Photo courtesy of Daniel Schwen: Howard bound red line train temporarily rerouted to elevated tracks at Randolph station, Chicago.
The formula for public transportation is fairly simple – public transportation is a public good to be enjoyed by riders who pay for this service through fares, and by extension, property taxes. The more riders that use public transportation options, the better. When fewer people are utilizing public transportation, it becomes more expensive for those who continue to use it as a mode of transport – which typically are those who have no other choice – either because they can’t afford a vehicle or don’t want to use a vehicle, and all of the trappings that come with owning a vehicle – permits, stickers, tickets, fines and fees, etc. And yet, the news is only growing worse for Chicago transit riders.
Recently, CTA spokesman Brian Steele declared that CTA will no longer conduct day-time spot cleaning. Spot-cleaning involves trash pick-up and mopping and is currently conducted during the morning and afternoon. Now, union officials said general cleanings which are more extensive than the spot-cleanings, will take place every 16 days (a reduction from the current 14-day cycle). President of the Local 308 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Robert Kelly, said this change will become a serious health matter for the public.
On top of the impending degradation in train cleanliness, CTA announced that they will be ending a program that hired 65 ex-offenders to conduct daily spot-cleaning at a rate of $9.50 an hour. The program is being ended on December 31st, which means 65 individuals who were able to find productive work will now be back in a brutal job market that is more conducive to ex-offenders heading back to prison than providing legitimate opportunities for employment and advancement. CTA spokesmen have blamed the union, saying that Kelly pushed to end the program while Kelly blames CTA for not negotiating the extension of the program’s contract through 2015. Regardless of who is to blame, this is a blow to the 65 individuals who will not be able to complete the 9-month apprenticeship program which gives ex-offenders job experience and a reference that could lead to permanent employment. It’s also a blow to the individuals that could have taken advantage of this opportunity in the future.
Much has been made of the botched roll-out of the CTA Ventra system. From glitches that resulted in fare-users being charged twice, to overly sensitive readers that charged fares if you simply walked by a fare-reader, to the fact that Cubic Systems, the vendor that developed the Ventra system is woefully short of minority contracting requirements. It now seems that riders can use their shiny new Ventra cards to ride filthy trains.
In most Western European and even some Canadian municipalities, public transportation is the preferred source of mobility for people, and for good reason. Specifically, many large European centers do what seems to be the opposite of Chicago’s transit policy – they increase transit usage by enhancing the quality, coverage and reliability of the service. Even those Western European and Canadian cities that are not frequented by tourists—such as Bremen, Germany; Halifax, Canada; and Lyons, France—have higher transit ridership levels than much larger U.S. cities with extensive public transportation systems, such as Chicago, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.
A quick analysis of Chicago shows Chicago transit users typically experience large gaps in network coverage, low schedule frequency, chronic delays, and excessive transfer waits. Add to this service cuts on a yearly basis, decreased coverage (with the exception of the long overdue extension of the red line train) and decreased reliability. To top it off, while never particularly high on the list in terms of cleanliness, this latest CTA announcement resulting in less frequently cleaned trains means that the quality of the rider experience will undoubtedly fall even more. This almost guarantees a subsequent decrease in ridership which means that fare hikes will be inevitable to cover the cost of maintaining this public good – a vicious cycle for the public.
What does it take to sufficiently and efficiently operate and maintain a public transportation system in Chicago? Where are the performance standards that maintain accountability for CTA, especially considering taxpayers are paying for this service? Was it possible to maintain a much-needed program that hires ex-offenders and would keep trains a little bit more rider-friendly? This latest move by CTA is bad policy – and it’s the public that will suffer the consequences.
The Municipal Maven 