(The following article by Richard Wronski was posted on the Chicago Tribune website on October 6.)
CHICAGO — In a major campaign to build broad support for increased public transportation funding, the Regional Transportation Authority has recruited more than 280 municipalities, civic organizations and agencies so far to lobby Illinois legislators, officials said Thursday.
“This is the most comprehensive outreach effort that the RTA has ever conducted,” Executive Director Steve Schlickman said. “In order to convey the message to the legislature, we have to show them we have the support for what we’re trying to do. We have to show them that, yes, everyone wants that world-class transit system that the region deserves.”
The list includes dozens of local governments, from Waukegan to Will County, and school districts.
Other organizations include labor unions, chambers of commerce, and civic and environmental groups.
Northeastern Illinois transit agencies–including RTA, the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace and Metra–face a “critical crossroads” in 2007, at which time additional investment and improvement of the $27-billion transit network must take place, said RTA officials, who presented a progress report on the strategic plan, known as “Moving Beyond Congestion.”
The alternative would be “shrinking” the system and a downward spiral of service cuts, increased fares and declining reliability, officials said.
The transit agencies’ strategic plan for more funding includes enlisting local governments and organizations on the grass-roots level.
At least $163 million per year in additional funding from Springfield will be needed, officials estimated.
The interim report is intended to describe the current status of the RTA system and lay the groundwork for upcoming reports, including a financial analysis of the transit systems. All will be ammunition in the battle for more transportation funding.
The RTA system provides the region with more than $12 billion annually in economic impact and congestion relief, as well as substantial non-monetary environmental, mobility and qualify of life benefits, the report states.
Yet, the region’s traffic congestion is the third worst in the nation, according to the Texas Transportation Institute, and costs the region more than $4 billion in travel delays and excess fuel consumed.
The congestion costs the average peak-period traveler $1,000 annually, the report states.
The system faces a large operating and capital shortfall because there have been no new state capital funds for transit since the Illinois FIRST program and because funding has not kept pace with demand.
Transit ridership has grown since 2003, but the rate of auto travel is growing at a faster rate, the report states.
Metra provides excellent peak-period commuter rail service to and from downtown Chicago, but service for reverse commutes and off-peak travel is not convenient, the report found.
Similarly, Pace provides good service levels on traditional high-ridership bus routes, the report states, but many routes do not operate all day or every day, particularly routes in Aurora, Elgin, Joliet and Waukegan.