A lunchtime business crowd hungering for changes at the CTA got all it could possibly digest Tuesday from CTA President Ron Huberman.
An energetic Huberman served up promises of rail-car seats clean enough to eat off of and technology to tell waiting riders when their buses and trains will arrive. He also vowed to quickly launch an ambitious campaign to post electronic advertising on bus exteriors and improve retail shops in rail stations, all to help fund an array of future transit projects.
But by the time dessert was finished at the City Club of Chicago luncheon, the big question staring back from empty plates was how Huberman would accomplish it all, especially in the 12- to 18-month timetable he laid out.
The CTA needs nearly $7 billion in funding to bring the transit system to a state of good repair, and state government is nowhere near an agreement on a new capital spending plan that would begin chipping away at the shortfall.
Despite the capital funding crisis, improvements to prevent buses from bunching up on routes “will be hugely noticeable by our customers” by summer, Huberman told the City Club audience.
A separate project to eliminate rail slow zones on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line is on schedule for completion by the end of 2008, he said. By year’s end, 7 percent of the tracks on the CTA’s eight rail lines will be affected by slow zones, down from almost 17 percent now, he added.
Huberman said he would like to replace about 175 buses, one-twelfth of the CTA’s fleet, each year to improve reliability and cut sticker costs because of discounts bus manufacturers could offer by keeping production lines running.
In addition, Huberman said, the CTA should get out of the fare-card business and expand upon a pilot project announced earlier this week that will allow customers to use credit, debit and ATM cards to pay for rides.
Huberman said many of the initiatives he proposed can be funded in a “pay-as-you-go” format, but it eventually will reach the point where the improvements will stop without a new state capital funding bill.
“We are spending dollars now on things that make the most sense to our customers,” he said after the speech. “We have a lot to prove to our customers to show the CTA is a more responsible organization.”
Sign of the times
Huberman also said the installation at CTA rail stations of digital signs that would display the estimated arrival times for trains will be completed next year. The Regional Transportation Authority had unsuccessfully attempted a similar project. “We won’t spend a dime to get it done,” Huberman said, noting the costs of the project should be covered by advertising on the digital displays.
