RTA Funding Restructuring Update
RTA, Pace and CTA have worked hard to draft a new ADA Paratransit plan for the region. The plan will be submitted to the FTA in January and will include a summary of the public's comments on the plan and the RTA's response.
Jay M. Ciavarella
Program Manager, Regional Services
Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)
175 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1550
Chicago, Illinois 60604
http://www.rtachicago.com
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The State of Illinois has agreed to fund the paratransit program for users with disabilities. This infusion of new funds will cover a substantial portion of CTA's deficit this fiscal year; Pace will also benefit from this budget provision. The Illinois House also directed the Illinois Auditor General (HR0479) to report to the General Assembly on CTA's financial status.
Rep. Julie Hamos' Mass Transit Committee began a preliminary review of the adequacy of the RTA funding formula during this session. Although the immediate threat to the CTA has been averted, the task remains to find long-term structural solutions to the funding problem. Rep. Hamos provides a testimony and reports from her committee's work at her web site: http://www.juliehamos.org/transit.
Rep. Hamos pledged at CTAQC's Spring Legislative Forum to spend the next 18 months working with all sectors of the region to upgrade the transit funding formula. Her fact sheets (page 1 as a pdf, page 2 as a pdf.) clearly illustrate the need to revisit the 1983 RTA funding formula. Paratransit is just one of many dynamics that have changed since the formula was developed 23 years ago.
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