Frank Kruesi’s tenure as president of the CTA began this past Monday on a grim note. He toured bus and rail routes that had been recently eliminated, looking for stranded riders. He didn’t find any.
But the latest cutbacks are an apt reminder of the challenge Kruesi faces: To stabilize the CTA’s finances and rebuild customer confidence and satisfaction so that annual cutbacks do not become a form of death on the installment plan.
As he settles into his new job, here are a few ideas:
– Privatize: The CTA has yet to take any major steps in this direction, even as mass transit systems in London and Stockholm, for instance, have sold off their bus systems. In Chicago, we could begin with some backstage operations such as maintenance.
That would lead to reductions in personnel, as it should: Labor costs account for more than 70 percent of the CTA’s budget and haven’t gone down appreciably even as the agency lost tens of thousands of riders.
– Innovate: The CTA’s mission is to get people from A to B–but not necessarily in a 40-foot bus or an eight-car subway train. Some of the service eliminated this past weekend could have been replaced with mini-buses, vans or even jitney cabs.
– Get more funding, especially from the city: Prior to the cuts, this year’s deficit was estimated at $19.7 million on an operating budget of close to $780 million. That doesn’t include near-term and mammoth capital improvement needs, such as a $420 million rebuilding of the Douglas branch of the Blue Line.
The RTA can use its parking tax authority to generate more funds for the CTA, and the state should increase its contribution. But the city needs to ante up first–its meager $3 million-a-year contribution for operating costs undercuts the credibility of its maydays to the RTA and the state.
– Keep a customer focus: For years, the CTA has lumbered along as if it had a perpetual mandate. It doesn’t. It’s competing for customers, primarily with private cars and taxis, and so far it has been a losing battle. During the past decade it has lost 30 percent of its customers, most of whom moved to suburbs or gave up on the CTA’s dingy train stations and erratic service. Former CTA president David Mosena began an aggressive customer-service effort that needs to be greatly expanded and accelerated.
– Launch a marketing campaign: Like any business, the CTA must hold onto its customers and find new ones. A marketing campaign should target arrivals at the airports, new college students, families moving into the city and any other potential riders. For additional ideas, call METRA–which has one of the most effective marketing efforts in the country.
Business as usual has driven the CTA into a blind alley of ever-shrinking finances and customer base. It’s time to shift gears, and fast.
