CTA boss taking close look at who gets 'company' cars
There's a certain irony in a mass-transit agency providing cars to its employees.
It's likely most company car assignments are justified, says Richard Rodriguez, president of the CTA. But the CTA might be giving cars to too many people, Rodriguez says.
(Richard A. Chapman/Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
The CTA provides "company cars" with take-home privileges to 68 employees, agency records show. They include 38 upper-level managers who are paid more than $100,000 a year.
They include Rodriguez himself. A car is assigned to the president's office. His predecessors Ron Huberman, now head of the Chicago Public Schools, and Frank Kruesi made heavy use of the L and buses.
Rodriguez, who took over the agency earlier this year, says he does, too -- riding the system 38 times just last month.
He lives in the city and says he could take public transit to and from work, too, but drives his CTA-owned car instead. Driving, Rodriguez says, gives him a little extra time in the morning to spend with his five young children.
The number of people with CTA cars is relatively small compared with its overall work force of about 11,000. Most employees with cars have them because they are on call around the clock and have to travel throughout the CTA's service area. The agency has 224 miles of track and 252 facilities in the city and suburbs.
Still, not everyone who has a CTA car even uses it, Rodriguez says. He says he has been looking at the issue since coming to the CTA in March. "That was one of my priorities when I arrived," he says.
So far, he says he has found four employees who don't use the cars themselves, instead letting their staffs use them as "pool cars." Among them: Eugene Munin, the transit agency's general counsel.
All employees with CTA-owned cars are now being asked to justify getting that perk.
Employees are being asked how often they need the vehicle and if their position is so critical that, when they need to get somewhere, they need to get there immediately.
Rodriguez expects that his review will find it makes sense for the CTA for most employees with company cars to keep them. Otherwise, he says, if employees who need a car for their job had to use their own vehicle, the CTA would have to reimburse them. And what if someone's personal car wasn't available when an emergency arose?
"The last thing I want to hear," Rodriguez says, "is, 'My car broke down,' or, 'My wife or my husband was at the mall.' "
CTA employees with take-home privileges for cars are required to report what portion of their use of the car was for the CTA, and how much was for personal use -- including getting to and from home, which is counted as a perk and taxed, according to Rodriguez.
The CTA owns 62 of its "company cars," and 10 others are leased.
The agency couldn't provide a figure for how much the cars cost. Maintenance and fuel for all 769 "non-revenue" CTA vehicles -- which include the take-home cars -- cost the agency slightly more than $4 million in 2008.
Rodriguez says he encourages the 12 members of his executive staff to ride the CTA. Last month, six of them besides Rodriguez rode the CTA more than 30 times. He has been posting the totals on a door at headquarters to encourage people to ride the CTA more.
One option under consideration: joining the city's "shared-lease" program or starting something similar to require employees with car privileges to pay a certain amount each month.
At Metra, 63 people have regular use of company vehicles, though 12 of those cars are available as pool cars. Unlike the CTA, the commuter rail service doesn't provide cars to its executive director, chief operating officer and general counsel. Metra boss Philip Pagano rides Metra to and from work and often walks or takes public transit to out-of-office meetings, says agency spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet.
At Pace, 38 employees have company cars they can take home. Patrick Wilmot, a spokesman for the suburban bus agency, says cars are assigned if any employee has to be in the field throughout the week, they're on call 24/7, or it's cheaper to provide a car than to reimburse the employee for mileage. Those with staff cars include T.J. Ross, Pace's executive director.