Letter from the President 


Dear CTA Customers, 

When Mayor Daley asked me to lead the CTA, he stressed the importance of shoring the foundation of a good transit 
system. Customers deserve service that is on-time, clean, safe, courteous and efficient. We have tried to focus on these 
simple, yet substantial goals against a backdrop of serious fiscal challenges. Government agencies, private businesses and 
individual households all continue to face financial crises, and the CTA is no exception. 

In spite of significant fixed costs and steep declines in anticipated public funding, our objective has been to meet the 
challenges of the struggling economy without adversely impacting the current level and quality of service provided to 
customers. Effective and disciplined management will be as essential in 2011 as it was in 2010. 

Yet again we looked internally to economize and find ways to maintain productivity with fewer resources. Through a careful 
review of department budgets, we identified $53.6 million in savings through management efficiencies. These include 
cutbacks in our personnel costs by eliminating positions, delaying hiring, continuing to manage and control overtime, once 
more forgoing wage increases for non-union personnel and requiring them to take unpaid days. Savings will also come from 
departments continuing to aggressively streamline operations and reduce expenditures such as fuel, power, materials and 
contracts. 

Last year, we eliminated 18 percent of our bus service and nine percent of our rail service. The plan was carefully designed 
to retain as much service as possible for riders, while reducing costs and maximizing efficiency. We executed it well, lost 
very few riders and we are achieving the projected savings. I want to thank our customers for their loyalty and commitment 
to the CTA. The results have confirmed our theory that if we took a surgical approach to service reductions, we could 
manage through our budget challenges without imposing too much hardship on our customers. 

We are not proposing any reductions to service levels this year. We agreed also not to raise fares as a result of last years 
borrowing agreement between the RTA and the State. Nevertheless, in order to maintain service levels and fares we will 
again have to borrow eligible capital funds to help balance the budget and maintain operations while the economy recovers. 
It was a difficult decision. Although we are quite skilled at doing a great deal with limited resources, our system requires 
ongoing maintenance and reinvestment. However, because the State of Illinois has committed $1.3 billion in capital funding 
to the CTA over the next five years, we believe the use of some capital funds to avoid further service reductions is justified. 

Although the State is experiencing its own struggles, we are relying on it to meet its commitments to the CTA, both for the 
capital program and for the public funds that make up a large share of our operating revenue. 

Despite limited resources, we will continue to focus our attention on areas where strategic investments will lay the 
foundation for future improvements and customer benefits. In the coming year, we will be moving ahead with the first order 
of new rail cars in more than 15 years. We are also working on a new initiative that will transform the way customers pay 
for transit. Furthermore, we will also keep identifying ways in which technology investments can add value, ease customer 
use of the system, offer more and better information, and establish a safe environment. 

I have the good fortune to work with a very supportive Chairman and Board who recognize that access to affordable public 
transportation is more important than ever. The CTA is integral to the lives of so many people in this region. They rely on 
our system to get to work on time, to get home to their families, and to get to school to earn the education that will land them 
a better job. 

My charge is to make sure it is operating as reliably and efficiently as possible, to strive to evolve and improve and to deliver 
on-time, clean, safe, courteous and efficient service each and every day. 

Sincerely yours, 


Richard L. Rodriguez 
