Update: Metra officials this morning approved fare hikes for riders but scaled back proposed increases for Chicago riders after residents and others complained.
Update: Metra officials this morning approved fare hikes for riders but scaled back proposed increases for Chicago riders after residents and others complained.
Public transportation riders in Chicago got a reprieve from Springfield this week, as legislators gave the Regional Transportation Authority the ability to borrow more money to bridge a $260 million gap in payments from the state.
A bill passed Monday by the Illinois legislature allows the RTA to borrow as much as $400 million in “working cash” to cover its debts — a feat that will mostly be used to stave off the threat of cuts to CTA, Metra and Pace while the state struggles to pay up.
While the RTA has been calling for leeway to borrow more cash since it revealed the state’s non-payment came out earlier this year, it’s not a cure-all by any means, officials said. Instead, it’s a tool they’ll use to put off paying back the money they already borrowed. Read more...
The overseer of Chicagoland public transit, Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Stephen Schlickman, announced today that he will step down this October at the end of a tumultuous five years.
As head of the agency that oversees and provides funding to the CTA, Metra and Pace, Schlickman was the most powerful full-time staff member at the RTA.
Since he took the post in 2005, he oversaw multiple “doomsday” scenarios as the RTA’s subsidiaries struggled to balance their budgets — including another that may rear its head before he’s out the door. Read more...
