The Chicago Transit Authority voted Wednesday to make sweeping changes to West Side bus and rail service, including the discontinuation of Blue Line service to 54th/Cermak.

Service along seven West Side bus routes will also be altered as part of a six-month experiment that CTA President Ron Huberman says should lead to "a comprehensive improvement to West Side service."

The portion of the Blue Line that runs along the same track as the Pink Line will be canceled beginning April 27. Those cars will be redistributed to other West Side lines.

Several nearby bus routes will also undergo major modifications. Beginning in as little as two weeks, four West Side routes (#12 Roosevelt, #65 Grand, #60 Blue Island/26^th, and #7 Harrison) will have more frequent or extended service, while service along the #X20 Washington/Madison Express and #38 Ogden/Taylor routes will be altered. The #127 Madison/Roosevelt Circulator will be discontinued.

The recommendation was made on the basis of an experiment that began last June and had as its centerpiece the introduction of the Pink Line.

However, according to Michael Pitula, a community organizer in Little Village, where the 54^th/Cermak line currently ends, the service will have negative consequences for many residents in Little Village and nearby Pilsen.

"It will cut them off from access to the University of Illinois Chicago and O'Hare and increase travel times," Pitula says.

Pitula expressed concerns about the validity of the studies that led the CTA to make these changes, claiming that they cut the Blue Line to 54^th/Cermak "to the point where it's almost useless and then said, 'well people don't want it.' "

However, according to Huberman, that portion of the Blue Line is the "the least utilized train line in our system."

Huberman said field observations showed the average Pink Line car held 25 passengers during the morning rush, as opposed to 10 passengers on the Blue Line from Cermak/54^th.

"A lot of people have opted into the Pink Line," he said.

Harry Brooks, of the Rider-Driver Alliance, puts little faith in those numbers. "I think that in some areas such as Pink vs. Blue, the statistics are maneuvered to make it look like customers want what you want them to have," Brooks says.

The Blue Line currently runs every 30 minutes during rush hour. Its service has been cut by 80 percent since the Pink Line was constructed.

Huberman, however, says that riders are fine with that. Of 5,797 on-board respondents to a CTA-administered survey taken last fall, 80 percent reported being "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the changes.

According to Huberman, 88 percent of those respondents were English-speaking; while 11 percent were Spanish-speaking and 1 percent spoke Polish.

Pitula, however, wonders if minority populations, including Blacks and Latinos, were adequately consulted in that survey. "(In) the community that we organize in Little Village, half or more of the folks here speak Spanish, so we were very surprised when we saw that only 11 percent of the respondents were Spanish-speaking," he said.

Chicago Board Chairman Carole Brown stressed that the changes are, for now, temporary, and that they will be soliciting rider input before deciding whether to make them permanent.

"It's still an experiment," Brown says. "We're still refining and looking for customer impact and customer impressions and if we need to make more adjustments we'll make more adjustments."

In other CTA news:

The agency has begun to solicit feedback from customers as part of a new "mystery shopper" program, in which interested riders will fill out comment cards, grading the CTA on the safety, courtesy, cleanliness and efficiency of their service. According to CTA spokesman Adam Case, the goal is to spot and fix problems that need immediate attention and "zero in on specific issues that are important to riders."

The first 1,000 customers to complete and submit their evaluation will receive a CTA transit card with one full fare that can be used on any CTA bus or train. Interested parties are directed to go to transitchicago.com, or call (888) 968-7282.

Beginning Monday, senior citizens will be able to ride CTA buses and trains for free, with RTA-issued permits.

Individuals interested in obtaining a permit are encouraged to call the RTA Travel Information Center at 312.836.7000, or TTY 312.836.4949.

Remaining value on senior reduced-fare cards will be refunded through July 1, 2008, either through bringing unexpired cards to CTA headquarters at 567 W. Lake St., or visiting a Regional Senior Service Center on designated days.