By Catrina Petersen | The Center Square
Democrat legislators have introduced the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act, which would establish a new, fully integrated agency to deliver transit service throughout northeastern Illinois.
At a news conference, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there will have to be changes made to the transit system to address a funding cliff and how to better operate the transit systems in the region.
“I like that there is creativity coming out of the General Assembly. I also think we need to make sure we are listening to other organizations, including the CTA, who ought to be coming forward with more about what changes need to take place,” said Pritzker.
Pritzker’s budget proposal calls for a diversion of $175 million in state taxpayer money committed to fund things like bridge repair and road improvement. Those taxpayer funds would be diverted to primarily Chicago-based public transit systems.
The proposed legislation would create a transit agency to oversee public transit across northeastern Illinois and companion legislation aims to spend $1.5 billion of taxpayer’s money in annual funding for public transportation.
Democrat legislators said the Chicago area needs a single, fully modernized transit agency to overcome a major operations funding shortfall. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said 95 out of the top 100 longest commutes stem from Black and Latino communities.
“That is at its core an equity issue. It’s harder for those communities to get to their jobs, schools and hospitals. We need to tackle the issue of what type of service we would like to see for our riders then we can talk about the funding that’s needed,” said Villivalam.
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