Metra fights back against discrimination claims

Metra leaders on Wednesday denied the agency discriminates against minorities, in the wake of a class-action lawsuit that claims transit funding is inequitable.

"Everyone on the board and the management team strives every day to be inclusive as an organization and to reach out to all communities," Chairman Carole Doris said.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Chicago Transit Authority riders. It alleges that sales tax dollars distributed to the CTA, Metra and Pace are weighted in favor of wealthier, white suburban passengers who take the commuter train.

The state, Regional Transportation Authority and Metra are shortchanging predominantly poorer black and Hispanic CTA riders, lawsuit proponents contend.

Attorney Rafael Vargas said Wednesday that his clients stand by their contention that the transit funding system in Illinois punishes the CTA and amounts to a pattern of racial discrimination. More than 70 percent of Metra passengers are white while more than 60 percent of CTA users are black or Latino.

"Metra categorically denies that it has 'chosen to use ... funds in a discriminatory fashion,'" Doris said quoting from an allegation in the lawsuit. "Or that it has 'neglected vast swaths of minority areas where its trains speed past without stopping.'"

The lawsuit comes in the wake of expected cutbacks and layoffs by the CTA in February. The three transit agencies have been hit hard by a drop in sales tax revenues caused by the recession. Sales taxes and fares are the main source of funding for mass transit.

Metra is raising certain fares in February because of revenue shortfalls, and Doris said all three agencies are in the same boat.

"We need to make the budget pie bigger, rather than fighting over the same slice of the pie. We should not let this lawsuit divide us," she said.

The lawsuit claims that a transit funding scheme dating to 1983 allowed fare decreases for Metra riders and increases for CTA passengers. In addition, CTA funding dropped from 71 percent of the revenue pool distributed by the Regional Transportation Authority to 59 percent, although its passengers amount to 82 percent of the region's riders, according to the suit.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=349018">Metra denies claim of discrimination in funding <span class="date">[01/07/10]</span></a></li>

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