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Unclear on the concept (Updated)

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[CTA President Dorval Carter] says the discussions about the coming fiscal cliff facing public transportation have focused too much on governance and not enough on funding.

Yeah, that argument will most definitely work in Springfield. Just throw gobs more state money at them without changing the way they do business.

Right.

…Adding… As I’ve noted in comments, Carter will have basically no say in funding. That’s a legislative and gubernatorial task, as well as local governments. He and all transit chieftains have been told by legislative point people and the governor to present their governmental reform ideas. If he doesn’t do that, it’ll be imposed on him.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:01 pm

Comments

Dorval Carter just seems to be following MBJ to me.

It is easier to hire bus operators, and yeah you should run more buses on busier routes.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:11 pm
Wonder if Dorval Carter is of the same mindset as Rev. Acree? Considering the big bucks Dorval Carter earns, he must have a driver and avoids riding the transit system for which he is in charge.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:16 pm
“Don’t you worry the adults got this” legislators always love that. He treats advocates and users the same way so at least he’s consistent.

Comment by P. Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:16 pm
Dorvel - “You back seat drivers with the money just need to MYOB and cough up the cash. “ Simple. Dude’s gotta go. PR is a big part of the job, and he is failing at that too. Can’t dump him too soon.

Comment by PublicServant Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:18 pm
Adjusted for time and space, sure sounds like then-CMS Director Michael Tristano …

Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:31 pm
==- Rudy’s teeth - Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:16 pm:==

This has been a probably going back to at least Richard M. Daley. https://www.chicagocarless.com/2009/07/20/on-why-chicago-transit-authority-president-richard-rodriguez-shouldnt-be-driving-to-work/

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 1:32 pm
It’s a politically dumb thing to say, but it’s probably not entirely wrong. The fiscal cliff is going to take money to fix. They’re not going to cut their way out of it, nor are they going to TQM or Six Sigma their way out. I can see why the state would be reluctant to hand a check over to marginal managers, but funding is the ultimate solution and has to be part of the discussion. The discussion should include both funding and management solutions.

Comment by Duck Duck Goose Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:03 pm
===it’s probably not entirely wrong===

Carter’s gonna have pretty much nothing to do with funding. That’s entirely up to the legislature and governor, who has asked all the transit agency leaders to come up with governance change ideas. So far, crickets.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:05 pm
I believe it is entirely inappropriate for the transit staff to be lobbying who their boards should or should not be. The CTA President works for the CTA Board of Directors, whoever that may be.

Let the CTA Chairperson or Mayor talk about governance, and Dorval should talk about what more funding would do for the riders.

Comment by Just Me 2 Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:22 pm
Who’s driving the bus over the cliff on the way to the bank

Comment by Rabid Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:23 pm
Dorval needs to ride the rails and the buses. An STB appointment would enable him to wreck national rail transportation, and would be ill-advised.

Comment by Ares Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:30 pm
Every time he opens his mouth he’s practically begging to be fired. And yet in some way this is reminiscent of Kevin Warren and Springfield. Suck up to the people without the checkbook and try to bully the people with the checkbook. Yea, that’s gonna work.

Comment by New Day Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:56 pm
===And yet in some way this is reminiscent of Kevin Warren and Springfield===

In many ways.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 2:57 pm
Agree entirely with Rich’s comments on throwing more money at before changing business practices. This same argument needs to be applied universally. Throwing gobs of money at a problem should never be done without first analyzing and solving the reason for the problem.

Comment by Just a Citizen Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 3:16 pm
He can start by lowering his $376K salary if he cares so much about the need to fund the transit system. I know far fetched and does not make much of a dent in the fiscal cliff but hey every penny counts and he and CTA could sure use the PR if Johnson continues to keep such an unaware leader. More money has always been needed to fund this transit system but giving money to a clearly corrupted CTA at this point would continue to erode people’s faith in using the public transit system. Structural and financial changes have always been the answer. Why this has not happened for so long and why are we even stuck with a guy like Dorval speaks to a larger failure in how we truly care about the public transit system and the people that ride it.

Comment by Bald&Beautiful Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 3:35 pm
The problem is the CTA ran the same amount of service during the pandemic without the ridership to support it.

Now was that the right thing to do? That’s a different question. What DO you do during a worldwide pandemic? Other cities cut service. CTA didn’t. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Then started a big construction project…again without any ridership to support it. I understand that some (if not most) of the RPM work is federally funded.

I agree that President Carter is going to the President Warren School of How Not to Win Friends and Influence People.

Comment by Jerry Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 3:41 pm
The problem that has CTA & DTC on the hot seat locally isn’t all that excessive 2020 service they ran for very low ridership. It’s that they apparently had no handle on, or plan for, retirements and voluntary departures so service tanked just as riders returned.

And that ran off the riders who had other options.

The 2+ years of insisting everything is fine merely compounded that frustration.

Comment by ChicagoBars Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 4:30 pm
CTA Metra DOC DCFS etc. I hope Pritzker becomes President he could use a less challenging job.

Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Jun 27, 24 @ 5:07 pm