The Chicago Tribune headline today pretty much confirms the reason the Regional Transportation Authority was created in 1974:
Back in 1974 CTA Director Milton Pikarsky said passage of the RTA referendum was needed in order to keep Chicago Transit Authority trains running through the night.
A similar income transfer scheme is now being advanced to justify hiking taxes on suburbanites and Downstaters.
The article quotes an RTA memo:
“This year’s approach reflects a one-time allocation method proposed only for 2026 This deviation is mainly to allow time for the Illinois General Assembly to act on long-term sustainable funding for transit in the Chicago region that averts the impending fiscal cliff.”
Continuing the reporter writes, “If board members approve the measure, the CTA would receive all of the RTA’s discretionary funding in 2026, and Metra and Pace would receive none.”
Metra and Pace rolled over and played dead.
