(The following story by Guy Tridgell appeared on the Daily Southtown website on May 4.)
CHICAGO — The area’s transit agencies Thursday issued a final warning: Without some financial relief out of Springfield, higher fares, system breakdowns and service cuts are coming as soon as this summer.
To fill a $226 million deficit, the Regional Transportation Authority ordered Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority to begin preparing emergency budgets to take effect July 1.
RTA executive director Steve Schlickman said riders should start to expect more expensive trips on buses and trains that are prone to breaking down and run less frequently.
“It is now getting to the point where we have to get more specific,” Schlickman said.
The consequences, Schlickman said, will touch “anyone who breathes air” — by forcing more commuters into cars on clogged expressways.
Schlickman said it is not the kind of message that should be coming from a city vying for the Olympic Games in 2016.
“We have to look at ourselves and ask, ‘Are we world-class?’ ” he said. “Maybe we don’t deserve the Olympics.”
For more than a year, the transit agencies and the RTA have warned lawmakers that their doomsday arrives in 2007. They are pushing for an increase of $400 million in annual operating expenses and $10 billion to expand service over the next five years.
But their pitch for more dollars faces two big hurdles:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is adamant that his plan to increase business taxes to boost health care must be addressed first.
And suburbanites are not taking the threats to transit seriously enough, viewing the plea for more money as just another bailout of the enormous CTA system, according to RTA chairman Jim Reilly.
Since the weekend, the RTA spent nearly $11,000 blanketing the suburbs with almost 250,000 fliers stuck in newspapers to get its point across.
“Suburbanites get great service, but they tend to take it for granted,” Reilly said. “There are few guarantees in life. Continued good commuter service in the suburbs is not one of them.”
The last time the state’s formula to fund transit in the Chicago area was changed came in 1983.
Metra chief Phil Pagano said the crisis is reminiscent of the early 1980s, when transit was so underfunded, passengers could see the tracks below rickety floorboards.
“History may be repeating itself,” Pagano said.
Pace executive director T.J. Ross said the costs will be passed to other social service agencies if cuts are made. Pace is facing a $23 million deficit, about 15 percent of its budget.
“Any reduction or elimination in service means people lose jobs, they lose access to schools,” Ross said. “Someone, somewhere along the way will have to pick up the responsibility.”