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$9.90 A RIDEBy Charlie Sykes.. and we ain't giving back anything. Patrick McIlheran on the joys of public transit systems and the unions who run them. It costs, the Chicago Tribune reports, $9.90 per ride to run the Chicago Transit Authority. The system takes in, on average, 98 cents per ride in fares. The rest gets made up by taxpayers... And why is transit so expensive? Some of it is because rail construction is fantastically expensive -- the figure drops to $7 per ride if you exclude just a few of the more recent rail construction projects. But some is labor, too. Public transit is staffed by unionized, public-sector labor, and that costs a lot. Reports the Trib: “CTA labor union contracts provide a 3 percent wage increase this year and call for 3.5 percent hikes next year and in 2011. “CTA President Richard Rodriguez and CTA board Chairman Terry Peterson have asked the unions to make similar concessions to cut costs, but union leaders have so far refused. “ ‘We're not giving up anything,’ vowed Darrell Jefferson, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, which represents bus drivers and bus mechanics.” |
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Friday, Nov 20 at 10:18 AM MADDOG @ inthefuture wrote ...
I'd tell you to take the bus but then I would be paying the 9.90 for your ride so forget it.
32409816 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 11:56 PM @inthefuture wrote ...
then why shouldn't Chicago, etc. charge you $9.90 per ride, if you use mass transit?? Why should us taxpayers pay for your expensive ride? I assume you make more than $15.50/day, so to you it's worth it, inthefuture - everybody should be responsible for their own cost/benefit analysis. What is the cost/benefit analysis of the Obama election so far, people?
32394214 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 8:02 PM D @ anon wrote ...
Yeah, right. Anything that isn't pro overpaid, underproductive union labor has to be wrong. Read the Chicago Tribune as long as you're telling everyone to look south. They can read about how two and now maybe a third major convention are pulling out of Chicago because of the high costs at McCormick place. And yes, no matter how they try to paint it, it's grossly overpaid union labor that's the main problem, along with the Democrats' continued patronizing and placating of da unions.
32385739 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 6:38 PM Mary--->inthefuture wrote ...
You do realize the $9.90 per trip is the TAXPAYER'S cost, right? The cost of YOUR transportation is not MY responsiblity.
32381914 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 4:45 PM inthefuture wrote ...
My monthly Car Cost: $300 Payment, $100 for insurance, $200 for gas, Plus $20 for maintenance (tires, oil changes etc.) If I drive my car to work every months 4 weeks a months for 5 days so 40 trips/month 620/40= $15.50 Cut my cost back to 9.90 a trip and I'd be happy.
32376041 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 4:08 PM JPH to Anonymous wrote ...
Reason he doesn't tell the truth is because he doesn't know the truth. He will buy any spin that his heros (conservative talk radio hosts or TV hosts) thrown his way. It is hard to believe that one person can be so gullible. If you had $30.00 worth of phony jewelry and locked in a room with him, within 15 minutes you would walk out of the room a millionaire and he would go off and tell all his friends what a great deal he got on the jewelry.
32373676 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 3:43 PM WA Dan wrote ...
With all this talk about facts in this discussion it is important to remember that the fact is unions are unneeded for public employees. Rather than just hurting a single company like the private sector, ALL taxpayers are killed by unions for public employees. Just a few dollars more they say. What will that hurt? They would be right if it was one year and never before or never again. But, no. It is EVERY year the same tired lines are pulled out. The breaking point is now. Stop unions!
32371921 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 1:31 PM MADDOG to JPH wrote ...
Or is it Just Pain Hooey? You are full of it. You have Sarah Palin so wrong I almost feel sorry for you.
32363554 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 12:56 PM JPH wrote ...
If you expect talk radio to give you all the facts you may need to make a decision or come to a conclusion about anything, you live in a dream world. One of the reasons you have not heard talk radio trumpeting their favorite hero Sarah Palin and her book is she is becoming one of the greatest whiners the world has ever known, and her book may be more fiction than non fiction. So she will now be ignored just like all the facts to a story.
32361414 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 12:53 PM John H to Bjorn Yesterday wrote ...
So if these unions don't accept concessions the CTA is going to move their bus routes to China? Out of curiosity when was the last time you rode the CTA or Metra?
32361151 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 11:52 AM Bjorn Yesterday wrote ...
The Union has partnered with the Democratic Party to save millions of jobs from leaving the country. That is why, election after election, we remain loyal, steadfast supporters of the Democratic Party and it progressive actions.
32356701 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 11:49 AM Anonymous wrote ...
Regardless of the union issue or not, this is an interesting element of implementing a liberal totalitarian governmental control on the public. Force everyone into cattle cars, er, trains so they are dependent on them, then put all your cronies in charge of the system and pay the cronies off with higher taxes extorted from the public. What, you don't want 90% of your income taken in taxes, fine, shut down your only means of transportation. Individualism is banned.
32356526 Flag for moderationThursday, Nov 19 at 11:36 AM CPA wrote ...
It is made to appear labor costs are the culprit, which may be true, but until I see all the financial data regarding operating expenses it is premature to accept this attack on the union workers. An unbiased reported would have given all the operating expenses so readers can make their own judgements.
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