Let public transit pay its own way

Over the last few months, the politicians in Springfield have been holding "special sessions" to budget supplemental funding for the CTA, Pace and Metra to cover their operating deficits. There has been a proposal to increase the sales tax in our six-county area. Now, they're proposing a gaming expansion to cover the shortfalls. I am opposed to any subsidy for these public transportation systems. If a transportation system is losing money, raise the fares -- let the people using the services pay for it. If an individual route is not profitable, eliminate that route.

Last summer, I took the Route 606 Pace bus between the Northwest Transportation Center and the Rosemont CTA Station. The buses were filthy and the return bus was 20 minutes late. One recent Saturday, our family took rapid transit from Rosemont to the Loop. After paying our three dollars in the CTA parking Lot, we were handed a yellow sheet in the station noting a Blue Line "service interruption" between Jefferson Park and Harlem Avenue with a shuttle bus between the two stations. Even though we were assured this wouldn't cause any inconvenience, it still added at least 20 minutes to the trip in each direction and necessitated our family trudging through four extra CTA stations with a two-year old in a stroller. Then, we twice waited outside in 20-degree weather for a shuttle bus that didn't have people standing in the aisles.

I assure you, it was inconvenient and was more expensive (here's a novel idea -- how about a reduced fare during the service interruption?) than driving downtown and parking in a public lot.

In my opinion, the CTA and Pace are a joke. They are a giant jobs program with incompetent management. I'd like to see the Daily Herald do a story on the Pace and CTA boards -- are they appointees, by whom and how much are they paid? The ratios of supervisory personnel to operating personnel along with typical salaries may also be informative.

John Schmitz

Bloomingdale