Public transit riders, workers, and advocates showed up in force for Saturday's Save Transit Rally at Daley Plaza, calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill to address Chicagoland's looming $771 million transit fiscal cliff. They demanded a special legislative session in Springfield this summer to prevent a projected 40 percent cut in service and some 3,000 layoffs, similar to what's currently happening in Philadelphia.
Sponsors of the event included Better Streets Chicago, Access Living, Active Transportation Alliance, Chicago Teacher’s Union, JCUA, Abundant Housing Illinois, Sunrise Chicago, and others.
At noon, the Picasso sculpture-adorned plaza was filled with hundreds of protesters, many holding slogans with compelling and/or funny slogans. "Chicago Thrives with Access," said one. "The only ones getting pink slips should be our legislators. Do your job!" said another. "Think traffic sucks now? Wait until mass transit collapses," said a third.
Better Streets Chicago's Executive Director Kyle Lucas kicked off the demonstration. "For decades, the State of Illinois has underfunded public transit," he said, noting that while the CTA is one of the nation's largest transit systems, Springfield only covers 17 percent of operating revenue. Meanwhile, peer cities have much higher percentages of state funding, such as New York (28 percent) and Boston (44). If theses states can do that, he argued, "so can the state of Illinois."
"We have been talking about this crisis for years," Lucas continued. "We knew it was coming, and our state legislators have had the mandate they need to pass funding to save public transit. And this spring, they failed. They didn't get it done, and so because they didn't pass funding by May 31, CTA pace and Metra have now started planning for a $[771] million fiscal cliff."
Next, Lucas talked about what 40 percent service cuts would mean. The CTA has said this would require cutting 74 bus routes, 60 percent of all bus lines, giving Chicago fewer routes than Madison, WI, or Kansas City, MO. Metra trains would at most run hourly, and not at night or on weekends. Pace buses would also only operate every hour, with an 8 pm cutoff and no weekend service. In addition, paratransit sevice would be slashed by two-thirds on Saturdays and Sundays. A recurring chant throughout the rally, which started at this point, was "Public transit, public good."
"I am committed to fighting alongside each and every one of you in this battle," said sustainable transportation-friendly Ald. Matt Martin (47th) at the rally. "We've got a lot of great champions in the General Assembly who are working to get this done. [While the bill passed in] the Senate, we weren't quite able to get that done in the House. So that means every single person here should reach out to that state rep, that state senator. If they are supporting this, say 'thank you,' and if they're not, saying, 'What can we do to support you, to get you to a yes?'"
The last speaker was Equiticity's Director of Advocacy and Movement Building Jose Manuel Almanza. He told the crowd that on May 29, he attended the transit town hall: The Future of Western Avenue in Chicago's McKinley Park with residents from all over the city. (Read more about the proposal for bus rapid transit on Western here.) Residents envisioned a network of buses that come when you need them, stops that feel safe to wait at, and service that connects neighborhoods. Two days later in Springfield lawmakers left their spring legislative session without passing a transit funding bill.
"But we have a solution," Almanza said. "It's right in front of us. The Transit is Essential Bill would secure $1.5 billion dollars in funding reforms that could modernize our system and make it easier to ride, a commitment to build bus rapid transit, improve Metra, and CTA connections that make the service more reliable. It's that easy, and above all we have the will of the people. Riders are not passive. We are ready to fight for the system our communities deserve."
"And to all of our elected officials, come back to the table, finish the job, pass the funding bill," Almanza said. "Show us and all community members that public input matters, show us that you believe public transit is a public good, because this fight isn't just about buses and trains. It's about whether working people have a shot at dignity, whether a student can get to class, whether an elder can make it to a doctor's appointment, whether a parent can get home to their kids. Let's build a system that shows up just like we do."
After the speeches, rally attendee Dylan Burnett told Streetsblog she's a married mother of two who lives in Portage Park, and her whole family relies on public transportation. When she worked in an office, she would get there on the CTA. Her husband takes the bus to work, and her oldest daughter takes the Blue Line to high school.
Burnett said the protest was effective in showing that voters care strongly about this issue. "We had to get out there and do something, because it's kind of ridiculous that we haven't had a special session called," she said. "It's sort of unbelievable to me that [decision-makers are] willing to gamble with the future of our transit when we're one of the biggest cities in the country and we want people to visit our Chicago. We want people to come and spend money here, and to not give people a way to get around reliably – it doesn't make any sense to me."
The presentation was followed by a march to Gov. JB Pritzker's Chicago offices. Before departing, the organizers urged residents to contact their state representatives to ask them to hold the special legislative session and pass the transit reform and funding bill. Better Streets has an online form you can use for this on its website.
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