Parts shortages, problems with a contractor and a possible employee work slowdown kept scores of Chicago Transit Authority buses off the streets last week, leaving some riders waiting on corners for longer stretches than normal, according to CTA officials.
”We`ve had an abominable breakdown in our service,” said John Hoellen, chairman of the CTA board`s Committee on Operations. ”I don`t know if it`s ever been worse.”
Another member of the operations committee, Howard Medley, has said that he plans to visit the authority`s big bus repair facility at 77th Street and Vincennes Avenue to ”check it out and see” the problem for himself.
Mechanical problems forced buses out of service every day last week, said Lonnie Hill, acting head of operations.
On Thursday, for example, 100 runs were canceled and more than 200 were late because of vehicle shortages, he reported.
By Monday morning, after weekend overtime to get vehicles in shape, mechanical problems caused a total of 51 late and canceled runs, according to preliminary figures, Hill said. A normal weekday schedule calls for about 3,400 city runs.
A normal weekday schedule calls for about 3,400 city runs.
Hill attributed the problem to a parts shortage. Hoellen also cited a parts problem but said he believes that some members of the CTA`s maintenance workforce have begun a slowdown to protest the aggressive management style of Frank Wilson, the CTA`s new senior deputy executive director in charge of operations.
Gloria Chevere, the authority`s head of administration, said that about 300 buses are sidelined awaiting major structural overhauls because of problems in implementing a contract with Lawson National Distributing Co., a controversial CTA vendor.
Lawson, whose president is a friend of CTA Chairman Walter Clark, recently was the low bidder on the work. But a contract has not yet been signed because the company has failed to produce required information on its financial condition, Chevere said.
Chevere said such information is required when major contracts are involved to make sure companies have the financial wherewithal to complete work. Lawson National has been given until Monday to produce the data, she said.
Chevere said that the parts shortage stems from a requisition logjam that was allowed to grow under former agency officials. About 50 vehicles have been held out of service because of lack of replacement parts, she said.
Aggravating the vehicle crunch, Chevere said, has been ”some overscheduling” of routine maintenance work. This has kept some buses out of service even though they could have been on the street, she said.
