A reluctant 'no' vote on RTA bailout
There's no pleasure in recommending, as we do here, that the RTA board vote "no" today on a bailout offer from Gov. Rod Blagojevich to avoid a Chicago-area transit crisis.
Make no mistake. If the Regional Transportation Authority rejects the governor's $37 million offer, CTA authorities will proceed Sunday with deep service cuts and fare increases. Pace, the suburban bus service, will immediately cut some routes and, in October, will boost its fares.
The result will be a mess. City and suburban residents who prefer transit will have to drive, snarling expressways. Those who rely entirely on transit will have trouble getting to work at all. Longer commute times, frayed tempers, employee tardiness and diminished productivity will be the rule, creating -- for a while -- a negative ripple through the region's economy.
Why then, given that painful scenario, should RTA board members vote "no" when they convene this morning, especially after the governor sweetened the pot Thursday by offering some money for Pace and Metra as well as the CTA?
Because the governor's offer, well-meaning though it is, fails to solve fundamental transit problems and actually could make matters worse within a few months.
In essence, the governor is offering the CTA an advance on money it would receive next year if state legislators approve a new transit funding plan by then. But if lawmakers do not act, then the governor's lifeline simply postpones CTA and Pace "doomsday" service cuts and fare hikes for a couple of months. At which time the CTA could find itself in an even deeper hole.
RTA Chairman Jim Reilly got it right when he expressed gratitude for Blagojevich's offer, but added: "On its face, the proposal averts an immediate crisis, but may create an even greater problem in the coming months. Given the current political dynamic in Springfield, the RTA has to decide whether it is prudent to ‘hope' legislative leaders and the governor will act to place the regional transit system on sound, permanent footing."
That is precisely the question facing the RTA board, and the best evidence -- while inconclusive -- is that a prudent board should not bank on the Legislature and governor coming to terms on a long-term solution.
That best-available long-term answer lies in a measure carefully crafted by state Rep. Julia Hamos, an Evanston Democrat. Hamos has linked the operating cash that all three service agencies need to reform measures and tighter RTA oversight of the CTA that must be part of any responsible delivery of money to the CTA.
When they vote today, RTA board members must keep in mind that Hamos' bill has gained little traction in Springfield. That, in no small measure, is because Blagojevich has vowed to veto the Chicago-area sales-tax increase that would provide the needed revenue.
So, while the governor is trying to head off transportation chaos, his efforts rely heavily on lawmakers adopting a comprehensive reform-and-funding measure that he opposes. If anything positive could emerge from the looming mess, it would be legislators finding the resolve to band together in giving veto-proof bipartisan backing to Hamos' long-term solution.