While attending a hearing in Chicago on Tuesday, October 9 on the Radogno spoke with Chicago CBS 2 about the possible CTA/RTA service cuts and fare hikes  You can listen to coverage here.

CTA officials are claiming that in addition to the first round of fair increases and service cuts that have been scheduled for November 4, another big round of service cuts could be expected by January 8.

The ominious scenarios--labled "Doomsday One" and "Doomsday Two"--would result in elimination of bus rounts, layoffs and service reductions.

CTA President Ron Huberman cautioned that January service cuts would be much severe than those scheduled for November 4.

In September, Governor Blagojevich authorized a temporary "bailout" of the transit system, allowing executives to borrow against next year's state aid; however, high level transit officials contend that further erroded the financial integrity of the the system.

Regional Transit Authority Executive Director Steve Schlickman said that another short-term bailout would not be considered, even though a transit bill has yet to be approved by state lawmkers.

The CTA will reveal its proposed budget later this week. It is expected that the CTA's 2008 operating deficit will be estimated at more than $150 million, in addition to billions of dollars that are needed to repair buses and trains.

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