Pace

After months of warnings about the “fiscal cliff” facing transit agencies when COVID-19 relief money expires, Metra leaders provided a stark hypothetical Wednesday.

Funding for public transportation has become a top priority for some lawmakers over the past two years as transit agencies in Chicago area have sounded alarm bells on a looming financial crisis.

The new Dial-a-Ride. service boundary allows residents to travel anywhere in Will County and locations within one mile of the county border, plus parts of southern Cook County.

Pace hosted a family-friendly event in Joliet following the dedication of its bus terminal to former State Senator Larry Walsh.

The Kane County Committee of the Whole will discuss the future of public transit, as speakers will detail proposed legislation that would merge the CTA, Metra and Pace into a single agency.

Is the region ready for one supersized transit agency? You can learn more – and offer opinions – at a series of public hearings starting next week about combining Metra, Pace and the CTA.

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood presented Pace bus officials with a check for more than $800,000 for the purchase of a new electric bus for use on the express I-55 service to Chicago on Monday.

State lawmakers unveiled an ambitious plan to fold Metra, Pace and the CTA into one supersized agency that would replace the Regional Transportation Authority Monday.

The Joliet Regional Port District will receive $1,552,500 for the growing pilot flight training schools at Lewis University Airport.

The state and other stakeholders will resolve a looming $730 million annual shortfall facing Metra, Pace and the CTA in 2026, Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday.

It won’t be long now, relatively speaking, until the new train station is built in downtown Joliet.