Northeastern Illinois Transit Task Force
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No Surprise: International Report Says Region’s Transit Not Up to Par
Last month, a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development validated what Chicago researchers, a task force convened by the governor, and millions of customers have all said for years: Transit in Chicagoland is fragmented, inefficient, and far from adequate to serve the region's transportation needs. The OECD, a "club of rich countries" that counts the United States among its 34 members, collects data and publishes research that countries and local organizations can use to understand their economies.
October 6, 2014
Metra Can Follow Toronto’s Lead and Run All-Day, Frequent Service
Toronto's suburban commuter rail service, GO Transit, used to run its trains on a schedule that would seem familiar to Metra riders -- bringing commuters from the suburbs in by 9 a.m. and shuttling them from the city after 5 p.m. Last year, though, it launched a new schedule that doubled mid-day frequencies on its two Lakeshore rail lines, from once per hour to every 30 minutes, "turning GO from a bedroom commuter service into full, regular transit," said Ontario transportation minister Glen Murray. Their reward: a 30 percent increase in ridership on those lines in a year's time.
August 1, 2014
Regional Transit Needs New Funding to Meet $20 Billion Backlog
Transit systems in Northeastern Illinois face a $20 billion maintenance backlog. Now the question is how to pay for it.
April 2, 2014
Final State Task Force Report Dives Into Transit Reform Details
Governor Pat Quinn’s northeastern Illinois task force released its final report [PDF] yesterday, detailing recommendations from its mid-March draft. The task force launched last year, after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford resigned to protest the commuter rail operator's long-running patronage culture.
April 1, 2014
A Clearer, More Concise Regional Transit Proposal From Senator Biss
At least one Illinois legislator supports a unified transit agency, even though RTA board chairman John Gates and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have declared their opposition.
March 20, 2014
Emanuel, CTA President Come Out Against Unified Regional Transit Agency
The transit task force Governor Pat Quinn convened last year after the Metra governance scandal continues to discuss the merits of a single transit authority to replace the Regional Transportation Authority and absorb Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace. Count Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTA President Forrest Claypool among the opponents of that idea.
March 18, 2014
More State Control Over Chicagoland Transit Is a Bad Idea
On Tuesday, the Northeastern Public Transit Task Force, created after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford's abrupt resignation and the ensuing severance package scandal last summer, issued four different options for restructuring regional transit governance [PDF]. While there's a lot of variation among the four options, they would all hand more power to the governor. This is the wrong direction to take.
March 13, 2014
To Grow Transit Ridership, Chicagoland Needs to Build Near Transit
Testifying before the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force Friday, the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Peter Skosey argued that the region could significantly increase transit ridership by encouraging jobs and development near existing stations.
March 4, 2014
Transit Gets Shortchanged in Chicagoland, Stifling the Region’s Economy
The Chicagoland region "underspends on transit operations and capital" compared to peer cities, and the "region's economic competitiveness will suffer" as a result, according to a recent analysis by the Metropolitan Planning Council [PDF]. The report takes a look at Metra, the CTA, and Pace as a collective system, comparing it to transit networks in 17 other regions.
February 5, 2014