Students using the El to go to Chicago at night could soon find themselves stranded on the way back.
If the Chicago Transit Authority does not make up for a budget shortfall by next year, a contingency plan would eliminate service after 10 p.m. for the Purple Line, which serves Evanston.
In order to continue normal service, the CTA would need an additional $82.5 million from the Illinois General Assembly for 2005, according to a CTA press release. Without the money, the agency will implement a “gridlock budget” involving more than 1,000 job cuts and massive service reductions for next year, some of which will occur in Evanston.
“Without adequate funding, CTA will have no choice but to drastically restructure its service in order to achieve a balanced budget,” CTA President Frank Kruesi wrote in the proposed 2005 budget.
In addition to cuts to the Purple Line, the Red Line, which currently runs 24 hours a day, would stop running between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Passengers would wait longer between trains, according to CTA documents.
“If it’s like negative 10 degrees outside, waiting for the El for 10 minutes might be a problem,” said Medill sophomore Adva Saldinger, who relies on late trains to travel to Loyola University of Chicago where she has an evening class.
Potential service reductions also will affect bus routes across the Chicago area. Although none of the 30 bus routes the CTA would eliminate run through Evanston, longer waiting times will be implemented for every route in the city.
Service reductions would have the greatest effect for people who have no alternatives to mass transit, said McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science Interim Dean Joseph Schofer, an urban transportation expert.
“If you look at people who are using the CTA late at night, most … are transit-dependent,” he said. “People rarely volunteer to ride the CTA at those hours if they have other options.”
One of those people is Mike McKane, who said service cuts would make it more difficult for him to travel from his job at a bicycle shop in Evanston to his home in Rogers Park.
“I don’t have a car. I have a bike,” McKane said. “I’m going to have to ride my bike.”
Potential service reductions also could discourage NU students from traveling to Chicago.
“I think Chicago is one of the perks of going to Northwestern, so if (the train) stops running, it cuts out a facet of the NU experience,” said Denise Yasinow, a Weinberg sophomore.
Service cuts also would increase congestion on area roadways, Schofer said.
Evanston resident Sam Paravonian said elimination of late trains would lead him to consider driving, which he finds frustrating.
“There’ll be more traffic,” Paravonian said. “It would be more expensive too.”
The CTA faced budget problems this year, which it resolved by raising fares 25 cents and cutting more than 400 jobs. To bridge the funding gap for 2005, the CTA has no choice but to implement service reductions, CTA spokeswoman Anne McCarthy wrote in an e-mail.
A public hearing on the matter will be held on Oct. 25 at Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave., at 6:30 pm. But there is not much the CTA can do if it does not receive more money from the state, Schofer said.
“Clearly what’s going on is CTA is playing hardball,” Schofer said. “They’re threatening the most substantial changes to get what they want.”
Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected].
