Regional transit officials warn: 'Doomsday' not just a threat
As state lawmakers meet today to seek an 11th-hour transit funding plan, officials promised 'doomsday' threats will be very real this weekend for scores of suburbanites who rely on buses and downtown trains.
Regional Transportation Authority officials said this morning they are losing hope fast that elected lawmakers will agree on a funding plan to thwart Sunday's anticipated service cuts and fare increases.
"I don't like the term 'doomsday'," Carole L. Brown, an RTA director, told reporters at this morning's meeting. "It sounds like a PR stunt. It's real. We need more funding for transportation or we're going to have to cut service and raise fares and that's going to impact the people who can least afford it."
She added: "The time for the PR and politics is over and the time for really dealing with the people this impacts, is now."
Lawmakers are meeting in Springfield again today to try to head off fare hikes and service cuts as of Sunday at the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace. House Speaker Michael Madigan is trying to win passage of a transit bill that would contain a quarter of a percent hike in the regional sales tax.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich vowed to veto the idea, but lawmakers could override him if they can all agree on a compromise bill.
Blagojevich, talking to reporters at O'Hare as he prepared to fly Downstate to talk to legislative leaders, says he's hoping he and leaders can agree on a transportation bill.
But Blagojevich says that if they can't, he has a contingency plan to give Chicago-area transit agencies the cash needed to avoid massive service cuts and fare increases slated to start Sunday.
The governor says there's state money available to delay the crisis, but he stresses that the Regional Transportation Authority and the Chicago Transit Authority will have to accept the cash.
The governor says if they don't, they're "playing a dangerous game of chicken with riders."
Many riders will face the reality of leaving home earlier in search of alternate routes or driving to work. Brown said that may mean as many as 1.6 million more people trying to commute into the Loop each day.
RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman said the board will not support another stop-gap solution, such as temporary funding. Without the transit bill's passage, he promised the RTA will pull the trigger Sunday as planned.
"I suspect there is a chance for additional votes, but I have no guarantee that it will actually pass," he said this morning.
"I'm not feeling good at all. We've threatened all of our riders with poorer service for higher fares and I think, if we go forward with that, it'll be an injustice to them."
Commuters can look for alternative routes at www.rtachicago.com; www.transitchicago.com or www.pacebus.com.
Associated Press contributed to this report.