Latest news with #masstransit
CBS News
7 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Emergency responders at Grand Central for report of odor of gas
Emergency responders are on the scene at Grand Central Madison following a report of an odor of gas. The call came in just after 2 p.m. Monday. There were no immediate reports of any injuries. Officials cautioned commuters that mass transit service may be disrupted while the odor of gas is being investigated. There were no immediate reports of mass transit delays, however. For the latest on service status, click here. A two-alarm fire at Grand Central Madison disrupted Long Island Rail Road service back in June. In that instance, authorities said the cause was an electrical fire in a deep basement near LIRR tracks. Check back soon for more on this developing story.
Bloomberg
10-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Public Transit Systems See Ratings Hit as Fiscal Woes Mount
US mass-transit agencies are already grappling with weak ridership numbers and evaporating pandemic aid. Now, their credit ratings are under pressure. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District was the latest to take a hit when it lost its Aaa rating from Moody's Ratings last week. The system's operations depend heavily on fares, and the dip in daily usage — which has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels — has ballooned its projected budget deficit to as much as $400 million in the upcoming fiscal years.
CBS News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
With mass transit funding deal still up in the air in Springfield, CTA, Metra and Pace begin planning for possible cuts
CTA, Metra, and Pace officials are preparing "doomsday budgets" after Illinois state lawmakers didn't address the Chicago area mass transit system's massive budget shortfall during the spring legislative session. With federal COVID-19 funding expiring at the end of the year, the transit agencies are facing a $770 million dollar shortfall in 2026. Without new funding from the state, the agencies have warned of service cuts of up to 40%. The Illinois Senate passed legislation that would impose a $1.50 tax on deliveries like Amazon, Grubhub, and Uber Eats, a 10% tax on rideshare trips, and add a new tax to charge electric vehicles to fund mass transit, but the Illinois House didn't take it up before adjourning their spring session. Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) said that's due to how late in the last day of session the Senate passed the bill, but he said there's time to get a deal done this year. "CTA, Metra, Pace – they approve their budgets at the end of the year in December. They have not a July fiscal date like we do here in the state, but they have a January fiscal date. We've spent the last year or so talking about structural changes and governance reforms, and we've got that part right. And so, now, we can spend the next couple of weeks and months figuring out how we deal with the revenue piece. So when we come back to Springfield, whenever that may be, we'll be ready to go," Buckner said. While lawmakers could return to Springfield this summer or during their fall veto session to address mass transit funding, any laws passed after the end of May will need a three-fifths majority in both chambers to take effect before June 2026, making it more of a challenge to get the necessary votes to approve any potential deal.
CBS News
01-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Clock ticking for Illinois lawmakers to pass state budget, transit funding before spring session ends
With just hours until a crucial deadline, Illinois state lawmakers were working to pass a $55 billion state budget plan for the next fiscal year. The budget plan unveiled Friday night by Democratic leadership would include new taxes on gambling as well as tobacco and vape products. Another source of new revenue in the budget proposal is a delinquent tax payment incentive program. The program is designed to help the state recover overdue tax payments. The program was proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker and is estimated to generate about $198 million in revenue. A health care program that provides benefits to undocumented immigrants in Illinois between ages 42 and 64 also appears to be eliminated. Pritzker proposed eliminating the program to save the state $330 million. The proposed budget also provides $307 million in additional funding for K-12 schools, but does not include $43 million in property tax relief funds called for under the state's evidence-based school funding model. Chicagoans also have been keeping an eye on additional state funding for the area's mass transit system. Transit officials have said the system is facing a $770 million budget deficit in 2026, and if state lawmakers don't come up with that funding by the end of the spring legislative session Saturday night, CTA, Metra, and Pace must start laying out plans for service cuts of up to 40% for next year. "I think right now, there's wide understanding that we can't have these draconian 40% cuts. I mean, it just would be very painful, disruptive for the city. The economy would really suffer at the same time," DePaul University professor and transportation expert Joe Schwieterman said. Lawmakers spent hours Thursday debating another bill that would overhaul the state's mass transit system, but that bill did not include provisions to address the looming RTA fiscal cliff. That bill, instead, focuses on reforming the structure and governance of the Chicago area's mass transit system, and would replace the RTA with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. 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. With no end yet in sight as of Saturday afternoon, Illinois Senate Republicans expressed their frustrations with the Democratic-led budget process. "In less than nine hours, the Democrats are going to file over $1 billion in tax increases. The public are not going to see it until it is filed. They are going to pass it through the House and pass it through the Senate," Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran said. The state's new fiscal year begins on July 1. If the House and Senate don't pass a balanced budget by midnight Saturday night, they will need a three-fifths majority to approve a budget plan, rather than a simple majority. Ben Szalinski and Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report
Washington Post
28-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Judge blocks Trump officials' bid to end NYC congestion pricing
A federal judge said Tuesday that New York City can keep charging drivers entering parts of Manhattan up to $9 until at least June 9 through its congestion pricing program, which aims to reduce traffic and raise funds to revamp the city's decaying mass transit network. Judge Lewis J. Liman of the Southern District of New York federal court issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday against Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and other officials, blocking them from withholding federal cash or approvals from the state in a bid to kill congestion pricing. New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Trump administration in February for trying to terminate the program.
