After losing huge portions of their ridership and fare revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, they got an infusion of federal relief funds to help keep service running. But those funds only delayed the inevitable budget crisis, with ridership not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels for most systems. Relief funds are starting to run out, even as the cost of building infrastructure and operating services has continued to climb.
Many transit authorities have spent the last few years warning riders and political leaders about an impending fiscal cliff, when systems will need to make up for the end of federal relief with service cuts, fare hikes, layoffs, new revenue or some combination thereof.
In the Chicago region, home to one of the largest transit networks in the country, the conversation about the impending budget crisis has dovetailed with a longer-running debate about how best to organize the system. Transit service is provided by three separate agencies: the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), which runs the city’s buses and iconic elevated trains; Metra, which runs rail service between the city and its suburbs; and Pace, which runs buses in the suburbs. Each has its own service board, with members appointed by various jurisdictions. All three are overseen by a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) created in the 1970s.
But riders and political leaders have sometimes complained about problems related to the fractured governance of the systems — a lack of integration between regional services, separate fares and fare policies for each service and competition for capital funding.
A few years ago, anticipating the fiscal cliff, the Illinois legislature asked a regional planning organization, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), to recommend solutions for governance and funding problems in the regional transit system. This year the legislature worked to put some of the group’s recommendations into law. Illinois state Sen. Ram Villivalam, a Democrat who represents Chicago, backed a proposal that would not only plug the $771 million budget gap that the transit systems face starting early next year, but invest in long-term expansion and coordination.
The proposal would have put transit services under a new Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA), with a centralized board. It also included new revenue sources such as a $1.50 fee on deliveries. The plan was backed by a majority of the state Senate, but the Illinois House failed to take a vote by the May 31 budget deadline.
Villivalam recently spoke with Governing about the proposal to increase transit revenue and overhaul governance of the system before the budget gap results in layoffs and service cuts. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Governing: Traditionally, what has the relationship been between the Illinois state legislature and the regional transit system in Chicago? What has your responsibility been?
Villivalam: Over the years, there has been a relationship relating to the creation of the Regional Transit Authority and having in place the service boards of CTA, Metra and Pace, and outlining the responsibilities of the RTA. We’ve had conversations on oversight, funding and ways in which these public transit agencies should provide service.
The conversations we’ve had over the last three years have to do, in large part, with why we need to change the status quo of the system that we’ve had for four-plus decades.
Governing: Can you give me a sense of what the transit agencies need from you now and what they’re asking for?
Villivalam: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we really saw a decline in ridership that every major public transit system in the nation saw. Because of that, there is a fiscal cliff of at least $771 million that our public transit system is facing. The federal government at the time of the pandemic was helpful in providing additional funding, and because of that the cliff was not reached and will not be reached until early 2026.
The broad request from the agencies, as well as from a number of stakeholders including organized labor, environmental groups, business groups, and many others, is to address the fiscal cliff of $771 million. Really the request is to have a transformational investment to create the public transit system that’s needed for the next several decades, which is approximately $1.5 billion.
(Courtesy of Sen. Villivalam)
Governing: The discussion about reforms has been going on for longer than the current fiscal crisis. But the budget crisis has made the reform questions more urgent?
Villivalam: The agencies weren’t necessarily looking to be reformed. However, there was broad consensus by other stakeholders to seek and enact these reforms to have a better system.
From time to time over the last few decades there have been questions about the ability of the Regional Transportation Authority to have proper oversight, the question of each service board having their own silo and competing with one another. This journey of really trying to address the systemic challenges that our public transit systems face and create a system for the future started three years ago.
As these fiscal challenges were identified, the General Assembly engaged the Chicago Metro Agency for Planning to convene stakeholders, work on thousands of hours of convening staff and other transit experts, and issue a report to the governor and the Illinois General Assembly. From there we were able to introduce legislation, have eight Senate transportation committee hearings with more than 35 hours of testimony, and I would add over 12 meetings of negotiations with the House, the governor’s office, the Senate, the Clean Jobs Coalition, Labor Alliance for Public Transportation, and that’s the product that’s represented in House Bill 3438.
Governing: Can you tell me what needs to change from your point of view at RTA or in the governance of the transit system broadly?
Villivalam: First and foremost we need a system that is accountable to taxpayers. Right now we have four different agencies, 21 appointing authorities appointing 47 different people. That means everyone is accountable and no one is accountable.
We’re looking to have an empowered central authority as is outlined in House Bill 3438, the Northeastern Illinois Transit Authority board, and having that authority be empowered on issues and responsibilities such as fare policy, capital planning, service planning, procurement, having a central office of public safety, and being in charge of creating a transit ambassador program. Those are important responsibilities that should be centralized and done on a regional basis.
The current status quo has three different service boards — CTA, Metra and Pace — each creating their own service plan, their own capital plan, having their own procurement process, their own fare policy, their own technology: Seven different apps between the agencies.
That future system is not necessarily what we’ve experienced for the decades previous, which is providing transportation downtown and back out to the suburbs of Cook County or the collars, but more neighborhood-to-neighborhood transit, suburb-to-suburb transit, collar-county-to-collar-county transit. That’s the vision that we’re embarking on, because that’s the travel patterns that the experts are seeing evolve.
Governing: Are there sticking points in the reform conversation. If so, what are they?
Villivalam: The reforms that have been presented in House Bill 3438 are largely agreed to by all of the stakeholders and I think represent what our residents and taxpayers want to see in terms of having a safe, reliable, accessible and integrated public transit system. The Senate has passed a package of reforms and funding with a transformational investment of $1.5 billion. We believe the package of reforms has really achieved a consensus of stakeholders and residents that have been involved in this process.
Governing: You’re waiting for the House to vote on that.
Villivalam: If there’s a better funding plan that achieves $1.5 billion in investment, we’re happy to work with folks on that. Our position, though, is that we passed a bill, and short of there being a better funding plan, we’d like to see our bill passed and sent to the governor.
Governing: We’ve known these fiscal cliffs are looming for several years. Why has it taken as long as it has in Illinois to get to this vote?
Villivalam: In the Senate, we embarked on this journey three years ago. We worked to pass legislation that was signed into law that would require CMAP to submit a report after convening stakeholders and looking at what would make a world-class public transit system. We introduced legislation based on that report. There was, I think, a methodical process that we went through.
