Ted Dombrowski Says Mass Transit Law “Fleeces” Taxpayers

From the campaign of Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ted Dombrowski:

Once again, Gov. Pritzker and lawmakers are throwing Illinoisans under the bus…and under the train. The mass transit bill Pritzker just signed bails out a corrupt and bloated system at the expense of taxpayers across the state. The ridership of Chicago’s public transit systems – the CTA, Metra, and Pace – are still down significantly compared to 2019, yet lawmakers didn’t demand any right-sizing or cuts. Instead, they’re bailing out the inefficient systems with nearly $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars a year. Ridership on Chicago Transit Authority trains and buses is still down 30% compared to pre-covid levels, yet the number of miles those vehicles are traveling is at record levels. A t the same time, the CTA’s budget has soared from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion annually.

The new law hurts downstate Illinoisans and Chicagoans alike.

Downstate residents will lose out on transportation funding as hundreds of millions in Illinois’ Road Fund will now be diverted to the Chicago transit agencies.

The bill also makes Chicago more unaffordable.

The sales tax on the Chicago-area residents will rise 0.25%.

With that hike, Chicagoans will pay a combined sales tax of 10.5%, the absolute highest rate among major cities.

And as you would expect, the law creates a new bureaucracy – the Northern Illinois Transit Authority – which will be entirely under the thumb of Chicago and Cook County Democrats.

Five members appointed by the governor, five by the Chicago mayor, five by the Cook County chair, and one each from the five collar counties.

That was the headline on a Washington Post editorial this week.

True, but state lawmakers are the enablers.

For Chicago transit, as with so many other matters, our political class has simply patched over problems by shunning reforms and fleecing taxpayers.

The starting point for lawmakers should be to right-size the scale of operations with the systems’ true ridership.

They should force transit officials to obsess about efficiency, safety and customer satisfaction before the agencies ask Illinoisans for another dime.

Quality public transit is essential for any big city, but operations should fit today’s ridership reality.

And common-sense cost-cutting shouldn’t be ignored when clearly needed.

As your governor, I’ll put taxpayers first.