hated sales tax increase.

This is from an e-mail that Sen. Ronen sent to her constituents yesterday…

Over the past several days, many of you have contacted me to express your concerns and frustration with the failure of the Illinois House to pass the mass transit funding bill, SB 572.

SB 572 failed in the House mainly because the House Republicans who voted against it, want a broader capital program, including more funding for roads, to be part of the transit legislation. To address this issue, the Senate is scheduled to meet next Monday and Tuesday to introduce and vote on a new transit funding bill, similar to SB572, in conjunction with a capital project spending plan which will deal with other transportation and construction projects across the State, including funding for roads. With the inclusion of the capital spending plan, my hope is we will have the requisite number of votes to pass a mass transit legislation and send it to the House for a vote.

I understand and share your concerns and frustrations with the current state of mass transit and the impending service cuts and rate hikes. I fully support mass transit and will do my best in the coming days to find a solution to the crisis.

* One major aspect of the lobbying push that has been virtually ignored (including by myself, unfortunately) is the Illinois Association of Realtors, which has worked to defeat the proposal. The bill includes an increase in Chicago’s real estate transfer tax. Considering the down market these days, the Realtors are not happy with anything that might make a bad situation even a little worse.