As Chicago area transit agencies prepare for potential major service cuts in the face of a $771 million budget gap that lawmakers are still working to plug, city leaders and residents don’t have to imagine the outcome if there is no solution before next year.
We’ve seen similar scenarios play out across the country, and it’s brutal for commuters.
In May, thousands of commuters were stranded when a computer issue forced the complete shutdown of BART, the San Francisco Bay Area’s most heavily used train system.
The same month, a strike by train engineers in New Jersey Transit’s huge commuter rail system left its 100,000 daily riders looking for other means to cross the Hudson River into New York City.
Both incidents resulted in confusion, increased costs and chaos for commuters.
When riders who usually take public transit are forced to find alternatives, highways look more like parking lots and ride-hailing prices skyrocket.
In areas serviced by buses and the L, those services can be overwhelmed by a crush of new passengers, but most often, commuters cram back into their cars.
And when budget and service cuts cause riders to leave the system, it leads to even more service cuts — a self-fulfilling prophecy often referred to as a “doom spiral.”
The impact is felt by real people. Residents rely on public transit to get to and from home and to the hospital, work, and Cubs and White Sox games. They take the brunt of reduced hours, less frequent service and routes shortened or eliminated entirely.
The troubled financial situation of Chicago transit agencies isn’t a new development, nor is it the result of mismanagement. The operating dollar formulas that decide which tax dollars go toward public transportation have not changed since 2008 and do not account for changes like suburban sprawl, remote-work patterns or the pandemic.
Whatever reforms are adopted to the region’s transit governance, those operating formulas should be revisited every five years to avoid recurring fiscal cliffs.
It’s critical Illinois lawmakers identify a long-term solution before federal pandemic relief funds are exhausted. Chicago’s public transit system means too much to riders and the region’s economy to let it rust away.
KellyAnne Gallagher, CEO, Commuter Rail Coalition, Alexandria, Virginia
Democratic socialists aren’t scary when you realize you may share their views
Socialists are not the cause of our problems. Socialists are not the bogeyman. Democratic socialists stand for a few basic propositions that almost all of us would agree with if we would just let ourselves get beyond that bad word.
That bad word is used and misused only to scare every loyal, God-fearing American. Socialists are on the side of people like us, which is everybody except the super-rich.
First of all, forget all that stuff about Marxism, dictatorship-of-the-proletariat or control of the means of production. A few socialists in the world — not many — still mouth those words, but frankly, they don’t mean much in the U.S. today. So all your visions of the old USSR, or even China, today are simply not what we’re talking about.
Here’s what socialists in the U.S. stand for today:
- Single-payer health care. The scaremongers call it “socialized medicine” just to freak everybody out. It just means health care for everyone at little or no cost, like most other civilized countries. Nobody dies because they can’t afford medical treatment.
- Free public education. K-12, public universities and trade schools for those under a certain income limit.
- A clean environment. Clean water, a functional electric grid, reliable emergency assistance, public control of utilities and relief from traffic congestion.
- Affordable housing. Getting sick yet of real estate speculators building high-rises that only the rich can afford? Affordable housing is a basic right.
- Social Security and veterans benefits. Don’t need to say much here. I think we all agree except a few politicians.
- A living minimum hourly wage everywhere.
Other things could be included here. New York City, for example, is evaluating free buses. Let the states and cities decide.
Now comes the easy part — how to pay for all this. Socialists in the U.S. keep it simple — Tax the rich! People making millions of dollars per year. This includes the corporations that are paying less tax now than they did some years ago when the tax laws actually took more from the rich than from you and me.
You remember what happened? We actually had a balanced budget.
That’s pretty much all that socialism stands for. Nothing about one-party states, nothing about discrimination against religion, nothing about strongmen ruling the passive masses.
So, please, get over your fears and listen to the program.
Leonard Cavise, emeritus professor of law, DePaul University, West Loop
Higher ed intimidated by Trump-led feds
We read a lot about Donald Trump dictating to our various top-notch universities about their approaches to education. None has responded on the record.
But Columbia University, last month, agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government as part of settlement to resolve claims it discriminated against Jewish students.
One hopes many other universities are not too cowed by Trump. Maybe speaking out alone might be risky. Banding together as a group, however, universities can oppose him more safely.
Not knowing their funding sources or which way they might jump, it is awkward to pass judgment. But if they join forces and challenge him, it could work better than remaining silent. Public opinion would support the universities, not Trump and his bullying. He seems convinced he has them cowed.
What has this country come to?
Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park