RTA gets more clout with funding package

When state lawmakers handed public transit agencies extra operating cash in January, they gave the Regional Transportation Authority something equally valuable -- power.

Under the new transit legislation, the RTA now is authorized to require the budgets of the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace be consistent with its long-range strategic plan for the region.

Also, the three transit agencies must comply with any RTA requests for information in a timely fashion.

If such mandates sound like no-brainers, RTA Executive Director Stephen Schlickman explained, "It's not been that easy to get information out of the service boards in the past."

"There needs to be consequences if we don't get cooperation," Schlickman told an audience during a Union League Club of Chicago event Tuesday morning in downtown Chicago.

Such consequences could include withholding funding from the CTA, Metra or Pace.

The General Assembly in January agreed to raise the sales tax in the collar counties along with instituting reforms in CTA pension and health-care benefits and expansion of the RTA's powers. The sales tax will generate about $500 million more a year.

One transit agency thinks the changes will result in better regional planning.

"If we improve coordination we can also present a united front when we apply for federal funding," Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said. "I see opportunities from a planning perspective."

But although the legislation empowered the agency, it's still at the mercy of Springfield when it comes to funding for capital improvement projects.

RTA Chairman Jim Reilly told Union League members that additional operating funds from the new sales tax are significant gains but lawmakers need to pass a capital bill.

At stake are projects aimed at reducing traffic congestion such as the STAR line that would allow for travel from suburb to suburb, bus rapid transit and the Circle Line, which would connect CTA lines and Metra links.

"Without sufficient capital, we won't be able to do this and our operating funds will start getting consumed," Reilly said.

"Without sufficient investment, the Circle Line, the STAR line and bus rapid transit … you can forget them."

Whether such arguments will work in Springfield, however, are uncertain. The sales tax increase passed narrowly and with an election in November, more funding for transit is problematic, RTA leaders admitted.