The new police unit that will patrol the Chicago Transit Authority`s bus system could be in service by early fall and ultimately may be staffed by officers assigned full-time rather than by a floating staff of off-duty officers, the head of the Regional Transportation Authority said Tuesday.
RTA chairman Samuel Skinner said progress has been made in working out details between the city and the CTA on how the unit will operate after initial disagreement over the deployment of officers. Both sides now appear to agree that the police department will direct the unit, with the CTA contributing ”substantial input” on deployment, he said.
Several weeks ago, Skinner blamed ”bureaucracy” for the failure to reach an accord. But he said that after meeting recently with CTA chairman Michael Cardilli and a representative of the city corporation counsel`s office, ”I now am convinced everybody wants to make it work.”
The unit, to consist of about 75 officers, will patrol bus routes in high-crime areas. The General Assembly on Monday passed an appropriation that would provide $3.5 million in the coming year to fund the new security effort. If the unit begins operations in early fall as he hopes, Skinner said that ”moonlighting” off-duty officers probably will provide the manpower initially. But it is possible that police officers assigned full-time to the unit will take over sometime next year.
”There is a feeling among security professionals that a full-time assignment, when you see your supervisor every day and he knows what you are doing . . . is better than a program in which you have a pool of people to draw from and the supervisor sees 10 people one day and 10 others the next day,” Skinner said.
Also on Tuesday, a committee of members of the RTA staff and its three operating subsidiaries recommended to the RTA board that current service levels be maintained with only minor changes in the ”Lake Street corridor”
between downtown and the near west suburbs.
Transit critics for years have argued that bus service in the corridor should be reduced because it duplicates service on the Chicago Transit Authority`s Lake Street rapid transit line.
But staff officials told the board that ridership levels are healthy on buses and trains, and they contended that poor West Side residents who don`t own cars need bus service for short trips.
Board members also were told that ridership on the suburban bus system has fallen since an 11 percent fare increase in February. In April, ridership was down about 5 percent from the corresponding month a year earlier. In May, the decline hit an estimated 9 percent.
On another matter, the board was told that the RTA could finance a proposed $50 million program of self-insurance that would cover the agency`s subsidiaries–the CTA; Metra, the commuter rail system; and Pace, the suburban bus system–with proceeds of a special bond issue if a measure in Springfield giving the RTA new bonding authority becomes law.
