Metra and Pace signal support of RTA's plan for increased authority as alternate to merger
Some Chicago-area transit agencies signaled support for the Regional Transit Authority’s proposal to strengthen the RTA as an alternative to combining them all into one agency.
Metra and Pace said they generally support a strengthened RTA after Chairman Kirk Dillard laid out a vision Wednesday that requires $1.5 billion in additional state money to run many more trains and buses.
Suburban rail agency Metra said in a statement it has generally favored "strengthening the RTA as an alternative to full consolidation."
Pace Bus Executive Director Melinda Metzger said riders could see benefits from a strengthened RTA and increased coordination between the four transit agencies — the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, Pace and RTA. But Metzger, in a statement to the Sun-Times, said funding was the most pressing issue to the agencies potentially facing a combined $770 million shortfall in 2026 when federal pandemic money runs out.
The CTA did not immediately comment on RTA's proposal. However, outgoing CTA President Dorval Carter, during a board meeting Wednesday, said updating the state's transit funding formula is "the most important challenge facing public transit in Chicago."
"It won't be easy. But it has to get done if we ever hope to achieve a world-class transit system in Chicago," Carter said.
Lawmakers are expected to finalize a bill this year, Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act, to prop up the metro area's four transit agencies with a possible $1.5 billion a year that would help increase train and bus frequency.
The current version of the bill would combine all four agencies into one. But the RTA on Wednesday proposed an alternative route that would give the RTA significantly more authority over the other three agencies, giving it control of their budgets, service schedules and construction projects.
RTA's plan could reassure people skeptical that there would not be any transit reform before the fiscal crisis hits, according to Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul University's Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.
The plan is also more palatable to the transit agencies that are resisting a full merger, he said.
"But the devil is in the details," he said. "The politics between agencies is tricky and will require ruffling some feathers for this to work. But it's promising that the RTA is ready to shake things up to build a stronger coalition for transit funding."
The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition derided the RTA's plan as a "too little, too late half-measure that puts holding onto power above the needs of riders and taxpayers." The coalition is advocating for the full merger of transit agencies, as outlined in the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act.
Dillard, after his City Club of Chicago presentation Wednesday, said his agency is "agnostic" about how lawmakers generate the $1.5 billion it is asking for. Dillard also acknowledged that Gov. JB Pritzker is "the major player" who would need to back any reform plan before it could pass in Springfield.
"We've laid out the reform that I believe he's asking for, and I think, you know, with lots of discussions to take place between now and May, the governor and we will be in accord at the end," Dillard said.
Dillard said any plan would need to be passed in the spring legislative session since funding would need to be laid out a full year before effects of the fiscal crisis begin.