CHICAGO — A group of Chicago-area civic organization have urged Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and others to support a proposal to improve transit on the city’s South Side and South Suburbs by cutting fares and increasing service on Metra’s Electric and Rock Island districts.
Crain’s Chicago Business reports that groups including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Metropolitan Planning Council, the Active Transportation Alliance, and others signed an open letter to “elected leadership and transportation executives” to approve the pilot proposal.
Preckwinkle has come out in favor of the proposal, while Lightfoot opposes it, saying it will hurt Chicago Transit Authority ridership. [See “Chicago mayor opposes plan for expanded Metra service to South Side,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 19, 2019.]
The letter says the pilot program “is a good way to find long-term solutions to transportation problems that have persisted in the region for too long.” It notes the proposal “will require unprecedented coordination between Metra, CTA, Pace [Chicago’s bus system] and RTA [the Regional Transportation Authority] to be successful. … This pilot program is an exciting opportunity to implement true fare integration and offer seamless transfers between services. These are enormous benefits for users of the transit system and another reason all government agencies involved in transit should participate fully in this pilot.”
Other groups signing the letter include the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, Chicago Jobs With Justice, the Coalition for a Modern Metra Electric, the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (Transportation Division).
