From Stte Rep. Marty McLaughlin:
All Aboard? Mass Transit in a Work-from-Home Era
The recent $1.5 billion increase in mass transit investment may no longer be the best use of our public resources.
Looking at the data, it’s clear that increased spending has not translated into higher ridership—quite the opposite.
Despite billions in new investment, fewer people are using buses and trains today than before.
We need to ask why.
If mass transit were a private airline, management would have already adjusted—cutting unprofitable routes, changing schedules, and parking underused vehicles.
But public transit doesn’t operate that way.
Instead, taxpayers continue to fund empty buses and trains in the hope that riders will someday return.
What if they don’t?
The reality is that the work dynamic in America has permanently shifted.
Hybrid and remote work have reduced commuting demand, while safety concerns have many suburbanites staying away from downtown Chicago.
Yet our transit systems continue to run as if it were still 2019, ignoring this new reality—and costing all of us billions of dollars.
Take a look the next time an RTA, Pace, or CTA bus passes by.
You’ll likely see only a handful of passengers, particularly on suburban routes.
At that point, we have to ask: would it be more efficient—and better for riders—to provide publicly funded Uber or Lyft rides instead of running near-empty buses? [Emphasis added. This was first suggested by County Board member Nick Provenzano,]
Commercial occupancy in Chicago and the suburbs is down 35–50%.
That decline directly affects ridership.
Refusing to acknowledge this fact hurts Illinois taxpayers, who remain on the hook for a system that operates as if nothing has changed.
Transit serves a public good when there is demand for it.
But when the need diminishes, we must rethink our routes, rates, and resources.
Otherwise, we risk pouring money into a system that serves far fewer people while draining funds that could be used elsewhere.
It’s time to have an honest conversation about what public transit should look like in a post-pandemic world—and how we can make it sustainable for the realities of today.
