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The Hill
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hill
Illinois has a $770M hole in the transit budget that could leave commuters stranded
HARVEY, Ill. (AP) — Winfred Wilson was struggling to make ends meet on less than $700 a month, so he moved in with his daughter, gave up his car and started relying exclusively on public transit to take him wherever he needed to go across Chicago's southern suburbs. As he waited for a bus connection in his hometown of Harvey on a recent trip to the grocery store, Wilson waved at familiar travelers who regularly pass through the key transportation hub serving one of the region's poorest areas. Many, he said, encounter little resistance from drivers when they board without paying. 'People in affluent neighborhoods, they have cars and personal transportation, but they don't want to get caught up in the rush hour,' so they use transit, Wilson said. 'We couldn't live without it.' Public transit agencies across the U.S. have been grappling with a fiscal cliff spurred by declining ridership and the impending sunset of federal COVID-19 relief funding. The Chicago area faces particularly bleak service cuts that officials warn could be set in motion as early as Saturday if Illinois legislators adjourn without plugging a $770 million hole in the transportation budget. The big city's commuters would be hit hard, with the Chicago Transit Authority poised to shut down four of eight elevated train lines and 74 of 127 bus routes under the worst-case scenario. But perhaps no place illustrates the range of potential outcomes more vividly than Harvey, whose mayor, Christopher Clark — a lifelong resident — says was once 'the metropolis of the Southland' before plants and factories closed and disinvestment took hold. Already the busiest station for Pace, the region's suburban bus system that also serves paratransit customers, Harvey recently won state and federal grant money for a state-of-the-art facility that would put the buses under the same roof as the Metra commuter rail stop a block away. Plans eventually call for a high-speed bus line connecting the Harvey station to the Red Line L train that cuts through the downtown Chicago Loop. Such an upgrade could be an economic boon for Harvey, where now-vacant businesses are found on almost every downtown block and where more than 1 in 4 residents live below the poverty line. But even if the new station is built, ending or severely cutting the buses and trains that pass through could send the city reeling in the opposite direction. 'It would be chaos for us in the suburbs,' said Cheyane Felton, after finishing her shift at a coffee stand in the basement of Harvey's City Hall. 'It would cut us off.' Without additional state funding, Pace could be forced to halt buses in Harvey and elsewhere on weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, executive director Melinda Metzger said. 'The downside for this is disastrous,' she said in an interview at the Harvey stop. 'You would be cutting back your service by at least 40%, not giving people viable rides. They might get to work, but they might have a late-night shift and can't get home, so ridership also would plummet to match the service cuts.' Major public transportation agencies across the country have had varying degrees of success lobbying their legislatures for more support with the federal emergency funding set to expire at the end of the year. The metropolitan area that most closely mirrors Chicago's current situation is Philadelphia, which faces a $213 million transportation budget deficit next year, even after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro authorized redirecting some of the state's highway money to mass transit. Absent more funding, riders could see a 20% spike in fares, a 9 p.m. curfew, and the elimination of 50 bus routes and five regional rail lines, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bailout package in 2023 to help fund New York City's subway and buses. She also opened a major new source of transit revenue by implementing congestion pricing for drivers in Manhattan, but it remains to be seen whether the new tolls will survive threats from President Donald Trump's administration to shut them down. Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and numerous other transit-dependent cities have also been scrambling to avert major cuts. 'No funding without reform' has been a common mantra among Illinois legislators working to hash out a solution for Chicago's transit crisis before leaving Springfield on Saturday at the end of their regular session. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. 'It's not a light switch we can just turn on or off,' said Leanne Redden, executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees planning and funding for the area's transit agencies. 'Even if we find funding at a future point, it's a slow process to kind of unwind the unwinding.' So far, there have been no major breakthroughs on funding, although a compromise surfaced this week to create a new umbrella organization that, among other things, would ensure the various agencies work in unison rather than as competitors for the same customers. 'They should just be able to get on and go where they want to go, and that has not been happening with the governance that we've had up to now,' Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. Chicago's transit agencies argue they're more efficient than their peers in other states and get by with a smaller portion of state funding. Clark, the Harvey mayor, said he still envisions his community benefitting from the economic promise of a new transit facility rather than enduring disappointment once again. 'I guess some people want me to paint a picture that it's a nuclear Armageddon or something like that,' he said. 'I can't paint that picture because I have to remain ever hopeful that we will get what we need to get in due time. Government is a long game.'
2 days ago
- Business
Chicago risks severe cuts to transit. Its poorest suburbs could be hit even harder
HARVEY, Ill. -- Winfred Wilson was struggling to make ends meet on less than $700 a month, so he moved in with his daughter, gave up his car and started relying exclusively on public transit to take him wherever he needed to go across Chicago's southern suburbs. As he waited for a bus connection in his hometown of Harvey on a recent trip to the grocery store, Wilson waved at familiar travelers who regularly pass through the key transportation hub serving one of the region's poorest areas. Many, he said, encounter little resistance from drivers when they board without paying. 'People in affluent neighborhoods, they have cars and personal transportation, but they don't want to get caught up in the rush hour,' so they use transit, Wilson said. 'We couldn't live without it.' Public transit agencies across the U.S. have been grappling with a fiscal cliff spurred by declining ridership and the impending sunset of federal COVID-19 relief funding. The Chicago area faces particularly bleak service cuts that officials warn could be set in motion as early as Saturday if Illinois legislators adjourn without plugging a $770 million hole in the transportation budget. The big city's commuters would be hit hard, with the Chicago Transit Authority poised to shut down four of eight elevated train lines and 74 of 127 bus routes under the worst-case scenario. But perhaps no place illustrates the range of potential outcomes more vividly than Harvey, whose mayor, Christopher Clark — a lifelong resident — says was once 'the metropolis of the Southland' before plants and factories closed and disinvestment took hold. Already the busiest station for PACE, the region's suburban bus system that also serves paratransit customers, Harvey recently won state and federal grant money for a state-of-the-art facility that would put the buses under the same roof as the Metra commuter rail stop a block away. Plans eventually call for a high-speed bus line connecting the Harvey station to the Red Line L train that cuts through the downtown Chicago Loop. Such an upgrade could be an economic boon for Harvey, where now-vacant businesses are found on almost every downtown block and where more than 1 in 4 residents live below the poverty line. But even if the new station is built, ending or severely cutting the buses and trains that pass through could send the city reeling in the opposite direction. 'It would be chaos for us in the suburbs,' said Cheyane Felton, after finishing her shift at a coffee stand in the basement of Harvey's City Hall. 'It would cut us off.' Without additional state funding, PACE could be forced to halt buses in Harvey and elsewhere on weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, executive director Melinda Metzger said. 'The downside for this is disastrous,' she said in an interview at the Harvey stop. 'You would be cutting back your service by at least 40%, not giving people viable rides. They might get to work, but they might have a late-night shift and can't get home, so ridership also would plummet to match the service cuts.' Major public transportation agencies across the country have had varying degrees of success lobbying their legislatures for more support with the federal emergency funding set to expire at the end of the year. Perhaps no place mirrors Chicago's current situation more than Philadelphia, which faces a $213 million transportation budget deficit next year, even after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro authorized redirecting some of the state's highway money to mass transit. Absent more funding, riders could see a 20% spike in fares, a 9 p.m. curfew, and the elimination of 50 bus routes and five of eight regional rail lines, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bailout package in 2023 to help fund New York City's subway and buses. She also opened a major new source of transit revenue by implementing congestion pricing for drivers in Manhattan, but it remains to be seen whether the new tolls will survive threats from President Donald Trump's administration to shut them down. Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and numerous other transit-dependent cities have also been scrambling to avert major cuts. 'No funding without reform' has been a common mantra among Illinois legislators working to hash out a solution for Chicago's transit crisis before leaving Springfield on Saturday at the end of their regular session. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. 'It's not a light switch we can just turn on or off," said Leanne Redden, executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees planning and funding for the area's transit agencies. "Even if we find funding at a future point, it's a slow process to kind of unwind the unwinding.' So far, there have been no major breakthroughs on funding, although a compromise surfaced this week to create a new umbrella organization that, among other things, would ensure the various agencies work in unison rather than as competitors for the same customers. 'They should just be able to get on and go where they want to go, and that has not been happening with the governance that we've had up to now,' Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. Chicago's transit agencies argue they're more efficient than their peers in other states and get by with a smaller portion of state funding. Clark, the Harvey mayor, said he still envisions his community benefitting from the economic promise of a new transit facility rather than enduring disappointment once again. 'I guess some people want me to paint a picture that it's a nuclear Armageddon or something like that,' he said. 'I can't paint that picture because I have to remain ever hopeful that we will get what we need to get in due time. Government is a long game.'
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Chicago risks severe cuts to transit. Its poorest suburbs could be hit even harder
HARVEY, Ill. — Winfred Wilson was struggling to make ends meet on less than $700 a month, so he moved in with his daughter, gave up his car and started relying exclusively on public transit to take him wherever he needed to go across Chicago's southern suburbs. As he waited for a bus connection in his hometown of Harvey on a recent trip to the grocery store, Wilson waved at familiar travelers who regularly pass through the key transportation hub serving one of the region's poorest areas. Many, he said, encounter little resistance from drivers when they board without paying. 'People in affluent neighborhoods, they have cars and personal transportation, but they don't want to get caught up in the rush hour,' so they use transit, Wilson said. 'We couldn't live without it.' Public transit agencies across the U.S. have been grappling with a fiscal cliff spurred by declining ridership and the impending sunset of federal COVID-19 relief funding. The Chicago area faces particularly bleak service cuts that officials warn could be set in motion as early as Saturday if Illinois legislators adjourn without plugging a $770 million hole in the transportation budget. The big city's commuters would be hit hard, with the Chicago Transit Authority poised to shut down four of eight elevated train lines and 74 of 127 bus routes under the worst-case scenario. But perhaps no place illustrates the range of potential outcomes more vividly than Harvey, whose mayor, Christopher Clark — a lifelong resident — says was once 'the metropolis of the Southland' before plants and factories closed and disinvestment took hold. Already the busiest station for PACE, the region's suburban bus system that also serves paratransit customers, Harvey recently won state and federal grant money for a state-of-the-art facility that would put the buses under the same roof as the Metra commuter rail stop a block away. Plans eventually call for a high-speed bus line connecting the Harvey station to the Red Line L train that cuts through the downtown Chicago Loop. Such an upgrade could be an economic boon for Harvey, where now-vacant businesses are found on almost every downtown block and where more than 1 in 4 residents live below the poverty line. But even if the new station is built, ending or severely cutting the buses and trains that pass through could send the city reeling in the opposite direction. 'It would be chaos for us in the suburbs,' said Cheyane Felton, after finishing her shift at a coffee stand in the basement of Harvey's City Hall. 'It would cut us off.' Without additional state funding, PACE could be forced to halt buses in Harvey and elsewhere on weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, executive director Melinda Metzger said. 'The downside for this is disastrous,' she said in an interview at the Harvey stop. 'You would be cutting back your service by at least 40%, not giving people viable rides. They might get to work, but they might have a late-night shift and can't get home, so ridership also would plummet to match the service cuts.' Major public transportation agencies across the country have had varying degrees of success lobbying their legislatures for more support with the federal emergency funding set to expire at the end of the year. Perhaps no place mirrors Chicago's current situation more than Philadelphia, which faces a $213 million transportation budget deficit next year, even after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro authorized redirecting some of the state's highway money to mass transit. Absent more funding, riders could see a 20% spike in fares, a 9 p.m. curfew, and the elimination of 50 bus routes and five of eight regional rail lines, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bailout package in 2023 to help fund New York City's subway and buses. She also opened a major new source of transit revenue by implementing congestion pricing for drivers in Manhattan, but it remains to be seen whether the new tolls will survive threats from President Donald Trump's administration to shut them down. Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and numerous other transit-dependent cities have also been scrambling to avert major cuts. 'No funding without reform' has been a common mantra among Illinois legislators working to hash out a solution for Chicago's transit crisis before leaving Springfield on Saturday at the end of their regular session. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. 'It's not a light switch we can just turn on or off," said Leanne Redden, executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees planning and funding for the area's transit agencies. "Even if we find funding at a future point, it's a slow process to kind of unwind the unwinding.' So far, there have been no major breakthroughs on funding, although a compromise surfaced this week to create a new umbrella organization that, among other things, would ensure the various agencies work in unison rather than as competitors for the same customers. 'They should just be able to get on and go where they want to go, and that has not been happening with the governance that we've had up to now,' Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. Chicago's transit agencies argue they're more efficient than their peers in other states and get by with a smaller portion of state funding. Clark, the Harvey mayor, said he still envisions his community benefitting from the economic promise of a new transit facility rather than enduring disappointment once again. 'I guess some people want me to paint a picture that it's a nuclear Armageddon or something like that,' he said. 'I can't paint that picture because I have to remain ever hopeful that we will get what we need to get in due time. Government is a long game.'
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Dad of teen girl killed by Metra train in Barrington, Illinois wants to know why there's still no pedestrian gate
The father of a 17-year-old girl hit and killed by a Metra train in Barrington, Illinois, last year says his grief will never go away — and he is ramping up his fight to keep other students safe. Mike Lacson is raising new concerns about why it has taken the Village of Barrington so long to install a pedestrian gate to prevent such tragedies. Lacson's daughter, Marin Lacson, was on her way to Barrington High School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, when she was struck and killed by a Union Pacific Northwest Metra train. Almost a year and a half later, there are still fresh flowers. Marin Lacson Family Photo/CBS But there is no pedestrian gate. "I can't believe that 15 months in, we're still asking for gates to be put up," said Mike Lacson. Lacson's interview with CBS News Chicago was the first time he spoke one-on-one about losing his daughter — and the pain that never goes away. "There's no healing for us. There's no healing from this," he said. "It's learning to live with it." Marin was a junior at Barrington High School. Like dozens of other students, she crossed the tracks at Hough and Main streets to get to school on that gray, foggy January morning last year. She waited for one Metra train to pass. When it did, she began to cross — and a train coming from the other direction hit her. "The witnesses that saw the accident — I think one of them actually said, you know, that train jumped out of the fog," said Lacson. Shortly after Marin's death, Lacson began fighting for a pedestrian gate at the crossing. Dozens in the community joined him. "We will not take excuses anymore," said Roma Khan. Khan and other activists are also fueled by the knowledge that Marin wasn't the only student hit at Hough and Main streets. Eleven years earlier, then-11-year-old Dominic Szymanski lost his foot in a similar incident. CBS News Chicago spoke to Dominic's mom last year. "I had very strong feelings about what needed to change," said Gayle Szymanski. "My answer was gates." In February 2024, CBS News Chicago asked then-Barrington Village President Karen Darch if she thought the village had dropped the ball at the Metra crossing. "I feel like it has been — we can put things place that enhance safety," said Darch. Darch said at the time that getting a gate was complicated. But officials said one should be in place by early 2025. A frustrated Lacson confronted the Barrington Village Board this past April. "You've delayed this process," he told the board. "You have delayed this process." In fact, it took until late March of this year for the Village of Barrington event o submit a petition, as is required for the project, to the Illinois Commerce Commission. Lacson said this also followed 14 months of victim-blaming. "They are actively telling people it is Marin's fault," he said, "and I'm not going to accept that, because if there were pedestrian gates there, she would still be here." Newly elected Illinois state Sen. Darby Hills lives in Barrington. "This has been an issue my constituents have been bringing up to me from day one," Hills said. Hills supports a ped gate at the crossing too. "I, again, am jumping into this, and I'm trying to find out where the missteps are, or where there's some sort of way I can help," said Hills. Lacson and his wife recently met with Marin's lacrosse teammates at what would have been one of her final games as a senior. "One more thing," he told the girls on the team. "Hug your parents." Some members of the team wore shirts in Marin's honor. Lacson said his way of honoring his daughter will be getting that gate installed — and he is going to keep fighting until it happens. "Absolutely," he said. "Absolutely." So why the delay? According to a Barrington village spokesperson, the Illinois Commerce Commission — which must improve the ped gate — recommended that all renderings and reports be completed before the project petition was submitted. The ICC will hold a hearing on the hearing on the ped gate on Thursday, June 5.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois lawmakers debate plan to overcome $770 million CTA budget shortfall
CHICAGO (WGN) — As public transit workers rallied Thursday for quick legislative action to avert a massive fiscal cliff in next year's budget, one of transit reform's lead negotiators, State Sen. Ram Villivalam, presented a plan to the Senate Transportation Committee to avoid sending regional transit agencies over the edge. 'I don't think any of us standing here … can stomach what will happen if we don't act on this,' Villivalam said. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) faces a $770 million budgetary gap in 2026 due to the expiration of Federal COVID-19 grant funding. If the shortfall is not addressed, the CTA, Metra and PACE could face an estimated 40% cut to services, leading to thousands of employees losing their jobs. Villivalam's proposed legislation would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would shift oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace from the Regional Transit Authority to a 20-member board. Illinois' Governor, the Mayor of Chicago and the Cook County Board President would each appoint five members to the board, while collar counties would appoint one board member each. Villivalam's plan would create a unified fare system that provides unarmed staff for customer service assistance at stations and on trains, and develops a law enforcement task force with a regional safety strategy in mind. Importantly, Villivalam said the funding estimates would cover the fiscal cliff, but likely won't amount to the $1.5 billion advocates have been calling for. 'We are happy to see a package that includes revenue, but have major concerns with the revenue proposals in there,' Illinois AFL CIO Frances Orenick said. Those proposals include a tollway surcharge, a public electric vehicle charging fee, and the extension of the Real Estate Transfer Tax and rideshare fee to suburban Cook County and the collar counties. 'This is a billion-dollar bailout for Mayor Brandon Johnson being paid for by suburban taxpayers without giving them a real voice at the table,' State Sen. Don DeWitte said. Villivalam described the fee increases as a shared sacrifice. 'Their job is to do what's needed for the people,' said Tiffany Rebb, a member of ATU Local 241. 'Our job is to commute the people.' Negotiations on Villivalam's plan are ongoing with some changes possible, but the clock is ticking. State lawmakers have until Saturday at midnight to pass a transit budget plan, otherwise, service cuts could begin to take place. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
