Chicago area transit reform 'on track' but questions of funding remain

With a looming budget crisis hanging over Chicago’s public transportation systems, state lawmakers say they believe they can stave off drastic cuts and reform the region’s mass transit system.

But lawmakers remain steadfast in their mantra of “no funding without reform" for the CTA, Metra, Pace and Regional Transportation Authority.

Reform talks have dragged on in the statehouse, with little word on what changes will look like or when they'll occur.

State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, however, said Thursday lawmakers are “on track” to pass legislation by the May 31 deadline.

“There is a fiscal cliff coming," Villivalam said during a virtual news conference Thursday. “We are working towards a system that is safe, reliable, accessible, integrated, one that’s economically impactful, not just for next year, or the year after but for the next three decades.”

The mass transit agencies say they face a combined $770 million budget shortfall next year, though they’ve asked for as much as $1.5 billion to not just address the budget holes but also improve service. Villivalam is skeptical they would get that much.

“Transit has to be looked at as an investment,” state Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago said. “We never say, ‘Are we spending too much money on the airports or interstate expressways?’ There’s certain government expenditures and government investments that must be done right, and transit is one of those.”

With two weeks left until the legislature is scheduled to adjourn, the question of where the state finds funding for its transit investment was left unanswered.

Villivalam and Evans avoided questions about where the money would come from as Illinois grapples with an increasingly tight state budget. Instead they stressed the job of legislators is to restructure northeast Illinois’ four transit agencies.

Agencies operating independently of one another, sometimes competing with each other is “not what we need,” Villivalam said.

Meanwhile, Evans has also called CTA buses and trains unsafe for riders and drivers, and said the system needs a dedicated security presence.

State lawmakers have also said they want to include the 54 transit agencies located outside the Chicago area in any funding discussion.

“We’re not a big carrier like Chicago, but we transport over 30 million trips annually,” Jeff Nelson, CEO of Quad Cities MetroLINK, said at the news conference.

“We do not have the transit system, the transit infrastructure or the transit governance that we deserve in the city of Chicago, northeast Illinois and even some of our downstate operators. Improvement is needed,” Evans said.