An anonymous questioner asks the following.
What is the long-term policy to keep the transit system afloat? Is there a way to build a transit system similar to Europe, where it will help the environment and reduce single-occupant car trips?
As for keeping the current system afloat, the recently-passed House Bill 656 creates a revenue stream that will adequately cover operating expenses for some time. This, however, does not provide for “capital” investments in infrastructure, including new trains and buses, improvements in the tracks, new train lines, and maintenance of existing structures. It appears likely that a major capital bill will be on the table in the 2008 legislative session; I believe this is necessary, and I urge legislators to make sure that we get a capital bill which directs needed investment toward mass transit.
Unfortunately, no capital bill we pass in the coming year will address the second question. The Chicago region is laid out in a manner somewhere between the style of European (and East coast U.S.) cities on the one hand, and West coast U.S. cities on the other. That is, our region is more diffusely spread out than, say, New York or London, and this makes the establishment of a transit system that rivals those two cities’ in comprehensiveness quite challenging. In order to achieve this goal, we need to be vigilant in encouraging transit-based development, and we need to begin laying the groundwork for a much more ambitious rail system.
Unfortunately, our legislators, who are so often focused on yesterday and today rather than tomorrow, next year, and 25 years from now, have been unreliable on this issue. This lack of long-term vision among our leaders has everything to do with my desire to run for office. I would hope to bring a progressive problem-solving perspective to Springfield so that we can tackle these issues and plan for a better future.
