SICK TRANSIT....one big piss in a wet suit?

Finally, after various mass transit delays. I got to room 302 of UIC's student center, where Monday's CTA Public hearing was being held.I don't know if Ron Huberman or any of the other officials made opening statements. If so I was too late to hear that.I did arrive in time for the Ron Huberman Roast, a/k/a the Public comment period.People were allowed to step up to the microphone, and in a two minute(?) period, allowed to voice their concerns.The list of questions & comments included:
1. How did the CTA arrive at it's cuts, and will the phase in of cuts be gradual?
2. A National Federation of the blind spokesperson who reminded us of the many blind people on fixed incomes who would be hurt by fare raises.
3. CTA board salaries: why so high?
4. Lost revenue due to broken fare boxes. Get a clue, huh?
5. 30 day pass increase to $122.00 could force people to ride METRA.
---CAVEAT: This assumes that METRA doesn't cry poor and raise fares.
---Well, duh! CAVEAT not everyone who uses bus routes, such as the #1 bus lives near a Metra line. That routes, the Indiana/Hyde Park is targeted for a cut. See the rest here.
6.Why pay more for an unsafe ride? One 20 year old female college student tearfully talked about being harassed on CTA trains, and not getting any help from security. She was ready to take METRA.
7.One person who spoke before me didn't have enough time to get to her point. She used most of her time telling the board how many "Chapter 1" -elementary & high school students parents she represented. Which makes me wonder if those Chapter 1 parents could organize a...
8.Boycott??? Someone in the back kept yelling that.
But can you imagine the logistics of organizing van and carpools to get people to their destinations?
And yet....oh what the heck....suppose a half of the CTA's ridership boycotted, and had car & van pools for a month.Make it two months for a symbolic walkout. Nah, it would have to be three, plus informational picketing.You think CTA would clean up its financial act then?Shades of Montgomery, back in the 50's.

"Do you think they're going to listen to us?" someone asked me afterwords, as we waited
(and waited) at the UIC Halsted blue line. I facetiously suggested that we should steal the board member's cars and force all of them to take public transit.I don't know. I think we attendees were allowed to blow off steam. This was our piss in a wetsuit. It made us feel good to get our frustrations with the CTA out of us.But like a piss in a wet suit, it gave us a warm feeling, but will anyone at CTA notice?

SICK TRANSIT..inglorius hearings?

The PACE 626 bus I take to work had to pull over and restart a couple of times. Its dodgy condition, I am tempted to say, is a metaphor for mass transit in Northeastern Illinois. All of us who ride Metra, PACE, and the CTA will be affected by cutbacks to service.This morning, I heard State Sen. Julie Hamnos complaining about her suburban colleagues taking potshots at the CTA.
Read up, my suburban dear ones: We city folk work in your 'burbs, you need US and you need the mass transit that gets us to your office parks, your shopping malls, your factories, and your hospitals.If you don't believe me, then spend a day riding the yellow line, or PACE bus routes such as the 290, the 626 or the 386.You might be interested to know how far some city folks have to travel to get their jobs. I know people traveling from the South Side to get to Northbrook, for example. They need the L service to get up to the Skokie terminal on time for their bus.Ok.
Enough ranting. I'm going to a CTA public hearing tonight.More later.