I think the changes proposed are all very stupid. I am reminded of the saying, "Be careful of what you ask for, you might get it!"
When I look at the amount of money Illinois and Chicago spend on public transportaion, as compared with NY, DC, and LA, the age of the fixed plant, and kind of planning and service the public gets, I conclude that Chicago in general is more efficient in use of taxpayer dollars for public transportation than the other three.
Yes, service was rotten on the commuter lines this past winter with real weather problems, and there have been incidents, but nothing compared to the real disasters that have occured elsewhere. (The absolute incompentance of equipping Metro North locomotives with alerters and NOT putting them in cab-cars! An example.)
The North American cities that are better than Chicago in my mind in efficent use of taxpayer money are only Denver, Salt Lake City, Toronto, and San Francisco, and possibliy Dallas and Baltimore. And as far I know, much of the problems METRA faces have to be dealt with by host railroad, basically UP, which needs more local on-the-ground control if it is to provide the service METRA pays it to provide.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-transit-task-force-met-20140313,0,6282303.story
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
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