This is taken from savechicagotransit.com:
“A multi-faceted crisisChicago area transit faces a capital funding crisis (PDF). The RTA has identified $10.3 billion of capital investments required over the next 5 years just to keep the existing system from deteriorating. Of this total, only $3.1 billion is funded by presently identified sources. RTA has also identified an additional $5.8 billion in enhancements and expansions that are needed to accommodate growth. The state typically covers a large portion of transit capital needs, but it has not had a capital investment program in place for 4 years and has not passed a capital funding bill in 8 years.
Chicago area transit faces an operating funding crisis (PDF). Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland found that transit operating costs increased by 6.5% over the last 5 years, while revenues increased by just 2.2%. And since 1985, sales tax revenues increased by a paltry 0.59% annually. This is not a case of poor management and runaway costs—transit agencies nationally were affected disproportionately by skyrocketing energy and healthcare costs. Instead, the reality is that available funding is and has always been insufficient at a structural level to fund transit operations.
Meanwhile, the costs of providing paratransit service—essentially door-to-door for the disabled required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—have skyrocketed. At the same time, the aging population has put additional demand on the paratransit system.
A side effect of years of inadequate transit funding is the unfunded liability in the CTA pension fund. In order to avoid service cuts over the last 15 years, the CTA talked itself into optimistic investment return projections and therefore lower contributions to the pension fund. This strategy seemed OK during the bull market of the tech bubble, but came crashing down along with the dot-coms. At the same time, the collective bargaining process between the CTA and its unions, which is by law stacked against the CTA, resulted in dramatic pension benefit increases without additional contributions from workers. In 2006, a state law was passed requiring the CTA to pay more than $200 million into its pension fund starting in 2009. This could mean another round of massive service cuts.
Finally, it’s likely that the transit resources that we do have are not managed in the most efficient way. For example, Pace and CTA in places offer overlapping service, and all agencies compete for scarce capital dollars to fund projects that are not measured against regional planning goals. For example, CTA, Metra, and Pace competed fiercely for which agency would provide service from O’Hare to Schaumburg along the Northwest Tollway. This lack of coordinated planning is wasteful and counterproductive.
Chicagland transit faces a multi-facetted crisis that requires immediate attention. But fixing the problems won’t be easy; regional cooperation is essential. Remember this issue isn’t about city vs. suburb; it is a matter of Chicagoland vs. congestion, Chicagoland vs. air pollution, and Chicagoland vs. economic decline. Transit is vital to the entire Chicago region. Tell your legislators not only to Save Chicagoland Transit, but to make it better.””
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