Latest news with #MetropolitanMobilityAuthorityAct
Chicago Tribune
07-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Before state reform, the RTA needs to heal itself
Whenever Illinois lawmakers start talking reform, we should start to be wary. Very wary. Some of our legislators want to redesign the region's mass transit agencies before they adjourn the legislative session at the end of the month. Our elected officials in Springfield can't reform themselves when it comes to campaign funding, misconduct and budgeting. Yet, they want to change the way things have been going the last 50 years or so in the six-county area with the Regional Transportation Authority, the umbrella agency for the CTA, Metra and Pace. Not that the mass transit agency doesn't need a tad more oversight, or maybe sterner leadership. But lawmakers want to reinvent the wheel as mass transit in the six-county region faces a looming fiscal cliff, something that happens a lot across the Land of Lincoln whenever money is in the mix. Legislation is awaiting action in Springfield to meld all the transit agencies into one uber-RTA under the bureaucratic-sounding Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act. Supporters of public transportation in the region insist the RTA is facing a $1.5 billion funding gap when federal funding given during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic dissipates next year. Short term, the RTA says it needs $771 million to keep trains and buses up to speed. Backers of the MMAA bill were in Waukegan the other day, part of a schedule of transportation town halls in Lake, Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Will counties to boost the idea of merging all the transit agencies. If efficient service is the end game, who isn't for that? Sometimes in Illinois, just the opposite occurs. Before lawmakers give blank checks to a new, improved RTA (which undoubtedly will get a costly new name, complete with revamped logos and brand signage), several things need to occur. First, increase fares. According to one account, the CTA has not increased fares since 2018, which was the first time since 2009. To ride the El or subway in Chicago costs $2.50. Second, rein in costs. That's a difficult concept in government. Ridership across the transit system remains down, especially when workers commute infrequently to their brick-and-mortar offices, and instead work remotely. For instance, the RTA has been running advertising across a wide span of media platforms direly warning: 'Save Transit Now.' One estimate is that the public relations campaign is costing $750,000. That's a small amount in the RTA budget, but the optics aren't swell when having a tin cup out for state funding. Employee overtime costs and running trains at all hours of the night should be areas of concern. ABC7 television scrutinized RTA payroll records recently and found overtime costs increased nearly 40% since 2019, from $86 million in 2019 to nearly $120 million last year. Additionally, the station determined 100 full-time employees made twice their annual salaries in overtime in a single year, including one supervisor who made more than $233,000 in overtime on top of an annual base salary of $95,000. Metra is planning this year to rename its 14 commuter train routes, which means new logos, branding and perhaps advertising, to let riders know they no longer will hop on a Milwaukee District train to get home from downtown Chicago to, say, Libertyville. Officials say some of the train routes are confusing to passengers who apparently were absent when the difference between Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was discussed in geography class. Paring bus routes. In many locales Pace buses are used sparingly by the public. That needs to be addressed. Third, upgrade service. It doesn't take a new transit agency to deliver trains and buses on time. Or synch service options, such as several Lake County firms do, pairing ride-sharing offerings at various Metra stations. Many of us realize public transportation is a boon to the region when it works well. Buses and trains take fossil-fuel-burning cars and trucks off the road; streets and highways become less jammed during rush hours. That in turn decreases air pollution, even though Chicagoland continues to rank 15th overall, according to a report late last month from the American Lung Association. Southern California, which has fewer mass transit options, ranked first in the group's analysis of air pollutants. Other transit agencies across the nation have faced similar fiscal hurdles and seem to have risen to the challenge of serving their clientele with less. Before Illinois lawmakers start trying to heal the region's mass transit and dole out checks to the RTA, they, taxpayers and riders, need to know public transportation already is working to the best of its ability.
Chicago Tribune
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Town hall focuses on future of regional public transportation; ‘It has to be accessible, affordable and energy-efficient'
People in Lake County using public transportation want to find the easiest and quickest way to get where they are going, be it by bus or train. Many want the modes of transit to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Members of the Illinois General Assembly, with support from public interest groups like the Sierra Club, the Illinois Environmental Council, the Climate Cabinet and others, are trying to create the organizational structure and funding to make it happen. Now operated by four separate agencies — Pace, Metra, the CTA and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) — in a six-county area around Chicago, there is legislation pending in the state legislature to transform the quartet into a single agency. Known as the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act (MMA), Michael Podgers, the Midwest policy lead for the Climate Cabinet, said a unified agency could coordinate schedules and fares to make a trip more efficient and less time-consuming. 'Right now, a bus will show up right after a train leaves,' Podgers said. 'A coordinated schedule will have the bus arrive five minutes before the train, and wait five minutes after it arrives so the people getting off the train can board the bus.' Podgers was one of two activists and eight state legislators to speak at a Transportation Town Hall Wednesday in Waukegan, explaining the current state of public transportation in northeast Illinois and how it can be reformed in an environmentally positive way. Dany Robles, the climate policy director for the Illinois Environmental Council, said his trip from his home in Chicago to Waukegan was an example of the possibilities. He took a bus to a CTA train, and then boarded a Metra train to Waukegan. 'It was a short walk here (to the Christ Episcopal Church) from the station,' Robles said. 'In any form, taking public transportation will reduce greenhouse gases. The more people use it, there will be less cars on the road.' Along with creating a more efficient system, public transportation locally and nationwide is facing a fiscal cliff. When people stopped using public transportation during the coronavirus pandemic, federal funding covered the shortfall, keeping it afloat. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, introduced the MMA in January. He said ridership is increasing, but fares are not enough to cover the $771 million differential needed to keep the trains and buses running. Even more is required for the future. 'Federal funding will run out by 2026,' Villivalam said. 'We don't (yet) know how to fill the gap for next year. We need $1.5 billion to get to 2050. That's our goal. We need $1.5 billion, not $771 million.' Public transportation needs to be as energy-efficient as possible, but state Rep. Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, said it needs to be more. Plans must be equitable, enabling the people who most need to use buses and trains to do so. 'It has to be accessible, affordable and energy-efficient, and reach our most vulnerable population,' Dias said. 'It's a question of equity and accessibility. Those with low income and with disabilities need it. They are among our most vulnerable.' 'It has to be safe, equitable and sensible,' added state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove. Chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee, Villivalam said having four agencies managing public transportation in the Chicago area is not the most efficient method. It worked 50 years ago when it was formed. He is looking at something that will be sustainable through 2050. 'We need to look at what will work, what level of funding is needed and how is it going to be funded. There needs to be coordination between Pace, Metra and the CTA,' Villivalam said. 'All the people want is to get from point A to point B.' State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, made it clear what she wants to see when the MMA bill gets to the House of Representatives chamber. She wants to see an agency that does not include the RTA. 'The RTA is very, very Chicago-heavy,' Mayfield said. 'There are bus drivers in Chicago making over $300,000 a year because of overtime. The system is broken. How are we going to fix it? People want to get from point A to point B, and do it efficiently.' Along with Lake County, the others included are Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Will counties.
Axios
24-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
"Unprecedented cuts": Chicago could see major public transit cuts, RTA warns
The parent agency for mass transit in the Chicago region says it needs help from Springfield. And fast. Driving the news: RTA Chicago, which oversees CTA, Metra and Pace, issued a warning Friday that all three agencies will face "unprecedented cuts" if the General Assembly doesn't allocate more state money to it before the end of session in May. Why it matters: Transit leaders have foreshadowed the more than $770 million fiscal cliff expected next year, but this is the first time specific service cuts have been detailed to this extent. RTA says cuts will leave one in five Chicagoans without transit for their daily commute, no weekend service for Pace riders and the loss of nearly 3,000 transit-related jobs. The agency warns those changes would just be in the first year and likely exacerbate. State of play: The price to avoid all the service cuts and affiliated damage is an additional $1.5 billion for the annual operating budget, according to RTA. This year, RTA's budget is about $4.1 billion with about 17% of that coming from the state. Nearly 30% of New York City's mass transit budget comes from state dollars, and state dollars fund about half of Philadelphia's budget. What they're saying: "It's a regional emergency," RTA executive director Leanne Redden said in a statement. "If the General Assembly does not act this spring, hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans will wake up in 2026 without a way to get to work, school or medical appointments with continued uncertainty in future years about their transit services." The other side: "Through seven Illinois Senate Transportation Committee Hearings with approximately 30 hours of testimony, we have heard directly from business, union, environmental, and good government groups along with numerous local elected officials about the importance of funding our public transit system," state Sen. Ram Villivalam tells Axios in a statement. "Members of the Senate Transportation Committee have been clear. There will be no funding without reform … we aim to deliver legislation that ensures an improved level of service, a governance system that holds the delivery of that service to account, and adequate funding." Zoom in: Reform is in line with what RTA wants too, spokesperson Melissa Meyer tells Axios. "Revenue and reforms are needed to achieve the transit system our region wants and needs," an RTA memo from Friday says. Reforms outlined include transit agencies providing RTA with quarterly reports on service quality and directing any new funding beyond filling the budget gap toward improving and expanding service — not for administrative or management positions. Between the lines: Villivalam and other lawmakers introduced the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act last year which would combine CTA, Metra, Pace and RTA to create a more streamlined system with one budget rather than the fragmented revenue and expenditures that come with four agencies. Yes, but: Leaders of those agencies have largely opposed the legislation. The bill is not assigned to a committee as lawmakers meet with stakeholders to make any necessary changes before advancing it, a spokesperson for Senate Democrats tells Axios. By the numbers: 500,000 CTA riders could be without a bus stop as CTA estimates 74 of its 127 bus routes would be cut. At least half of the CTA's eight rail lines would see service cuts. Weekday Metra trains would run once per hour and every two hours on weekends. Weekend Pace bus service would be reduced. Pace's ADA-transit would run but shrink by more than 60% on weekends. What's next: CTA workers are canvassing Wednesday during morning and evening rush hours at Damen, Jefferson Park and Forest Park Blue Line stations, as well as at the Howard and 95th Street stations to raise awareness of potential cuts.
