Daley, other leaders rally for transit funding bill

Daley, other leaders rally for transit funding bill
By Richard Wronski
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
7:15 PM CDT, August 28, 2007


Chicago and suburban political leaders, including House Speaker Michael Madigan and Mayor Richard Daley, urged the public today to press lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to support a bill raising $450 million for mass transit.

If the legislature doesn't heed a Sept. 15 deadline for approval of the measure, riders will awake the next day to fewer CTA and Pace buses and will pay higher fares, officials warned.

"If Springfield doesn't act, every resident will suffer through more traffic congestion, more air pollution, more absenteeism and less productivity, slower transit service and more money out of our pockets for higher fares and car travel," Daley told about 200 sign-carrying transit advocates, union workers and others at a rally organized by the Regional Transportation Authority at the James R. Thompson Center.

The RTA and other transit agencies have been calling for approval of the legislation for months, but the General Assembly has been stymied by budget negotiations and personal differences between the governor and legislative leaders.

The CTA, Metra and Pace have a combined $226 million budget shortfall for 2007. The agencies have approved what they say is only the first round of fare hikes and service cuts if more money does not come from the state.

Among the actions slated for Sept. 16 are increases in CTA cash fares from $2 to $2.50 for buses and $3 for trains during peak hours, and the elimination of 39 bus routes. Pace increases, originally announced for Sept. 1 but delayed to coincide with the CTA's, include paratransit fares raised to a standard $3 charge, from $2.25 in Chicago and $2.50 in DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties. Metra has threatened to increase fares 10 to 15 percent starting in 2008.

To provide transit funding, a Senate bill calls for a 0.25 percent increase in the RTA sales tax collected in the six-county region and a new real estate transfer tax in Chicago.

The House Mass Transit Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the measure in the Thompson Center. Committee Chairwoman Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) said she expected that the committee would pass the measure, and that it would be voted on by the legislature on Sept. 4.

Hamos and other supporters said they were confident they would have votes to override a veto from Blagojevich, who has said he would not approve any increase in the sales tax.

rwronski@tribune.com