Our Chicago: The New Northern Illinois Transit Authority and Changes For Public Transit
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Starting Tuesday, Sept.1, a big change is coming to public transit in the Chicago area.
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The Regional Transportation Authority will be replaced with the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, overseeing the CTA, Pace and Metra.
Its creation was part of legislation passed last year in Springfield to fund and reform public transit. Lester Barclay is the chairman of the CTA board and he'll be a member of the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority board.
"It simply means that we're going to move towards regionalization of public transportation. So, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority will be the umbrella for CTA, Metra and Pace," Barclay said.
He says the daily operations won't change.
"The same operators that operate the trains and buses will be there. But what will change is the governance structure, that there will be oversight and regionalization working in coordination with all of the agencies working together," Barclay said.
All three public transit agencies CTA, Pace and Metra were facing a fiscal cliff when this legislation was passed. Then the General Assembly provided $1.5 billion in funding for public transportation to move forward.
"We're able to sustain the future of public transportation in the area," Barclay adds. "Public transportation is essential to the backbone of the economy here in Chicago and the region. And so, I think that the legislature knows that, understands that and took it upon themselves to entrust these tax dollars in the hands of NITA to basically move forward and regionalize public transportation."
As for riders, he says they won't see any immediate increase in fares. But what they will see, he says, are CTA, Pace and Metra working in sync.
"One of the goals that we have is to have a fare card so that everyone can basically go from Metra, Pace, CTA and that's one of the goals here. Instead of having to pay a double fare to ride another transit authority's transportation, you can basically go from one to the other," he said.
Beyond that, Barclay lays out what he hopes riders experience.
"We're hoping that they're going to see better frequency in terms of buses and trains. We're hoping they're going to see a greater sense of security and safety. We're hoping that they're going to see cleanliness. These are all things that we are working towards those goals."
