31st Street Bus receives 3rd most comments at RTA Hearings
31st Street Bus receives 3rd most comments at RTA Hearings
Bus service for 31st Street is Priority #3 for the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) , officials said Thursday at the October RTA Board meeting.
RTA’s Sr. Deputy Executive Director, Leanne Redden outlined RTA’s priorities as Chicago’s transit system faces massive budget shortfalls.
The first priority is to address Pace paratransit fares, services, and reservation hours. Pace is proposing to raise paratransit fares to $3 per ride across the region, discontinue the montly pass, and reduce reservation hours.
A second priority is to address the budget shortfalls at CTA and Pace. Both agencies are proposing to eliminate bus routes. Pace proposes eliminating 51 routes. CTA proposes eliminating routes, and raising fares as high as $3 a ride for trains and express bus routes.
The proposed CTA 31st Street Bus Route would be the most important RTA priority after budget issues for CTA and Pace service are resolved. The 31st Street Bus Route was originally proposed by to CTA by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) in 2008.
The route is a key to expanding bus service to neglected areas for the first time in 12 years. About 1.2 million riders are expected to use the 31st Street bus each year, says Joe Voccia, program manager at the RTA. About half of those riders are considered low-income, he says. The route would travel across the city using 31st Street. LVEJO is calling for the route to run to the lakefront to access jobs and attractions like the Museum Campus, Soldier Field and Park District facilities.
CTA won a Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) grant of about $1.1 million to cover half the cost of operating the route. CTA originally claimed to have matching funds to start the route. CTA now claims it does not have the other half, but the agency has failed to clarify how fares would be used to pay for the bus.
CTA buses run daily on 31st Street between California Avenue and Cicero Avenue, but they do not pick up riders. These buses pull in and out of the Archer garage to start service on 26th Street. But they don’t take a direct route there. Maybe CTA can reroute these buses and redirect the savings to starting the new route on 31st Street.
LVEJO is part of a national campaign – Transit Riders for Public Transportation (TRPT). TRPT calls on Congress to restore support for mass transit operations and make civil rights guarantees for transit spending. This would help transit agencies across the country which are facing fare increases, service cuts and frequency reductions.
Tags: 31st Street Bus, Adler Planetarium, CTA, Environmental Justice, fare hike, Field Museum, Job Access Reverse Commute, Little Village, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, LVEJO, LVLHS, McCormick Place, Museum Campus, Pace Paratransit, Public Transit, Regional Transportation Authority, RTA, Transit Riders for Public Transportation, Transporte publico, TRPT
To clarify, 31st Street Bus was the third most common topic at RTA’s preliminary budget hearings. Paratransit, service cuts and fare increases came before that.