ANOTHER FARE HIKE?

You bet I'm flipping out. I understand that it costs money to operate such en enormous transportation organization, but I fail to understand how year after year after year they manage to dig further and further into debt. I can only assume that the construction/revamping projects they've enacted cost significantly more than projected? Or more things broke down than they thought? Or did the big boys on top just get another raise? No matter the reason, why is it that taxpayers have to cover up for bad budgeting skills?

I want to make sure to be clear- I'm not merely ticked off that I will have to pay AT LEAST an extra $1.50 a day to get to work and double that on days when I've got to ferry around to rehearsals, auditions, etc... But there are also going to be express buses cut, hours of operation shortened, and longer periods between trains and buses. As a result it thrills me to know that now, instead of waiting 45 mins for a Damen bus I know can wait about an hour and a half. AWESOME. When I worked at the Apple Store last year I used to take the blue line to Chicago, where I would have to wait for the Chicago 66 bus. A couple glorious times it was there as I ran up the smelly pee stairs in a frenzy to catch it, but more often, I waited 30 mins to an hour (oh yeah, I was late to work a lot). It's great to know that next time I wait for it, I may be waiting there on that somewhat seedy corner for even longer than ever before. ESPECIALLY at night. Yay safety!

The other complaint I've read about since this announcement is that things will be even more crowded and we may not get seats as often. To those whiney biatches- standing isn't so bad. STOP BRINGING YOUR SUITCASE TO WORK, carry less shit around in your purse (no one person at any given time will be using all the crap ladies stuff into their 25 lb purses) and maybe if you didn't buy so much useless overpriced crap at Macy's your hand wouldn't hurt from holding your shopping bag. Having to stand on the CTA is not the crisis you think it is.

It is more of a crisis than now thousands of residents will have to find new routes to and from work. For those poor souls who have two or three jobs, good luck from the bottom of my heart.

I want to be honest for a second here...The CTA I take most often to get to all my usual locations is all pretty awesome. The brown line smells good and is fairly regular...the Lawrence and Western buses aren't TOO bad. But I feel more outrage at the knowledge that most of the routes that will be cut and shortened are going to happen in the neighborhoods that suffer far worse crime and are occupied by people who work longer and harder jobs than I do.

CTA, if you're going to pull all this crap all over again, do those hardworking folks a favor and make changes to the neighborhood routes that won't be so royally screwed over by your incompetence.