CTA Archer Garage closes amid economic concerns
By Sarah Severson
As part of the Chicago Transit Authority’s recent cutbacks, on Feb. 7 the 103-year-old Archer Garage at 2600 W. Pershing Rd. ceased operations. Also last month, the CTA cut service by implementing less frequent runs on 119 bus routes and seven of the CTA’s eight rail lines; reducing hours on 41 bus routes by starting service later, ending service earlier, or both; and eliminating nine express bus routes around the city. In addition, the CTA has removed its oldest buses from service to lower operating costs further.
Before it closed, the Archer Garage operated 22 routes. Only one of these—the #X49 Western Express—was eliminated; the CTA has redistributed the rest of the routes and Archer’s buses among its seven remaining garages. CTA cutbacks have wiped out more than 1,000 union positions, but not all of these were associated with Archer Garage. Bus operators and maintenance personnel who worked at Archer and still have jobs have been reassigned to other locations.
Meanwhile, workers have removed batteries and drained fluids from the old buses taken out of service, which are being stored at Archer Garage.
Environmental concerns
Some wonder what will become of this space, where buses have leaked oil and gas onto the floor for decades.
The CTA issued a statement saying it has complied with all relevant environmental regulations and “will continue to comply with these until the future of the garage is determined.”
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has worked closely with the CTA on compliance with federal regulations regarding leaks and contaminations. Over the years, the Archer site saw minor spills of the buses’ diesel fuel, which seeped in through cracks on the floor.
As a facility for refueling and repairing buses, Archer has had operational spills as opposed to problems with its underground tanks, said Hernando Albarracin, project manager for the Illinois EPA’s Leaking Underground Storage Tank program.
In the mid-1990s, workers removed 15 underground tanks at the facility. Six tanks remain in operation today; some hold diesel fuel and others hold lube oil. Years ago, an oil spill trapped diesel fuel in the soil, and removal has continued for the last decade.
“It takes a long time to remove these [contaminants] from the soil in Illinois because there is a lot of clay, which is a tight material,” Albarracin said. “Lately they’ve used a solution with microbes and nutrients, a natural solution for bioremediation that stimulates the microbes in the ground and adds new microbes to break down the diesel fuel and make it easier to remove.”
Residents living nearby need not be concerned because the soil contamination is limited to the property itself, Albarracin said.
“It’s not affecting neighbors or waterways,” he noted. “Everyone in that area should be using the public water supply, and there is no way for any contamination to reach them.”
The CTA hired an environmental contractor, Laicon Inc., to clean up the site.
Economic woes
Mike Pitula, a member of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization who focuses on pub lic transit, opposes closing Archer Garage for economic reasons. “We’re concerned about the economy in this area because those CTA workers who used to come to the garage have been laid off or reassigned to another facility,” Pitula said. “They will no longer patronize the local shops and businesses along Archer and 35th Street. Clearly with the recession, we think that’s an important consideration.”
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241 Union President Darrell Jefferson has similar concerns.
“There will definitely be a loss of revenue for this district, which may have a huge impact on area citizens,” Jefferson said. “Archer is a historical bus garage and has been in that neighborhood forever. The CTA loses credibility by removing it from the community.”
Jefferson said the changes have hit his union workers hard, especially because other garages are not as centrally located as Archer. “It now takes some of them almost an hour to get to the relief points from the garages,” he said. “We’re going to have to address this with the CTA — it’s unheard of to travel that far to a relief point, and CTA has to pay for that travel time.”
Typically, bus drivers check in and receive their assignments at the garages, then catch a bus to their assigned location to relieve the operators finishing their shifts. With the CTA cutbacks, however, drivers — just like their customers — face longer waits and fewer routes to meet their needs.
“It’s putting a toll on them to arrive on time to the relief points,” said Jefferson. “If there is a traffic delay, it definitely impacts the overall service. Some workers have to catch two buses now.”
“CTA has been paying out huge amounts of overtime right now, which in itself is a big indication that it didn’t conserve,” Jefferson went on. “We asked them to delay the closing of Archer Garage until there was another study done on how to make it work, since currently the work is disproportionately spread out to other locations. But they don’t listen to what the union has to say — their minds are made up and we’re just the unskilled labor.”
http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/2010/03/cta-archer-garage-closes-amid-economic-concerns/
Tags: 31st Street Bus, buses, CTA, Job Access Reverse Commute, LVEJO, Public Transit, Regional Transportation Authority
