Major service cuts on Metra, CTA, Pace possible if $771M budget shortfall not solved: RTA

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Public transportation in Chicago is in jeopardy, if a $771 million budget shortfall isn't solved, the Regional Transportation Authority said Friday.

"There's going to be devastating cuts across all three operators," RTA Director Leanne Redden said.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The RTA said at least four of eight CTA train lines would be reduced or eliminated next year. Bus service would also be affected.

Services on Metra and Pace could also be slashed.

CTA would go from one of the largest transit systems in the country to having fewer bus routes than Madison, Wisconsin and Kansas City, a news release from RTA said.

Metra would have a 40 percent reduction in service, the RTA said. Early morning and late evening trains would be eliminated, weekday trains would run only once per hour and weekend trains just once every two hours, officials said.

Transit-dependent suburban riders using Pace would be among the hardest hit, RTA said. All weekend bus service could be eliminated.

"If we end up cutting or having this massive fiscal cliff come crashing down and making our system even worse, and less accessible and less useful and reasonable to work out for people, this is going to be a massive problem," Metra and CTA rider Doug Fowler said.

The service cuts would also come with massive job and economic losses, the RTA said.

RELATED: CTA's Frequent Network: Program to cut bus wait times to less than 10 minutes for some routes

"None of us want a future where transit cuts mean a nurse can't reach their patients or a warehouse worker in Joliet can't afford to get to their job," RTA Board Chairman Kirk Dillard said in a statement. "Public transit is an economic necessity. If these cuts happen, Illinois' entire economy will suffer."

The RTA is calling on the state legislature to approve funding by the end of this legislative session.

The RTA is calling for an additional $1.5 billion investment to improve the system.

It's something the president of the Chicago Loop Alliance would also like to see.

"We should have a world-class system, at least stations that are clean and open and operable, all the escalators work," Chicago Loop Alliance CEO and CTA rider Michael Edwards said.

Joe Ferguson, with the Civic Federation, believes the bigger solution would be to consolidate the four entities, the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace, to integrate operations and eliminate inefficiencies, with proper oversight.

"We all know this is not working well, and we all know it's going to require a whole lot more money just to sustain the not so well working," Ferguson said. "There shouldn't be any more money without real governance reform. And governance reform is needed simply on the basis of how we know the system is operating right now, which is not well."

Assistant Majority Leader Eva-Dina Delgado, who co-chairs the House Democrats' Transit Working Group said in part, "We cannot throw money at this problem and address this fiscal crisis without reforms to address a lack of connectivity and declining safety on our most trafficked routes."

Redden said a mega-merger would not be to the transit system's benefit.

"They're very different operations. So, it doesn't really make a lot of sense, and it's not necessarily a lot of synergy to merge a commuter rail with the suburban bus operator," Redden said.

This budget cycle ends May 31. So, lawmakers have 10 weeks to figure this out.