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Interactive graphic:The CTA said it needs nearly $7 billion in capital funding just to get itself into a state of good repair. It costs more than $1.3 billion a year to run. The agency has suffered a budget shortfall due to lower-than-expected tax revenues. It is getting about $1.4 billion in capital funding from Springfield and is waiting for a new transportation funding bill from Washington. The D.C. bill may not arrive for another 18 months.
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Comments
I would like to point out, too, that the hourly rates shown there for union workers, for instance the Iron Worker, are their base pay rates, sans-benefits. Per Cook County Prevailing Wage,(http://www.state.il.us/agency/idol/RATES/ODDMO/COOK9999.htm), total cost burden for that $40.25/HR Iron Worker to the CTA after benefits is something like $71.25/HR, plus something like a 10-20% contractor markup. So all told, that Iron Worker probably costs the CTA something on the line of about $95/HR. Any other individual rates shown there are similarly shown much lower than what the CTA must actually pay out.
Neat graphic. If you want to see all the prices in one shot, here they are:
BUS:
$2,200,000: Tires
$848,000: Hybrid Articulated Bus
$625,000: Hybrid 40-foot Bus
$8,750: Transmission replacement parts (on bus)
$2,845: Radiator rebuild (on bus)
TRAINS AND STATIONS:
$7.5 to $60 million: viaduct
$20,000,000: Substation Replacement
$13,000,000: Elevated Track Repair Per Mile
$10,000,000: Subway Track Repair Per Mile
$2,500,000: Auxiliary Entrance/Exit
$2,300,000: Esacalator
$2,000,000: Elevator
$1,800,000: Rail car
$100,000: High Barrier Gate Turnstile Unit
$100,000: Farecard Vending Machine
$90,000: ADA Turnstile Unit
$52,500: Single Turnstile Unit
$2,400: Rail Car Couplers
$924: Blower to cool motor (on train)
WORKERS:
$40.25: Iron Worker Hourly
$32.13: Lineman or Signal Maintainer Hourly
$27.68: Bus Driver Hourly
$27.68: Rail Car Operator Hourly
$20.83: Trackman Hourly