The first day of the cuts in the CTA’s bus and train service hit riders hard on Sunday.
A worker trying to go home after an overnight shift wound up waiting an extra two hours to catch a bus. A 6-year-old girl feared that she might miss a birthday party.
Layoffs that could affect at least 900 CTA workers began Sunday, and the CTA’s management and union leaders continued to square off Sunday on the necessity of concessions by labor to forestall the cuts.
CTA President Richard Rodriguez still insists the cuts were needed to help close a budget deficit, while the head of the bus drivers union said his members had given up enough.
Monday will be the first weekday of reduced service on the CTA. It also will be the first day of service cuts in the suburban Pace system, leaving many of bus riders wondering how they are going to get around in Chicago’s sprawling suburbs. The agency is eliminating 15 routes and reducing service on nine others.
