Evanston officials, experts and activists believe the proposed consolidation of the three Chicago-area transit providers would benefit the city and the region – but they also warn it may not be enough to address some issues transit is facing.
The Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act, which was introduced in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly in late April, would replace CTA, Metra, Pace and the agency that currently oversees the three, the Regional Transportation Authority, with the single Metropolitan Mobility Authority.
It would inherit the transit agency’s responsibilities, employment contract and pension obligations, but it would also get new powers and responsibilities. Notably, the bill does away with the requirement that half of each transit agency’s operating budget must come from fare revenue (known as the “farebox recovery ratio”), which hasn’t been strictly enforced since the pandemic but remains on the books.
And with the agencies combined, there would no longer be strict formulas for how much state funding goes to commuter rail, how much goes to Chicago transit and how much goes to suburban buses.
Given that the current General Assembly session concludes at the end of May, the bill isn’t likely to be adopted any time soon. But discussions will probably continue as COVID federal stimulus funds, which help keep the transit agencies afloat as they continue to struggle to recover prepandemic ridership, are expected to run out in 2026.
Sarah FioRito, who signed on as Evanston’s Transportation and Mobility Coordinator last month, told the RoundTable that she was excited about the proposal’s potential to improve service, simplify fares and even lead to more innovation.
But Hani Mahmassani, director of the Northwestern University Transportation Center, argued it would be more of a mixed bag. While having one agency could improve planning, combining three very different services would create logistical issues, and may not truly address the issues transit providers everywhere are facing in a postpandemic world, he said.
Local representation
CTA mostly serves Chicago and nearby suburbs – though it is legally allowed to serve most of Cook County. Pace provides paratransit service across the entire Chicagoland region, but its fixed bus routes mostly serve the suburbs. Metra provides commuter service through the entire region, either directly or by contracting with freight railroads for the service. RTA acts as the overarching agency, signing off on the three transit agencies’ budgets, distributing federal funding and coordinating planning.
Like many suburbs near Chicago, Evanston gets service from all three agencies. Union Pacific North Metra Line and CTA’s Purple L line provide north-south service to major commercial corridors, and CTA and Pace buses collectively serve different parts of the city. While Pace and CTA use the same fare collection system and passes, allowing for easy transfers, integration with Metra has been hindered by the fact that the commuter rail uses zone-based fares.
FioRito said giving the new authority power to put money into bike- and scooter-sharing stations, which none of the transit agencies currently do, would be a welcome improvement.
Under the consolidation proposal, the new authority also would be allowed to spend money on “improvements to sidewalk and path networks, bicycle lanes, crosswalks, lighting and other improvements,” all of which currently falls to the municipalities, the county or the Illinois Department of Transportation.
FioRito believes that breaking down the silos with the three transit systems could “drastically improve” service throughout Evanston.
“To me, the biggest thing is the density of the network, how many services are part of the network, and also frequency of service,” she said. “Ideally, having efficiencies in the system is going to [improve service].”
In an emailed response to the RoundTable, Mahmassani said consolidation would have advantages and disadvantages.
Having one body do transit planning for the entire Chicago region would be more efficient and could produce better results, he said.
“Conceptually, the notion of a regional agency to plan and coordinate transit, and mobility services is recognized as the ‘right’ approach for a large metropolitan area,” Mahmassani wrote. “City and town boundaries in a large metropolitan area are artificial and arbitrary when it comes to how and where people travel, so it makes sense to plan and design networks and services at a regional or metropolitan level. “
But he cautioned that consolidation could lead to quality control issues. Mahmassani also pointed out that the three Chicago-area transit systems operate in different ways. For example, while CTA owns all the L trains and tracks, that’s only true with some Metra lines. Union Pacific North Line is currently transitioning from having the Union Pacific railroad run the trains under contract to having Metra operate the trains while retaining ownership of the tracks.
Scheduling hurdles
Scheduling is another potential stumbling block, Mahmassani said. CTA bus routes tend to have shorter headways (frequency of buses) than Pace bus routes, which means the drivers can’t be scheduled or managed the same way.
“While it would definitely be desirable to see more integrated transportation planning for the region, for all modes and services, I believe that combining the operational [delivery] aspects of the current services would create more problems than solutions,” he said.
Mahmassani also warned that the transit systems face issues that a merger wouldn’t solve.
“[There are systemic issues] that affect transit as a mode, for example due to loss in ridership associated with changing demand patterns (less focus on downtown commuting due to remote and hybrid work), competition from more convenient on- demand ridehail services, increasing cost of delivering service due to inflationary pressures, and general perception of decreased service quality – all of which suggest that the financial hole will only increase, requiring continuing and higher external investment,” he said.
Evanston resident Michael Kroll, a member of the Evanston Transit Alliance advocacy group, said he supports the proposal because it could improve coordination among the three systems. It’s an issue he runs into regularly while taking Pace’s Pulse Dempster service.
“Even though the increased service makes transfers easier, there are many anomalies trying to transfer between agencies,” Kroll said. “For example, when transferring from the Metra Union Pacific North line to the Pulse, it works during most of the day with trains getting into Davis [station] on the 55 [minute mark] and buses leaving on the hour for a pretty seamless five-minute transfer. But after 10 p.m., buses start leaving on the 55, the same time as the train gets in, making a transfer impossible. This is also when buses switch from 15-minute to 20-minute headways making the transfers take even longer.”
Transit boards appointed differently
Under current state law, each transit board has a different appointment process. Chicago Transit Board, which runs the CTA, has four directors appointed by the mayor of Chicago and three members appointed by the Illinois governor. For the Metra Board of Directors, Chicago mayors appoint one member, county boards of the collar counties appoint one member to represent each county, one member is appointed by the county boards, and four members are appointed by the members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners whose districts wholly or in part include suburban Cook County.
The RTA Act splits suburban Cook County into four regions based on townships. Evanston is part of the region that also includes New Trier, Northfield, Maine and Niles townships, as well as northwest suburban Norwood Park and Leyden townships and west suburban Oak Park and River Forest.
The directors for each region are selected by county commissioners whose districts fall wholly or partially within the region, but their vote is weighted based on how many registered voters within their county district fall within that region. In other words, the more of the district is in their region, the more their vote is worth. Under the current Cook County Board map, this means commissioner Josena Morita (13th), whose district includes Evanston, and commissioners Scott Britton (14th) and Maggie Trevor (9th) get to weigh in, with commissioners Bridget Gainer (10th) and Tara Stamps (1st) controlling a small percentage of the votes.
The Pace Board of Directors has a similar setup as the Metra: one member is appointed by the chief executive of each collar county and six members are appointed by the suburban members of the Cook County Board. Those directors have to be current or retired chief executives (i.e., mayors or village presidents) of a municipality within their county. Chicago is represented by whoever serves as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities at the time. The chair is elected by the majority of collar county board chairs and suburban Cook County commissioners.
The RTA Act sets up six Cook County suburban regions for the Pace board. Evanston is part of the region that mostly includes all North Shore suburbs east of Milwaukee Avenue. The act states that appointments are made by suburban county commissioners, but it makes no reference to weighted votes.
While the CTA board’s balance of power is tilted toward Chicago, and Metra and Pace’s boards balance power between Cook County and the collar counties, the RTA Board of Directors is more of a balancing act for all three. There are 15 board members, plus the chair who is elected by the rest of the board. The Chicago mayor appoints five members, the suburban Cook County commissioners appoint four and the heads of all six county boards appoint one each.
The Metropolitan Mobility Authority proposal takes cues from all four. Five directors would be appointed by Chicago’s mayor, five by the Illinois governor, five by the Cook County Board president and each collar county chief executive would appoint one. But Cook County commissioners would have no role.
The RoundTable reached out to Morita for her perspective on this change, and the proposed consolidation in general, but didn’t receive a response by deadline.
Transit experts weigh in on proposed RTA replacement is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.