Keep thinking bigger.
On May 1, I wrote about plans to create a Metropolitan Mobility Authority, which some leaders suggest as a solution to the looming financial challenges of Metra, Pace and especially the CTA. Rather than just consider solutions for the six counties where most Illinoisans live, I suggested considering public transportation needs in all of Illinois, writing:
“Not every Illinoisian can afford or drive a car. Many people rely on family members to get them to and from work or medical appointments or to run basic errands. Clearly, population density, transportation infrastructure and other factors vary widely by ZIP code, but all the existing state agencies – and there are many – navigate in the same cloudy water.”
As such, I felt a little validation reading Capitol News Illinois’ recap of Tuesday’s Senate Transportation Committee meeting with leaders of several downstate transit agencies. It was the final of six statewide hearings that started in July and one that finally provided meaningful attention to challenges many suburban and city-based lawmakers don’t often encounter.
Karl Gnadt, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, said his agency is trying to expand to meet rider demand but realizing state support – 65% of annual costs – may not stretch as far as needed. Sara Nollman-Hodge, leader of the South Central Illinois Mass Transit District, explained that most of her agency’s clients aren’t using public transportation for convenience but for necessity.
David Braun, who runs Normal-based Connect Transit, spoke to the confluence of those realities: “People that have become dependent on us have chosen where to live based on the service we provide and if we start pulling back service, if we have to contract – and all of us will have to contract to be below what the downstate operating fund can provide – then that will suppress the growth of our communities, it will suppress residential building, it just becomes a chilling effect all through downstate.”
CNI quoted two officials who get it: Sen. Don DeWitt, R-St. Charles, who believes Illinois has to prioritize the issue statewide, and Committee Chairman Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, who repeated a favorite talking point: “No funding without reform.”
No idea should be off the table. Think beyond trains and large fixed-route buses to paratransit and potentially even subsidized taxi service. Explore how community planning and civil engineering might evolve to increase the efficiency of public transportation. Are there ways to incentivize private businesses, especially in the medical sector, to adapt in ways that best serve patrons who can’t simply drive themselves?
People are exploring these ideas. But there remains too much focus on the city-suburb struggle, both as a region and internally, to feel confident we’ll reach solutions that better serve all Illinoisans.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X, @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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