RTA chairman on agency’s piece of pie from Pritzker’s capital plan: It’s great, but not enough

An infusion of $2.8 billion to Chicago-area mass transit agencies — to be doled out over six years under a capital plan proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker — is great, but not enough, a top transit official said this week.

The CTA, Pace and Metra need that much on a yearly basis, Kirk Dillard, head of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the three transit agencies, said Monday.

The way the money is being generated — by selling state bonds— will not provide the stable footing the three transit agencies need for longterm planning and investment, RTA officials quickly noted as they perused an outline of Pritzker’s plan that was released over the weekend.

Standing in contrast to this are a litany of proposed new, vehicle-related taxes that will help produce $23 billion for roads and bridge projects and presumably keep bearing fruit beyond the scope of the six-year capital plan.

”If we make it more expensive to drive and we don’t fund transit at the same time, I think it’s unfair to the working people of the state of Illinois,” Dillard said during a speech at the City Club of Chicago. “You’ve got to give them freedom of movement.”

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Messages left with a spokeswoman for Pritzker were not returned Tuesday.

Dillard said he and other RTA staffers would return to Springfield this week to argue the case with lawmakers, who hope to finalize the matter before the legislative session ends May 31.

Metra, Pace and the CTA each have laundry lists of costly immediate and long-term needs.

Jesse Elam, executive director of policy and planning for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, quickly ticked off a number of priorities each group has.

Metra could use new coach cars. “I used to joke that a lot of the coaches on the Metra system were eligible for Medicare,” he said.

Pace, he said, could use new and expanded garage facilities, the lack of which hamper operations.

And the CTA needs to repair crumbling viaducts, invest in updating maintenance facilities and find more money to pay for modernization projects on several rail lines.