I seriously cannot believe the gall of these people.
This is not an exact figure but I think the last few days represent roughly the 10,000th time in the last two years that the CTA has threatened a "Doomsday" scenario without the aid of some immediate cash. Of course this bloated, corrupt, inefficent and retarded agency would never once consider pulling its head out of its ass as a cost saving measure. Do they truly think anyone would pay $3 for the "privilege" of riding that rickety, undependable shit in the first place? I know the good citizens of Chicago depend, in many cases, entirely on public transportation, which only makes this continuous extortionist chain yanking the more criminal. Be that as it may people, the time is upon us when we must declare "enough! We will endure no more!"
Where I ask you, does the hard earned cash that so many of us spend on fare cards even go? Does anyone actually work for the CTA anymore? Ah yes, I remember: as the #30 South Chicago bus driver Richard W. Linn, a 25 year veteran of the outfit (word used purposely), told me, upper management is so packed with Daley patrons, there is little left in the till for full-time, trained staff. You know, the kind that actually give a shit when you have an issue and don't just yank your 30-day pass two days early (I remain fumed about this incident at the Damen Brown Line stop)?
What I love the most about this farce is that our fine Mayor would have you believe that despite the department being named the CHICAGO Transit Authority, rather than the State of Illinois Transit Authority, the City is in no way culpable for this mess. There is nothing the King does better than blame shift, and he is ever ready to place the villain's mantel on Governor Pat Quinn. Our highly educated leader had this to say about the two year fare freeze compromise:
"They don't permanent fix too much in Washington, D.C. or Springfield. They don't permanent fix it."
Um what? I am not even going to touch upon the rampant illiteracy of that statement. It's fish in a barrel. Getting past that however, I actually have to give Pat Quinn a small hand. The two year fare hike at the very least gives us a 24-month reprieve from any more blackmail about hitting transit riders harder than they already are. And Governor Quinn accomplished this without yanking the free ride privilege from seniors, which if I may, was one of the few things ex-Governor Blago did right. Daley and his cronies were ready to charge Granny and Gramps full price again as long as the wheels continue greasing. Sickening.
This is a rhetorical question of course, but why is the answer never to fix the way the goddamned CTA operates? This fare freeze has not silenced the agency a whit when it comes to service cuts and layoffs. I say, let the layoffs start at the top. Let's start with Daley.
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Amen! I am sick of the incompetency governing our public transportation. They have us by the balls, and it is anything but sporting. What's worse than a bully? A greedy bully.
ReplyDeleteI do disagree with the seniors program as it stands. This should be modified to only benefit seniors below a certain income bracket and/or living on social security alone or public aid. There are a lot of very wealthy seniors that get a free ride when they are fully able to pay the rates without hardship. That may beg the question, as it assumes any wealthy seniors would set foot on those disease platforms. Anyway, a whole demographic shouldn't be (reverse?) discriminated if the members of that group are not on the same playing field.
I like how Metra i doing it - increasing fares for those who only take it on occasion. The regular commuters will not, at this time, feel the pinch. One ways, weekend passes, and on-board fares will be the only tickets seeing a change. And rates haven't changes in quite a while, so it makes sense thateventually that would have to happen. It's nice to know that it won't hurt the people who use it te most.
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ReplyDeleteAfter talking to you and a few other people in the know, I am willing to budge on my senior rides stance. I agree it's somewhat stupid to give them to the extremely well to do. There ought to be a sane income requirement. Even so, Blago didn't do much good for the people of Illinois, but I view this as at least an attempt to do the right thing for somebody.
Jen - I agree with you. Metra is getting it right here. Not for nothing is the Metra a more pleasant place to commute in general.
I would have had less of a problem with the seniors thing if it weren't for the way Blago did it - blow up a negotiated deal in order to indulge in a shameless display of interest-group pandering.
ReplyDeleteBut the CTA's nearly annual ritual of blackmail and doomsday prophecying is getting old. Our transit system is kind of like American healthcare - we pay more and get less than other places.