New figures show passengers took a combined 521 million rides last year. That's down about 5 million rides, or 1 percent, compared to 2008.I would like to refer you to Worlee's Concerned Citizen's of Chatham blog to take a lot at the service cutbacks by CTA that is set to commence on February 7th.
CTA President Richard Rodriguez says 2009 ridership numbers are better than expected given the recession. He says the modest decline during hard economic times shows how much people value public transportation.
CTA rail ridership was just over 202 million for 2009, an increase of around 2 percent. Bus ridership in 2009 was about 319 million, a nearly 3 percent decrease.
ALSO, read this piece from Greg Hinz regarding City Hall's weakness on addressing the needs of the CTA.
UPDATE 11:03 PM State hasn't paid the RTA since July according to Chicago Current!
The state of Illinois has not paid the Regional Transportation Authority since July and now owes the transit agency $250 million, the RTA said today.
The recession has forced state government to pick and choose where to send its limited funding, and the Chicago region's transportation agencies have gotten the short end of the stick.
To bridge the gap, the RTA has the authority to issue $260 million in "working cash" — essentially IOU notes. While the RTA still has a few other sources of funding to get by on, the state’s non-payment could become a big problem if it lasts much longer.
"We have to let them know the consequences of this situation," RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman told the agency's board today. "We don't want doomsday all over again."
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