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CTA doomsday gets gloomier

Posted October 10, 2007 11:00 pm

Mike Ramsey

The Chicago Transit Authority's pending "doomsday" plan to slash operations will get even gloomier in January if state lawmakers do not act quickly on a permanent funding boost, agency president Ron Huberman warned Wednesday.

The financially troubled CTA previously announced plans to impose service cuts and fare bumps beginning Nov. 4, when a stopgap package of state assistance runs out. The more drastic measures Huberman hinted at this week would be part of the CTA's 2008 budget, which covers the upcoming calendar year.

He declined to provide details but is expected to lay out specifics on Friday. Huberman said the measures may include the "wholesale closing" of bus garages and terminals, the potential mothballing of some rail lines and even steeper fare increases.

"It's going to scare a lot of people," the transit chief told reporters following a brief CTA board meeting in Chicago. "It's going to make our riders nervous; it's going to make our employees nervous."

The CTA, which earlier this year wrestled with a more than $100 million shortfall in its current budget, is among three transit providers in the Chicago region. In recent years, all have seen operational and capital costs outpace funding sources. Feuding state lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich have faced greater pressure in 2007 to hammer out a solution, but they disagree on the means.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston, would increase by 0.25 percent the Chicago-area sales tax that helps fund mass transit. The legislation failed to garner enough support in an earlier vote, and Blagojevich has said he would veto a sales tax hike because it would harm working families.

Hamos said the administration is probably behind an alternative idea floated recently that would impose a transit tax on commercial parking lots and privately owned parking lots in the Chicago area.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said she did not know the origin of the proposed parking-space tax.

"It's an interesting idea," she said Wednesday. "It's one of several that have been brought forward."

The CTA's Huberman urged the legislature to pass a long-term remedy, but he did not rule out making due with another temporary fix under certain conditions.

Mike Rasmey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.

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