I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this - lowered Metra Electric Fares

[Trogdor]

Legally, the CTA is not supposed to be controlled by the mayor’s office. It is an independent (in theory) government agency created by the State of Illinois, and is tasked with transportation in Cook County beyond just the city of Chicago. Up until a few years ago, there were a couple of suburb-only bus routes, and if you consider that Howard Station is really on the border, you can add several other bus routes and two rail lines (not counting the rush hour Purple Express) that operate largely suburb-only.

 

[Deni]

It's puzzling until you follow the money. The CTA is controlled by the mayor's office. So even though it is a net win for the south side, the Mayor doesn't want her fiefdom affected. It's all fine to talk service improvements until someone loses a little money from the deal. I should note, this not implying corruption, it's just an old fashioned agency turf war.

To me that's why the RTA needs to become a real transit agency instead of some advisory board or system of revenue stream, or whatever it is RTA does, and pull everything under one system like MTA in NY or MBTA in Boston, etc. These transit systems should be coordinating, not competing. These turf wars are a blockade to having a modern and functional transit network.

 

[bretton88]

To me that's why the RTA needs to become a real transit agency instead of some advisory board or system of revenue stream, or whatever it is RTA does, and pull everything under one system like MTA in NY or MBTA in Boston, etc. These transit systems should be coordinating, not competing. These turf wars are a blockade to having a modern and functional transit network.

I've always thought that the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) is the best model to look to stateside. No internal divisions (like the MTA), everything is run as a single integrated unit.

 

[NorthShore]

The entire design of RTA was intended to balance city/suburban interests in the hopes that everyone would sort of play nice in order to get what their constituencies needed without trying to dismiss the other's needs.

But it's still just a political setup which doesn't actually serve the best interests of transit.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I'm actually glad that the RTA doesn't have the power of say Septa. Why you say? Because it would likely be dominated by suburban appointee's and legislators who would favor suburban services over the City. Now of course, the City of Chicago is rather more powerful than some other cities in their metro areas, but not all powerful. Of course improving suburban services wouldn't be a bad thing, but not at the expense of the CTA (which, as an aside, is more heavily bus focused than say the MTA - big swaths of the city of have no rail access at all) which also has huge needs.

Another aside, has anybody seen stats that CTA ridership on all modes is declining? I thought I had, but can't remember where.

 

[MikefromCrete]

The entire design of RTA was intended to balance city/suburban interests in the hopes that everyone would sort of play nice in order to get what their constituencies needed without trying to dismiss the other's needs.

But it's still just a political setup which doesn't actually serve the best interests of transit.

As a young journalist, I covered the beginings of the original RTA. One of the earlier controversies involved a plan that drastically raised suburban train fares while leaving CTA fares. The deciding vote was cast by a suburban board member from Evanston (which of course receives lots of CTA service.) Commuter train riders were up in arms about the fare hike and, in the case of the Illinois Central's suburban ridership, many groups began chartering private buses to protest the fare hikes. Eventually, the fare hikes were reduced and legislation was passed that established three semi-independent service agencies --- the CTA, Metra and Pace suburban bus service with the RTA as a financial overlord. Although criticized, it has worked to ensure that all transit riders are treated equally. Quite frankly, I think it is much better than SEPTA or MBTA where nobody seems to be happy.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I'm actually glad that the RTA doesn't have the power of say Septa. Why you say? Because it would likely be dominated by suburban appointee's and legislators who would favor suburban services over the City. Now of course, the City of Chicago is rather more powerful than some other cities in their metro areas, but not all powerful. Of course improving suburban services wouldn't be a bad thing, but not at the expense of the CTA (which, as an aside, is more heavily bus focused than say the MTA - big swaths of the city of have no rail access at all) which also has huge needs.

Another aside, has anybody seen stats that CTA ridership on all modes is declining? I thought I had, but can't remember where.

I was under the impression that while CTA bus ridership has dropped, rail ridership has remained steady and even increased on some routes The CTA bus drops have been largely attributed to Uber and Lyft.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I was under the impression that while CTA bus ridership has dropped, rail ridership has remained steady and even increased on some routes The CTA bus drops have been largely attributed to Uber and Lyft.

Yes, that's what I heard as well, I think the red, brown and blue (north legs of red and blue) are at capacity. Thanks for the refresh.