CHICAGO — A series of hearings to consider the future of public transit in the Chicago area — including a proposal to merge the four boards overseeing three transit systems and the umbrella agency overseeing them — is set to begin Tuesday in Chicago.
The six hearings of the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee have been organized by its chair, state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), and will be held at a variety of locations with various themes through October at the state capital. Tuesday’s hearing will be held at 10 .m. at the Bilandic Building, 160 N. La Salle Street in Chicago on the theme “Transit supports the economy.” The hearing is also scheduled to be live-streamed, according to a Villivalam press release; it will be available at the Illinois General Assembly website by clicking on “Audio/Video” under “Senate” at the time of the hearing.
Other scheduled sessions, themes, and approximate locations are listed below, although exact locations have yet to be determined for most sessions, and Villivalam cautioned that additional hearings or schedule adjustments may arise. Updated information will be available on his website.
Villivalam told the suburban Daily Herald newspaper, “Our No. 1 priority is we need to make the case for public transit to the general public,” but also said, “We want to hear from folks as to their thoughts on both the current structure and also the new structure that was proposed.”
The proposal to merge commuter rail operator Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, bus operator Pace, and the parent Regional Transportation Authority was introduced earlier this year, along with a companion bill to increase funding for the new merged organization [see “Illinois bill proposes merger …,” Trains News Wire, April 30, 2024]. It would replace four separate boards with a total of 47 members with a single 19-member Metropolitan Mobility Authority board, but the five suburban “collar” counties that fund much of the transit system expressed immediate concern over the proposed structure of that board. It would give each of those counties just one member, while five would be chosen by Chicago’s mayor, five by the president of the Cook County board, and three by the governor.
The CTA immediately issued a statement saying the proposal would “at best … serve as a distraction to the funding crisis we face.” Metra eventually issued a long, carefully worded statement applauding Villivalam and state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgato, who introduced the legislation, “for starting the conversation about the future of public transportation in northeast Illinois in the wake of [the] COVID-19 pandemic.”
The other scheduled hearings are:
— Wednesday, July 24 at 10 a.m.; South suburbs of Cook County. Subject: Transit must be accessible and equitable.
— Thursday, Aug. 8 at 10 a.m.; counties of DuPage, Will, and Kendall. Subject: Transit support community quality of life.
— Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m.; Kane County and McHenry County. Subject: Transit is crucial for public health.
— Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 10 a.m.; Northwest suburbs of Cook County and Lake County. Subject: Transit mitigates climate impact.
— Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m.; Springfield. Subject: Funding transit is a statewide priority.
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