Chicago Public Transit Meltdown: Half of Routes Could Be Cut

The Chicago Tribune reports:

With its budget deficit growing, the CTA moved Friday to eliminate more than half of its bus routes by early January, threatening to strand tens of thousands of daily commuters and worsen gridlock across the Chicago area.

The new plan, while living up to its label as a "doomsday" budget, would also sharply boost fares and employee layoffs beyond those already set to take effect next month -- if the legislature does not approve new funding soon to fill a projected $158 million deficit for 2008.

It's expensive to run a public transportation system run by patronage hacks.