What about the rest of illinois (excluding chicago & burbs (Rockford: buy, school)

[miserylovesco.]

The rest of IL might as well be another country, aside from driving through it; I know nothing about it whatsoever.

Well, aside from I learned in my "Weird Illinois" book

[justalicious6989]

wow illinois has about 12 million people
excluding the city and suburbs that would leave roughly 4 million people
wow...

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by justalicious6989

wow illinois has about 12 million people
excluding the city and suburbs that would leave roughly 4 million people
wow...

Yep. When you then look at what the corporations in the city and suburbs add to the tax base you get some sense of the scale of how the state is funded and driven by it's NE corner. I love the rural areas as well, but financially Chicago and the suburbs fund the rest of the state (especially when you look at state funding for roads).

[justalicious6989]

Originally Posted by Attrill

Yep. When you then look at what the corporations in the city and suburbs add to the tax base you get some sense of the scale of how the state is funded and driven by it's NE corner. I love the rural areas as well, but financially Chicago and the suburbs fund the rest of the state (especially when you look at state funding for roads).

we fund for the rest of the state, but we cant fund for ourselves will we ever reach a point where we can sustain a manageable budget?

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by justalicious6989

i live in chicago
and i am just saying even with that funding we cant seem to fix our transit system?
the potholes in the road and when they do its half As*ed!
where does the money go?
i'd like to see the infastructure fixed before these blessid highrises go up.
HOW MANY AGREE YOU WOULD RATHER SEE SCHOOLS IMPROVED FIRST
ROADS FIXED, AREA'S CLEANED UP BEFORE WE START APPROVING LAND FOR ANOTHER SKYSCRAPER THAT WILL BE STARVING FOR RESIDENTS TO FILL UP LOFTS AND ON THE BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY?

MY POINT REALY IS WHERE DOES THIS MONEY WE GET FROM THE SO CALLED "TOURISM, AUTO SHOW, TAXES UP THE A**???" GO? i do realize some of it does go towards the things ive said but its not enough, who comes in to help us with the rest?

Oh so you haven't noticed how the state hasn't passed a capital bill in something like 10 years so there's no funding for these infrastructure projects. You also haven't noticed that they're at a standstill about it, so nothing's going to happen soon.

You also apparently haven't noticed that Blago wound up vetoing funding that the CTA was expecting for Blago's free ride bonanza, so that's part of the budget problem this year. Nevermind the fact that people aren't buying houses as much and people aren't spending money as much (real estate xfer tax and sales tax - btw these are Chicago only taxes, so the rest of the state doesn't pay them, so why should they see money from them?)

And since there isn't any capital funding NONE of the transit agencies can even begin to bring the systems up to good repair.

But you just go back on that whole "boo hoo they're squandering money from the poor downstaters and i don't know how or why but it sucks!" rant instead of trying to find out why, ok?

[justalicious6989]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

Oh so you haven't noticed how the state hasn't passed a capital bill in something like 10 years so there's no funding for these infrastructure projects. You also haven't noticed that they're at a standstill about it, so nothing's going to happen soon.

You also apparently haven't noticed that Blago wound up vetoing funding that the CTA was expecting for Blago's free ride bonanza, so that's part of the budget problem this year. Nevermind the fact that people aren't buying houses as much and people aren't spending money as much (real estate xfer tax and sales tax - btw these are Chicago only taxes, so the rest of the state doesn't pay them, so why should they see money from them?)

And since there isn't any capital funding NONE of the transit agencies can even begin to bring the systems up to good repair.

But you just go back on that whole "boo hoo they're squandering money from the poor downstaters and i don't know how or why but it sucks!" rant instead of trying to find out why, ok?

that was a joke on his part although i rarely see 65+ ride the bus so how much does it cost to keep that program running? (save a little money there) why cant we do like they are trying witht the olympics and have it become private funding?
ohh well..

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by justalicious6989

that was a joke on his part although i rarely see 65+ ride the bus so how much does it cost to keep that program running? (save a little money there) why cant we do like they are trying witht the olympics and have it become private funding?
ohh well..

it's something like 91,000 rides per day or something. and it's not just senior citizens with the privilege. military folks get it too, and people signing up for it is on the rise. plus low income disabled will be able to soon as well.

the highways aren't privatized, why should transit be?

[justalicious6989]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

it's something like 91,000 rides per day or something. and it's not just senior citizens with the privilege. military folks get it too, and people signing up for it is on the rise. plus low income disabled will be able to soon as well.

the highways aren't privatized, why should transit be?

obviously leaving the funding as it is, is not helping.
so basically therse days we ned to break a leg, become old, or join the military.
wow!

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

...the highways aren't privatized, why should transit be?

The Chicago Skyway is now.

You forget the train lines (were built by private companies),streetcars,and buses were run by private companies before the CTA was created. The CTA has been nothing but bad news since its inception.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

You forget the train lines (were built by private companies),streetcars,and buses were run by private companies before the CTA was created. The CTA has been nothing but bad news since its inception.

Very true - in the 1800's and first half of the 1900's almost all transit nationwide was built and run by private companies - all of which went under.

The city didn't drive private companies out of transit, the companies all failed and people demanded continuation of the services so the city stepped in. This all happened before ADA requirements and OSHA, it is a lot more expensive to run a transit now than it was when private companies completely failed (nationwide) so I don't think a privately run transit system is viable.

What are examples of well run private urban transit companies in the modern era? If there is a way to do it at a profit I'm sure some company would step up and do it.