Chicago Area Residents Support CTA, Metra, Pace Merger Proposal, Poll Finds

CHICAGO – New findings from an Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition poll show that a majority of Chicago-area voters support merging the CTA, Metra and Pace under a single agency.

In September, the Illinois Clean Jobs Network worked with research firm Global Strategy Group to survey 600 Illinois residents who said they were likely to vote in the 2024 general election. According to a report released Wednesday, 54% of respondents who live in Chicago said they supported the merger, with 27% opposing it.

The research comes as some state lawmakers and transportation groups are pushing for the CTA to be merged with Metra and Pace under the Regional Transportation Agency, hoping it could save money and better address long-standing problems with reliability, cleanliness and safety on CTA buses and trains. Agency leaders backed away from the merger proposal.

Overall, 46 percent of respondents said they supported the merger of the three transit agencies, 33 percent said they did not know whether they supported the merger and 21 percent said they opposed the merger.

Of respondents living in a Cook County suburb, 49% supported the merger and 21% opposed it. Among respondents living in one of Cook County’s five border counties, 53% supported the merger and 19% opposed it.

In April, state lawmakers introduced legislation that would establish a regional transportation authority called the Metropolitan Mobility Authority to merge the individual transportation agencies.

The legislation is part of a package that would also create an additional $1.5 billion in annual transit operating funding. It is sponsored by Senator Ram Villivalam and Representative Eva-Dina Delgado and supported by the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.

Proponents of the merger say it will help resolve the looming financial problems of the CTA, Metra and Pace. Starting in 2026, the three agencies will face a collective $730 million fiscal cliff, which is largely the result of a drop in fare revenue and the depletion of federal pandemic aid, according to Block Club reports. .

The merger would save up to $250 million in duplicated efforts, according to a news release from Illinois Clean Jobs. It could also help transit agencies get more funding from the state, according to the news release.

“When you hear that an overwhelming majority of voters in Chicago, Cook County and the collar counties support unifying these four agencies into one, it means that voters are not buying the cynical arguments that try to put these three regions together. against the others. Making public transportation cleaner, safer and more frequent is what riders and taxpayers want, not the current system that impedes regional connectivity,” said Rep. Mary Beth Canty in a press release Wednesday.

During a press conference Wednesday, W. Robert Shultz III, campaign organizer for the Active Transportation Alliance, said “the state of Illinois has been fantasizing about funding public transportation for years.”

“We need more frequent and reliable transit to attract more riders and make the system work for everyone,” said Schultz, of Belmont Cragin.

According to survey results from Illinois Clean Jobs, 48% of respondents living in Chicago said the CTA was “unfavorable.”

During Wednesday’s press conference, Delgado said the merger would allow the three transit agencies to provide “seamless applications, perfect schedules and fares.”

“While states like Pennsylvania and Massachusetts fund 40-50 percent of transit, Illinois only funds 17 percent, which is just one reason why the CTA and Metra are so far behind other systems in restoring the service after the pandemic. The first step to increasing state funding is to unify the four transit agencies into a system that saves taxpayers money and provides better services,” Delgado said in the press release.

CTA spokesperson Manny Gonzales previously told Block Club that the agency has not had sufficient funding for decades.

“Under the current formula, sales tax revenues are divided among the three Service Boards based on geographic boundaries and retail sales, not ridership, service levels and other performance-based criteria,” Gonzalez said. .

This system has resulted in the CTA receiving 49% of regional public transportation funding but providing more than 80% of all regional travel, Gonzales said.

Kirk Dillard, chairman of the RTA board, previously told Block Club that any significant transit reform must come with “the necessary funding.”

The RTA has asked lawmakers to eliminate the farebox recovery ratio, which mandates that up to 50 percent of operating budgets come from passenger payments.

Delgado said state lawmakers have said there will be no new transit revenue unless there is “real reform.”

On Wednesday morning, the CTA, Metra, Pace and the RTA presented their proposed 2025 budgets to the Cook County Transportation Committee.

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