The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning is preparing a report to lawmakers recommending changes to transit service and funding
A rider uses the fare machine at the CTA Western Avenue station on Oct. 21, 2021.
“If we want to have a strong economy in this region, we need a transit system that supports that,” said Laura Wilkison, senior director and policy adviser at CMAP.Once finalized and sent to the state legislature, lawmakers will be able to choose which of the recommendations to enact. Some, including any increases to taxes, are likely to be politically unpopular.
The committees hashing out the proposals are eyeing three potential sets of recommendations that come with different pricetags, ranging from $500 million to $1.5 billion in new public funding. All also call for either $200 million or $250 million from the transit agencies through fare revenue or savings.
But expanding the sales tax alone won’t raise enough money, Wilkison said. The committee is considering other types of funding, including more fees on drivers such as a surcharge on vehicle registration costs that would go directly to transit. It wouldn’t be the first recommendation to get rid of the region’s three service agencies. In 2013, the then-head of the RTA urged a state task force to consider consolidating the agencies into one, during discussions on transit funding reform.
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