It’s still a ways down the tracks, but a train full of red ink is heading towards public transportation in Chicagoland, including Evanston.
The Regional Transportation Authority says that mass transit in our area faces a $730 million annual deficit, starting in 2026.
Federal COVID relief dollars, which have kept transit systems solvent around the nation, run out at the end of 2025.
In a virtual public budget hearing Wednesday afternoon, RTA officials as well as citizens talked about what mass transit means to the region, and also what it would mean if there are significant reductions.
Evanston has three Metra stations, several CTA Purple Line L stations, and multiple CTA and Pace bus stops.
“It is impossible,” said RTA Planner Peter Kersten, “for RTA to meet the crisis by raising fares and cutting service alone.”
Either of those options only makes the problem worse. Higher fares means fewer riders, and less service means fewer riders as well, adding to any potential deficit.
“We need to pursue addtional funding rather than cutting service,” Kersten said.
“But no single funding source,” he noted, “will be enough.”
Multiple options will be examined, such as a higher RTA sales tax, increasing tolls on highways, and implementing “congestion pricing” in Chicago, where it could cost more to drive your personal car downtown during certain hours.
While 2026 may seem like a long way off, building a political coalition to find a financial solution will not be easy.
The draft of RTA’s new 5-year Strategic Plan, called “Transit is the Answer,” calls on transportation supporters to develop alternate funding sources, create a climate action plan which incorporates transit, hold a region-wide safety summit to deal with crime onboard trains and buses, and also try to have a free or reduced price pilot program to make transit more accessible to low income indivduals, making the system more equity-sensitive.
One of the biggest challenges facing transit is the impact of COVID-19 on work and travel patterns.
While bus, Metra rail, and “L” ridership is at its highest since the pandemic began, it is still below the pre-COVID level of 1.6 million daily riders and may never return to that higher number.
For 2023, the CTA (bus and L) is projecting 58% of pre-pandemic ridership, Metra 47%, and Pace suburban buses 51%.
While service cuts are not seen as a long-term solution, Pace plans to permanently discontinue 89 routes that were suspended during the pandemic.
None of those routes serves Evanston. In fact, Pace plans to add a limited-stop run on the Route 250 Dempster Street bus, which will make it faster to get from points in Evanston to O’Hare Airport.
The RTA’s proposed 2023 budget is $3.6 billion, for CTA, Metra and Pace combined. RTA has final say on approving each agency’s spending plans.
About half of the 20 people who commented during the public hearing were climate activists, either individuals or members of groups.
Their primary message was urging RTA to override the CTA decision to buy 500 diesel-powered buses instead of using those dollars for electric vehicles.
Transit rider John Labaj said not buying more electric buses would be “the greatest missed opportunity in the history of Chicago public transit.”
RTA board chair Kirk Dillard said he’s been in touch with the CTA regarding electric buses.
Dillard said the head of the CTA, Dorval Carter, has indicated the electric bus transition might take more time, but it’s coming.
According to Dillard, Carter said “it’s a multi-year project. Just look at this over the next couple of years.”
Dillard said that “transit can be the economic equalizer” for the metropolitan area, as well as “the environment’s best friend.”
That’s the message transit advocates will advance as the fiscal cliff gets closer and closer.
The RTA board votes on the 2023 budget on December 15, and on the 5-year Strategic Plan on February 16.
If you want to comment on either, go to rtachicago.org.
A major factor glossed over are perceptions that public transit – in particular the CTA – is simply now unsafe to ride… and CTA crime statistics bear this out.
Two co–workers take the Purple Line Express from Wilson (Chicago) to Davis (Evanston). Several times at least per week they endure menacing incidents aboard, some with police intervention. They routinely get off at stops to change to a different car to avoid “problems”; there are many vagrants and aggressive panhandlers – one guy pulled his pants down in front of my female co–worker, this at 8:00 AM on a Tuesday morning. Open pot smoking is routine, and I’ve seen homeless use up an entire car as a “camper”, complete with a tent set up. The last time I rode the L (in October), a bum was passed out in an elevator at the Davis Street station; feces in elevators are now a routine “thing”. I’ve declined several nice job offers in Chicago, as I will no longer tolerate the squalid conditions on public transit… others have made the same decision, no doubt. BTW my afore-mentioned co – workers are both young and fit, but for our holiday gift exchange, I got them both keychain audio alarms. Why should we live this way…???
And not to mention, the public transit “gravy train” is fast running out of “gravy”:
https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=20407#more-20407
“By mid-2022, transit ridership had recovered to about 60 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, but transit agencies are still spending as if they were getting 100 percent of riders – they managed to spend 98.5 percent as much money on operating costs, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Transit Administration.
A few highlights:
Operating costs per passenger-mile rose from 94¢ in 2019 to $1.57 in 2020 and $2.23 in 2021.
Fares, meanwhile, hovered around 29¢ per passenger-mile in all three years, meaning operating subsidies grew from 64¢ per passenger-mile in 2019 to $1.95 in 2021…
Total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 had declined from 2019, but not by as much as the number of transit revenue-miles, so transit’s energy efficiency would have declined even if ridership had remained the same…”
Too bad on how low the CTA has sunk.
The Metra is a much more pleasant ride, and seems to be the most well-managed prong of the RTA trident.
I was told by a Metra employee a few years ago (pre-pandemic) that the CTA had fully maxed out its bonding capacity while Metra hadn’t even tapped into its capacity due to its responsible leadership. Would be nice if Metra could be spun off as a stand-alone entity so the CTA doesn’t continue to drag it down. Metra I’m sure has large structural deficits itself but I have more confidence that they are capable of getting their house in order.
For my two job offers in Chicago, I could have taken Metra from Davis down to the Ogilvie Center, but then I would have had to transfer to the L to go to the West Side. So, a no – go for me; Metra is a fine, safe, and fast ride, but not the L…
[A follow – up to my above comments]
From the article: “The draft of RTA’s new 5-year Strategic Plan, called “Transit is the Answer,” calls on transportation supporters to… try to have a free or reduced price pilot program to make transit more accessible to low income individuals, making the system more equity-sensitive… Multiple options will be examined, such as a higher RTA sales tax, increasing tolls on highways, and implementing “congestion pricing” in Chicago, where it could cost more to drive your personal car downtown during certain hours…”
This would of course be an *additional* burden on lower – income drivers, as 95% of them commute by car:
https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=20243#more-20243
“Equity” Means Less, Not More Transit Subsidies
“…A group called Elevated Chicago thinks that equity demands more transit subsidies and more subsidies to high-density development near transit stations…
…transit is the most inequitable form of transportation we have because most of the taxes used to subsidize it are regressive and less than 5 percent of low-income workers rely on transit to get to work. That means 95 percent of low-income workers are disproportionately paying for transit rides they aren’t taking…
Telling low-income people to rely on transit while high-income people drive cars is also inequitable because cars are so much more efficient, costing less and getting people to destinations much faster. The real issue of transportation equity is that about seven million low-income households lack access to an automobile. Those who sincerely care about equity should devote less effort to transit and more towards getting more low-income people into cars…
If the $64 billion spent subsidizing transit in 2020 were spent on helping low-income people buy cars, it would have been enough to give every carless low-income family more than $9,000 towards a car…”
Car usage is hugely subsidized in this country via tax dollars at all levels going to road building and maintenance, not to mention the substantial subsidies at the federal level to the petroleum industry and to corn farming for ethanol production. American car travel is hugely subsidized by our tax dollars.
So you want to advocate for additional funds to go to people of lesser means, so they can more easily purchase a car with ongoing carrying costs such as gas, insurance, repairs, and parking? While a CTA pass that can effectively get you around Cook County costs just $75 a month? I would estimate that your proposal is ill-advised.
This says nothing about the addition traffic that would be generated by such a targeted subsidy, nor its effect on emissions. But those are things to consider too. I take the Purple Line from Davis into the city many days a week, and I have found it to be a pleasant experience, by and large. I agree there are safety issues on the system writ large that do need to be addressed.
Aaron wrote:
“So you want to advocate for additional funds to go to people of lesser means, so they can more easily purchase a car with ongoing carrying costs such as gas, insurance, repairs, and parking? While a CTA pass that can effectively get you around Cook County costs just $75 a month? I would estimate that your proposal is ill-advised…”
I’m in “workforce development”, meaning that I assist low – income people in accessing good – paying jobs, particularly in manufacturing. The majority of decent manufacturing jobs are in the suburbs/collar counties/Indiana, as are many other better career opportunities, e.g. health care, logistics. So yes, a private vehicle is necessary to access these jobs. Virtually the first thing a low – income car – less person does when they start getting good pay is to purchase a vehicle, it *greatly* expands their income/career – and thus life – options. With that better pay they can absorb the costs of maintaining a car… instead of struggling, they can finally enjoy the benefits of a better “middle class” style of life…
That CTA monthly pass is nice for where and when it goes, but the CTA often simply does not go where many good jobs are for lower – income (or *any*) folks. Besides, most manufacturing and health care jobs are shift work, the CTA schedules can leave them high and dry on evenings and weekends, when no or little service is available…
Hi Greg, your points are very well taken and thoughtful. It is very much true that public transportation does not serve job centers in collar counties effectively. A healthcare tech living in Evanston would have a difficult time getting to the Loyola Hospital in Maywood, for instance. And you are right that most manufacturing plants are generally out of the boundaries of trains and buses as well.
But I think you likely underestimate the number of lower income folks who rely on the CTA to get to service sector jobs throughout the region. Store clerks and bank tellers and tradesmen will often rub shoulders with the lawyers and consultants who ride during peak rush hour on CTA lines. I would simply state that we should carefully consider the externalities related to pushing for even more car dependency in our society. The costs are proving to be rather high.
I used to take the CTA all the time to go everywhere I could. I’ve STOPPED taking the CTA because …
1) People are WAY ruder, eating/drinking/smoking/etc. They leave their wrappers all over the place and stink up the cars with McDonalds. Everyone can hear their Facetime calls since they don’t bother with headphones.
2) The general lack of hygiene of many riders.
3) It feels like there are way more, uh, unstable people on the train, even the Purple line (which is still pretty decent.) Especially at night. If there are tons of people on the train it feels safer, but often it’s just me and a sketchy dude laughing at nothing. ANY flash of eye contact feels unsafe in those situations. I don’t like the stress of having to ‘prepare myself’ just in case I’m approached and a CTA worker won’t intervene (getting out my phone, planning how not to make eye contact, etc.)
I know it’s ‘unwoke’ but it must be said: women are smaller and weaker than men. Do you really think that women don’t have, uh, unique concerns about taking the train? Maybe address those and more women will take the CTA!
Last time I took the Red line, a very intoxicated man couldn’t even form words to ask me for something, then peed all over the floor…