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CBS 2's Mike Parker, Dana Kozlov and Vince Gerasole contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Gov. Rod Blagojevich sweetened his Chicago-area mass transit offer that would delay the "doomsday" plan for fare hikes and service cuts.

Blagojevich said he will pump more money to the Regional Transportation Authority for suburban transit if they accept his CTA bailout on Friday.

CBS 2's Mike Parker reports Mayor Daley is now putting his support behind the plan.

A front page Chicago Sun-Times editorial blasts Daley as "strangely uninvolved" in the CTA "doomsday" crisis. And says, "A mayor with Olympic ambitions -- and a governor and state leaders who also are Democrats -- should be able to provide a world-class transit system to a world-class city."

On Thursday, without mentioning the blistering editorial, Daley stepped into the fracas.

"Yes, we're very grateful that he's going to do this," the mayor said and endorsed the governor's stop-gap infusion of $24 million aimed at temporarily stopping the CTA's plan to raise fares and cut services on Sunday, Sept. 16.

"It isn't the best deal, everybody knows that but what else do you have? What else? If the lights go out, the lights go out. You want to keep the lights on even if it's just for a couple more months," Daley said.

The mayor's handpicked CTA president says now that time has been bought, state lawmakers must come up with a long-term CTA funding plan.

"If we don't, the level of cuts that would be necessary in 2008 would be that much greater than the ones currently posted for Monday," said CTA President Ron Huberman.

The mayor called on Blagojevich to abandon his opposition to a regional sales tax increase to fund Chicago area transit. But the governor seems in no mood to compromise on that and says that amounts to a back-door fare hike.

Everything hinges on Friday's critical vote by RTA board members. They begin meeting at 8 a.m.

The $24 million bailout is a one-time payment of what's left in the state's 2007 CTA subsidy. It was to have been parceled out over the next several months. The bailout borrows $7 million from the 2008 fund that provided discount fares for the elderly, disabled and students, for a total of $31 million. The governor's deal also advances $6 million to the RTA for suburban Pace bus and Metra commuter rail needs.

If the bailout is accepted by the RTA, the projected 2008 CTA deficit would become even more severe.

The RTA chairman is not convinced the deal is a good one, and as CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports Friday's approval vote is too close to call.

The RTA oversees about $2 million rides each day from Metra trains bringing commuters to the city and Pace buses motoring through the suburbs to the CTA's rattling "L."

The RTA's 13-member board of directors includes four appointees from the city, plus the head of the CTA and a board-appointed chairman. There are also seven appointed directors from the suburbs.

With a current vacancy, it will take nine "Yes" votes on Friday to accept the governor's multi-million dollar advance to keep the entire system moving along.

In light of Thursday's suburban guarantees from the governor, RTA director Fred Norris in St. Charles says his vote is still open.

"My big concern is that we are borrowing into the future again. We're looking at a Band-Aid solution for a long-term plan," Norris said.

"It's most definitely a Band-Aid," agreed CTA Chairman and RTA director Carole Brown.

Brown is in favor of the bailout and admits the move merely buys time for Springfield to possibly work out a solution, but feels it's best for the region's commuters.

"While it may seem like a fiscally irresponsible thing to do to borrow from next year, our number one concern can't be politics, it has to be riders," Brown said.

Brown pointed out state funding for public transportation has gone down every year since 1983.

Others expressing opinions of support include city appointees Armando Gomes, who called it the "biggest decision we've ever made," and Michael Rosenberg, who said it is a stopgap measure needing more discussion

Suburban Cook County appointees include William Coulson, who says he's skeptical but will keep an open mind, and Judy Baar Topinka, who said she is opposed to the measure.

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