CTA CUTS: Prepare for 'madness' - Riders vent over mess: 'It can't be that damn hard to run a bus service!' -- gov may have reprieve

CTA CUTS: Prepare for 'madness' - Riders vent over mess: 'It can't be that damn hard to run a bus service!' -- gov may have reprieve
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter sesposito@suntimes.com
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
September 12, 2007


It's cold -- too cold for an early September morning.

The CTA bus line has spilled out onto the sidewalk at an already clogged corner of Jackson and Canal, and a woman pedestrian barges through, smacking people with her backpack. Every bus is jam-packed.

And Vicky Rehill, 50, has a wound-up, just-give-me-an-excuse-to-pick-a-fight-with-you look about her.

"This bus route has been bursting at the seams for years," Rehill barked Tuesday morning as she waited to take the 121 Express into the Loop from Union Station. "I've been commuting for 16 years. It can't be that damn hard to run a bus service!"

Apparently, it is.

Beginning Sunday, Rehill's route and 38 others are expected to be cut as part of the CTA's "doomsday" plan to deal with a $110 million state funding shortfall. Fares also would increase by as much as $1.

Rehill, who commutes into the city from Brookfield, doesn't know what she'll do on Monday. Raise the fares, she says, but for goodness sake don't cut a bus that people ride in droves.

Rehill echoed a common sentiment among CTA bus riders who use routes that may be doomed -- although there were reports late Tuesday that Gov. Blagojevich may come up with enough cash to stave off cuts and buy lawmakers more time.

Judy Driscoll, 46, lives in Berwyn and commutes into the city from Union Station. Sure, she can take another bus -- the 151 -- but it makes lots of stops on the way to the Loop and it's sure to be packed, Driscoll said.

"It's going to be madness," Driscoll said.

"I'm very upset," said Taryn Laseter, 30, who lives in Aurora but works downtown. State lawmakers in Springfield simply don't care about mass transit commuters, she said.

Rehill went further, saying there's a "Leona Helmsley" attitude among those in state government. Helmsley earned a reputation for being indifferent to the plight of the common folk.

"Who's really going to resolve this [CTA funding issue] -- the governor, who takes a private jet to work?" Rehill said.

The governor's office did not release details of any temporary reprieve Blagojevich might grant. It has also been mum on permanent solutions, though it has made it known he favors ending a series of corporate tax breaks to support mass transit.

Darrell Jefferson, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, urged state lawmakers to fund the CTA properly.

CTA officials say some 600 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the funding shortfall.