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* RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard at the City Club…
"More people go through Union Station than Midway Airport on a daily basis." - @KDillardRTA
— Tweed Thornton (@Tweed_Thornton) November 21, 2016
Without @Metra, @KDillardRTA says the Edens, Kennedy, and Stevenson would need 39 more lanes. #talkcityclub
— Tweed Thornton (@Tweed_Thornton) November 21, 2016
* And then there’s this headline from Philadelphia after its recent transit strike…
Increased car traffic during SEPTA strike increased air pollution by 400 percent
* Back to Dillard…
Chicago has the lowest cost of operation per public transit mile in the country according to @KDillardRTA pic.twitter.com/DZrVXIqKMe
— Tweed Thornton (@Tweed_Thornton) November 21, 2016
RTA Chairman @KDillardRTA says London spends 9 times per capita on their transit system compared to Chicago.
— Tweed Thornton (@Tweed_Thornton) November 21, 2016
Takes quote from Indianapolis. "Attracting millennials to an area without public transit is like trying to sell a cell phone w/o a camera"
— Tweed Thornton (@Tweed_Thornton) November 21, 2016
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:00 pm
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The need for the investment is there; the question is, where do we get the cash? The cost of an average end to end Metra 10-ride was under $50 just six years ago, and will be over $70 with the new increase, and we still have the same service delays and old cars. For many users, that is where the current complaint lies, notwithstanding the bargain it gives us with all things considered.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:09 pm
24,000 votes - if the union push for Dillard had begun 2 weeks earlier, he would have got those votes and won the 2014 Primary.
Comment by Grand Avenue Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:10 pm
The budget impasse has resulted in downstate mass transit systems not being paid in months. Which makes it difficult for citizens to access jobs, medical care, shopping, and other life situations. The Rauner-Madigan show is hurting people.
Comment by illinoised Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:12 pm
2014 primary - Go back to the 2010 primary. Less than 250 votes, right? Things could’ve been a lot different today with Governor Dillard in 2010. I don’t think we would be in this mess today.
Comment by 2010 Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:15 pm
Wow - the 2010 certified result was Brady winning by only 193 votes. Incredible what could have been.
https://elections.il.gov/ElectionResults.aspx?ID=fXOlVXzqApI%3d
Comment by Grand Avenue Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:19 pm
Dems say the same thing about Poshard in 1998 against Ryan. Could of, should of, would of.
Comment by Almost the Weekend Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:20 pm
Get out of the past election results, please. This is post is about transit.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:21 pm
Meanwhile , here in Blo-No huge new buses run nearly empty and a bloated local transit admin staff are wanting yet more …
Comment by Mcleaniac Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:23 pm
Metra service is like schools and parks for home values. Even if YOU don’t use them, your property is more valuable because of them and it’s critical to get them right.
Comment by LizPhairTax Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:26 pm
–Metra service is like schools and parks for home values. Even if YOU don’t use them, your property is more valuable because of them and it’s critical to get them right.–
You’re not kidding. I have two el lines and a Metra line within walking distance of my house. So were (are) the grade school, junior high and the high school.
Not being a slave to a car is a sweet deal.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:40 pm
While I feel for the larger Mass Transit Districts and their financial difficulties our State is more than just the major Metro areas.
Downstate Transit districts have already started cutting routes and laying off drivers because of the lack of state funding. Some have been running on reserves and have been tapping lines of credit for over a year.
It is not any “bloated” Administrative Staff that is responsible. And it is only those who most need these services that are are being impacted.
Comment by illini Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:41 pm
Yay Kirk! Music to my ears. Are you listening Bruce? Time to set this bickering aside and pass a capital bill!
Comment by Chicago Taxpayer Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:41 pm
As fewer people use cars in the City (alternatives like Divy, bike-to-work, CTA), the number of cars on the Xressways seem to grow.
We need more lanes and are impeded by the homes that line the highway. More importantly, the L should go to Schaumberg and the various commuter trains should run more frequently and for less money. It’s too bad that more people/gov’t don’t understand how these elements simplify our lives our lives in so many ways.
Comment by Belle Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:41 pm
–”More people go through Union Station than Midway Airport on a daily basis.” –
Unfortunately at Union, they all do it at the same time, twice a day.
Despite many efforts over the years, the ingress and egress at Union remains brutal on the East Side. Same with the pileups at the gates.
Ogilvie is way smoother.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:44 pm
I wonder if we need to start a real, honest assessment of statewide transit services and and funding. McLeaniac brings up a good point: in some areas buses and mass transit services are very under-utilized and seem like a waste. Madison County Transit and St. Clair County Transit District are poorly run and have buses that are often empty or close to empty. SMTD (or Springfield’s service) has the same issue. Perhaps we need to revisit state funding those entities get and reroute the dollars to the RTA and CTA.
Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:48 pm
Transit really does add value to the downtown and the suburbs. The cost and hassle of commuting to Chicago on Metra is so much less than driving, I am always surprised that so many people drive.
The property taxes on the downtown office buildings and stores that are filled with commuters pay for the cost of having those commuters in the city.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 2:57 pm
Wordslinger, it isn’t even close between the two.
Besides the people pileups the conditions at the two stations are radically different. Union station has serious infrastructure issues that don’t even include the falling ceilings and soot on the platforms. Think most of the drop ceiling over the part I walk in has been removed for at 6 to 7 months? They don’t seem to be working on it anymore just no drop ceiling.
Once it gets below freezing the switches are going to have issues and I ride on BNSF track (not Metra) and they seem to have no motivation or incentive to maintain it at all.
Comment by Oneman Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 3:08 pm
Rich Why do we only hear about this because Dillard goes to the wacky city club. Why doesn’t the Trib or others report these facts??
Comment by scott aster Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 3:25 pm
Engineering firm (Arup) was selected over the summer for an 18-month study on Union Station. Will of course need millions to implement whatever plan they come up with. Scott Aster - reported by the Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-union-station-upgrades-met-0712-20160711-story.html
Comment by Midway Gardens Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 3:39 pm
Belle - you’re a genius! Of course! Why hadn’t we thought of this before? We will simply provide more government services and charge less for it. What could possibly go wrong?
Comment by Not It Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 3:56 pm
You just have to live in the Atlanta area (like my brother) or Miami corridor (like a good friend) to know how good we have it. Commute times are horrific in both those places. My 18-year old does not even want to learn how to drive because he has public transportation.
“You’re not kidding. I have two el lines and a Metra line within walking distance of my house. So were (are) the grade school, junior high and the high school.”
Same thing except Metra, thanks for the former alderman who took a sweet deal from a developer when the car wash at Addison and Ravenswood closed instead of pushing for a new Metra stop at Addison on the UP North Line. It would have stopped even more traffic going to Wrigley.
Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 4:13 pm
An under considered part of mass transit is the connections and access it provides for low income people and families. It is vital for connecting labor to jobs and consumers to goods and services.
Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 4:54 pm
Well, transit should be swimming in cash soon, right? Isn’t that part of what 80 percent of Illinois voters just approved by adding essentially another “neither diminished nor impaired” clause to the state constitution?
Comment by JB13 Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 5:53 pm
JB13, in theory the Safe Roads Amendment would stop the bleeding a little bit, for the portion of state transportation taxes that go to public transit programs. The needs are many, especially when you consider that a lot of the Chicago and the suburbs’ transit infrastructure is 50 to 100 years old, won’t last forever, and some of it is expensive to fix. Even so, a monthly unlimited ride fare on CTA is one of the great bargains of urban living.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 6:26 pm
Dillard has pointed out this disparity with London before as well as the other snippets from his talk tweeted here. One example is his talk at the Urban Transportation Center’s Best Practices in Regional Transit Governance forum at UIC on January 6, 2015, which is available online along with panel discussions from that event.
The trouble is that no matter how much these and other good points are made the politicians don’t act on it, and in the end this becomes another point of collateral damage from the budget standoff.
Nonetheless, if you want economic development in the core of Chicagoland, it’s difficult to think of better projects than sorting out the core rail network (the only other thing I can think of offhand that even has the potential of this kind of impact is lightening up on regulations in such a way as to make it much easier to start a business here). Union Station was disgracefully compromised by its PennCentral-driven 1968-69 makeover and has been dysfunctional ever since. You’d have to build a new through terminal for sure and possibly remove the 222 Riverside tower in order to undo that damage, but if you could do that, it would be a huge economic development project of region-wide impact of relatively modest cost even allowing for what would amount to zapping and possibly replacing a million square feet of office space. A Union renovation, along with replacing that embarrassingly stuck drawbridge at 16th street with a curve and a flyover, affords the opportunity of replicating London’s visionary Crossrail project at a fraction of the cost because no tunneling would be needed here. Just the removal of bottlenecks to enable a truly regional rail network that could run at the volume and frequency of the L if need be.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 7:00 pm
Mcleaniac,et al Those BloNo busses which run empty carried over 2,000,000 passenger trips last year. Quite a trick
Comment by Tyrone Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 7:24 pm
The RTA is severely in debt.
Just as every agency and business that Jim Reilly has touched.
Somebody else always has to clean up the mess or find a way to kick that can down the road.
Comment by Chicago 20 Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 8:07 pm
Chicago 20 - please explain how you justify that statement. Please point out what borrowing the RTA underwent when Reilly was its Chairman, and the debt service currently being paid for that debt.
Comment by Just Me Monday, Nov 21, 16 @ 10:08 pm
Just Me-
http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/pf_headline.asp?id=11624
Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Nov 22, 16 @ 7:41 am
Chicago 20 - You should realize that the CTA unions argue that every penny in mass transit should go to salaries, right? You should automatically question anything they say.
For example, what that “article” fails to mention is that the RTA sold bonds on behalf of the State of Illinois because the RTA has a superior bond rating, and the State reimburses the RTA for that expense. In other words, the RTA was able to spend more money on capital expenses without costing the taxpayer any additional money.
Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Nov 22, 16 @ 8:31 pm