tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post6424079246077031365..comments2024-03-27T20:04:53.585-06:00Comments on Illinois Transportation Issues: SB 572: More On Who Gets WhatTom Bamontehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08257129333713108323noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post-4281666302323163972007-08-08T23:59:00.000-06:002007-08-08T23:59:00.000-06:00Wow, $100M more than they need. Sounds like a chan...Wow, $100M more than they need. Sounds like a chance for Metra to launch service to Moline, Milwaukee, and Kankakee, and to fast-track that ever so useful STAR line for that lucrative Plainfield to Warrenville reverse-commute market.<BR/><BR/>Thanks to the Republicans, we're going to get a capital bill before the civics get a chance to wave the bloody I-35W "Fix It First" flag. Instead, they'll get their Hastert Highways and we'll get some more chewing gum to stick into the crumbling North Side Main retaining walls. I can't wait.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post-71871035717264348672007-08-07T22:04:00.000-06:002007-08-07T22:04:00.000-06:00An excellent City idea for Metra is to pump some c...An excellent City idea for Metra is to pump some capital dollars into the Metra Electic stations, increase service levels to acceptable urban transit levels and sit-down with the City to knock-out a transfer agreement, so that CTA's 25 cent transfers are allowed to-n-from the Metra Electric.<BR/><BR/>This could so transform South Side neighborhoods. It also may allow CTA to pull-back on some of its South LSD express bus services, providing an operating savings for CTA.<BR/><BR/>CTA will gripe about "turf" and Metra will gripe it doesn't get any subsidy from the City (directly, that is), but it's huge for the City. Basically, a rail asset is being underutilized because of the 1983 RTA Act, and it looks like that's going to continue under RTA 2007. Yet we pay for this underutilization with tons of bus service running over congested streets. And neighborhoods don't get the investment that they could be getting if that rail asset was fully utilized.<BR/><BR/>I know I'm not the first one to propose this, but this is something the Mayor could be pushing for, now that Metra has $100mil they didn't ask for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post-11371518292664016442007-08-07T09:14:00.000-06:002007-08-07T09:14:00.000-06:00Maybe the more important question is why it takes ...Maybe the more important question is why it takes a reported $550 million in new taxes and state budget increases to take care of a purported $208 million shortfall?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post-77470356385698474422007-08-06T21:13:00.000-06:002007-08-06T21:13:00.000-06:00Moderator, I know you're good with numbers, but I ...Moderator, I know you're good with numbers, but I have to correct your percentages and add some decimal points:<BR/><BR/>Current Public Funding (added decimal points)<BR/>CTA -- $442.5 million (57.6%)<BR/>Metra -- $241.7 million (31.5%)<BR/>Pace -- $84.4 million (11.0%)<BR/><BR/>After SB 572 (recalculated your percentages)<BR/>CTA -- $669.5 million (57.8%)<BR/>Metra -- $349.0 million (30.1%)<BR/>Pace -- $140.1 million (12.1%)<BR/><BR/>Hold on here. CTA barely nudges and, in fact, if anything Pace is taking from Metra (good, they should have a long time ago, since they've been feeding riders to Metra on the cheap for years, anyways, and Metra has never had to share the fiscal burden of complementary paratransit--ever).<BR/><BR/>The practical precision that CTA's overall share does NOT change, almost suggests that it was done on purpose, in order to avoid any debate over "what portion" of the region's transit impact is provided by CTA. (I don't want to rehash that dicussion right now, but it seems to me a joke that CTA is not far more significant that 57.8% of the region's transit influence.)<BR/><BR/>While Moderator is correct that over $60 million of CTA's new money comes from Suburban Cook sales tax, it is important that over 3/4rs of CTA's new money is coming from Chicago taxes.<BR/><BR/>But the question is still out there: both CTA and Pace are recognizably "cash-strapped," and most people at least understand where that money will end up going to (whether you agree with it or like or it not). Unfortunately, it's not going to go to a lot more service, just status quo, along with fare increases avoided. The CTA's pensions will be at least somewhat healthy, but employees are putting 6% of their paychecks into the pot, so you can't gripe that the new money is just going to the unions.<BR/><BR/>What is Metra going to do with its new money?<BR/><BR/>The RTA's 2007 budget book on page 25 lists the "New Transit Funding" they were asking for.<BR/><BR/>In 2008<BR/>CTA -- $169.5 million <BR/>Metra -- $6.5 million<BR/>Pace -- $26.2 million<BR/><BR/>In 2009<BR/>CTA -- $271.0 million <BR/>Metra -- $6.6 million<BR/>Pace -- $30.7 million<BR/><BR/>A couple of points: SB 572 is providing more than any of those figures, so what gives there? And even if the answer is partially due to the fact that we may be comparing different year-to-year figures, it should be pointed out that Metra is receiving over 16-times the amount they asked for. Depending on how you calculate it, CTA and Pace are only 1-2 times.<BR/><BR/>So I'll elaborate the question again:<BR/>What is Metra going to do with the new money that they didn't ask for?<BR/><BR/>It is my hope that someone from the Mayor's Office is seeing this and is trying to add something to SB 572 to force Metra to increase its service levels in the City.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840511756286055487.post-71562726667364473682007-08-06T20:26:00.000-06:002007-08-06T20:26:00.000-06:00You're right about the Orwellian part...perfect wo...You're right about the Orwellian part...perfect word for these Strange Days. No? <BR/><BR/>But deal Ice Miller Bob--in.<BR/><BR/>He needs a sizable chunk of that RTA/County transfer payment/tax windfall for his little project on Thorndale Ave because the locals are getting restless and as Achebe said, Things Fall Apart. <BR/><BR/>But what's the issue? The other counties can use theirs to pay for Hastert Highway interchanges. And anyway, Transit gets some too. <BR/><BR/>What's the issue? Suburban Cook? So what's different there?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com