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This afternoon he announced that the agency will borrow and bond its way to improving service. This will be welcome news to riders who have watched the transit system deteriorate dramatically over the two decades Daley has been in office, and perplexing news to everyone wondering why Daley has been unable to find a management team interested in doing this before now.
For all practical purposes, Daley has had control of the CTA since he was elected mayor in 1989, since he picks its executive and the majority of its board members, including the chairman. He’s probably right in saying, as he has repeatedly, that the federal and state governments haven’t kicked in enough–but it’s also true that management is a huge reason why this operation is in rotten shape.
It wasn’t his fault, though.
The second 147 bus drove off, so full it looked like it would sink to the ground before getting another block. About five minutes later our replacement driver hopped off an eastbound bus and hurried over to ours, and not long after that the four of us still left on it continued our ride homeward.
