growth of labor budget due to union demands for 4 percent higher wages. Electricity rate has gone up 40-50 percent. 4 percent going to security such as uniformed police
Board member (unknown name) asking about the issue of communication. Why are riders not able to receive accurate arrival times? “The CTA is just unreliable” would not use it to go anywhere important “it’s like 50/50 if that bus even comes”
Response: in this budget there are tools being funded. “Disruption manager” is a tool being rolled out on the bus side of things. Also talking about closing gap in labor.
Response: lengthy explanation on at least three different factors on how energy costs have drastically increased included the effect the Russian war has caused globally
Board member Van Der Weele asking about investments in technology. Response: bus systems getting upgraded but is lagging. Also upgrading screens, radio, and major upgrade to operator Control Center.
Board Member Robert Castaneda: following up on security dissatisfaction Response: budget for 100 or so uniformed officers come out of CPD budget. “Our agreement with CPD is good from our side”
Keefe: asking about how red line project is $1 billion over budget. Cta issued bonds used to cover gap. How does that affect future finances? Response: mainly making sure we get federal funding
McCray: how many projects on the chopping block to fill in funding gap? Response: We’re not seeing an impact from operations deficit. I wouldn’t see any impact.
Castaneda: asking about electric buses. Is there a point where we can start investing in renewable energy at our bus barns? (Solar, wind) Response: the math has been done there. Currently does not make sense.
Special attention is paid to green line as Powell has a business with an employee who has a “ton of green line stories” Everyone has a big laugh. Maybe the first time I’ve seen people get a laugh line at any municipal meeting.
Now we’re onto rail fleet data. We’ve got some trains running since 1981. Board member Peter Henderson gets into IMPRESSIVE detail on which rail lines share which models.
I’ll have to catch the recording but pretty sure another board member called him the resident “train nerd”. I would say enthusiast but that’s just me editorializing.
Some more slides on safety incidents and rail deep cleans. These are moving pretty fast so unable to take pics. Also these are all online on the CTA website. Van der Keefe and Raby commenting: you know the trains actually smell clean recently.
Johnson: is there an upshot on the absentee info? Response: overtime absenteeism may decrease but CTA faces same challenges all other employers do Even employers across the country have trouble getting people come back to work the Monday after the Super Bowl
Castaneda: asking about getting a cta official app for security reporting. “We should try to capture user side of it” Raby: they just put QR codes up for instant feedback Castaneda: I don’t trust those public QR codes. (Henderson nods in agreement)
To govern and administer the Chicago Transit Authority.
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