CHICAGO (WBBM/AP) -- The president of the Chicago Transit Authority says riders should plan their trips in advance as service cuts are expected to take effect this weekend.
President Richard Rodriguez said Saturday that while the planned cuts ``may appear minor, they will make a big difference'' in passenger commutes. The CTA says among the changes, 119 bus routes and seven of its eight rail lines will run less frequently.
CTA officials say it is no longer a matter of whether service cuts will take effect Sunday morning. At the very least, they said Saturday, it's how long they will last.
Following a City Hall negotiating session that ended without agreement on union givebacks, CTA set the plan in motion by beginning to shuffle its bus fleet. CTA President Richard Rodriguez said most are going to the seven garages that will remain open. The 287 buses being mothballed are going to the 102-year-old Archer garage, which is closing, although Rodriguez said decommissioning of the 15-year-old buses will not be done immediately.
"We're going to begin the storage preparation for the vehicles, but we will not do so immediately," he said. "We're going to begin the process with the hope that a deal is in fact struck that we're able to restore some of those back out on the street."
Rodriguez says service could be restored "quickly" if the unions agree to the needed concessions, although he said the amount of service would depend on the amount of concessions reached.
Service is being halted on nine express bus routes. Hours of operation are being reduced on 41 lines and waits lengthened on 119 routes. The service cuts are the deepest since a 1997-98 service restructuring.
Rodriguez reiterated his position that the unions have yet to offer any meaningful and usable cost reductions, although union officials say they ``remain optimistic.''
"This is not new," he said. "This has been out in the press for many a months. "What we've asked of the unions has not changed in any way, shape or form."
Rodriguez said he is pleased that the unions have agreed to talk but said CTA remains adamant about a mix of furlough days and an immediate pay freeze.
The unions had offered a pay freeze for 2012 and 2013, and offered to forego a pay increase for half of next year, while foregoing increases slated in CTA contributions to employee pensions.
But Rodriguez said the 2008 RTA restructuring specifically forbids tampering with pension funding, a common remedy in past CTA budget crises that left the pension plan on the verge of collapse two years ago. And CTA Chairman Terry Peterson said Thursday that the transit agency needs cost economies now, not in 2012 or 2013.
CTA is laying off 903 bus operators, 116 rapid transit employees and 38 tradesmen, for a total of 1,057 employees.
Mayor Richard M. Daley said Saturday that the next move is up to the unions.
"After the cuts go into effect they'll meet for the next couple of weeks and see if there is any common ground," he said.
Union officials Friday criticized Daley for not joining the talks earlier, but the mayor said he could not do so because key layoff issues were in the hands of a federal arbitrator.
He said CTA and its unions are in a difficult position because of the economic slowdown.
"People don't want their taxes increased. they don't want their fees or fares increase," Daley said.
Even full agreement would not mean instantaneous resumption of service. Rodriguez said that employees must be given the chance to bid on the jobs they wish to fill. The process is mandated four times a year under the bus drivers' and mechanics' contracts, and twice a year for employees on the rapid transit system.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2009 by WBBM. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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