Funding the CTA, an olympic opportunity that'll probably get flushed.

As the Chicago Transit Authority continues to wrangle over a debt-induced fare increase and round of detrimental service cuts, Mayor Daley is going to meet with President Bush to talk Olympics possibilities for 2016.
Here's the Tribune with more:

The meeting comes at the request of White House officials, who said Bush wants to be briefed on plans to hold the 2016 Games, a City Hall source said. The White House also wants to know what it can do to help the city's bid, the source said.

Daley says the city needs a new rapid-transit line west of the downtown area. He mentioned Saturday the federal government typically provides support for host cities with transportation, public safety and security.

Daley has been fixated, for awhile now, on a rapid transit service from O'Hare to Downtown for a while now, to help visiting business folks get there and spend money, make money.

That sounds like a good idea and all. But just fixing up the CTA blue Line is expected to cut the trip to 45 minutes, which is great considering Chicago's traffic typically making the current trip almost an hour by train, closer to one hour 15 min in rush hour traffic.

And wouldn't improving the bus system, ultra slow red line, barely existing yellow and purple lines, be a priority if you wanted to cycle people around the Olympics for cheap? Not to mention, keeping the system affordable and rideable for our daily commuters?

If anything is a strong deterrent for the Olympic bid, it's the crumbling mass transit system and bungling of Illinois government. Global visitor are much more attuned to hoping on the train, bus than U.S. folks.