WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Starting Monday November 5, the Wells Street Bridge will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians for a year, as the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) works to reconstruct it.

"I got news for people," Claypool said Tuesday on WBEZ's The Afternoon Shift. "The north Red Line has to be rebuilt as well. And we're not that many years away from that happening."

Chicago Transit Authority ridership went up to 530 million boardings last year, reaching its highest ridership level since 1991.Rail ridership grew by 5.2 percent compared to an increase of 1.4 percent in bus usage.

The Chicago Transit Authority is looking to make some money off of unused spare parts. The agency is warehousing about $70 million dollars-worth of bus and train parts.

Some union leaders are speaking out against the Chicago Transit Authority's new budget.On Tuesday, the CTA Board approved the agency's $1.24 billion budget proposal. The new budget avoids fare hikes or service cuts, but only if the CTA can get work rule concessions from labor unions.

The Chicago City Council was scheduled to vote on the 2012 budget Wednesday but first, the Chicago Transit Authority board was to vote on its own budget Tuesday; but not without contention. CTA President Forrest Claypool has said unions' outdated work rules needed to go.

The Chicago Transit Authority's board of directors is scheduled to vote on the agency's $1.24 billion proposed budget on Tuesday.Under the proposed budget, CTA President Forrest Claypool hopes to close the agency's $277 million deficit next year and avoid fare hikes or service cuts in large part by