Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Jack Lavin, spoke before the Illinois Senate Committee on Transportation, which held a subject matter hearing on the significance of mass transit to the economy. Ensuring that our region’s mass transit system is modern, equitable, and responsive to the needs of its businesses and residents is essential to making sure Chicago remains a world class city. However, as calls for more funding and increased taxes continue to be discussed as fiscal cliffs loom, the Chamber urges local and State leaders to put reforms in place before new revenues are proposed.

Lavin’s Testimony

“The Chicagoland Chamber represents over 1,000 businesses of every size and from every sector across Chicago, Cook, and the Collar Counties. On behalf of this diverse membership, I am here before you today to stress the critical role and importance our region’s public transit system plays in our regional economy.

“I was honored to serve as a representative of the business community on the Plan of Action for Regional Transit (PART) Steering Committee and I first to want to express our gratitude and thanks to Chair Villivalam and Spokesperson DeWitte along with Representatives Delgado and Buckner in the House for their leadership on this critical topic. I also want to extend our gratitude to CMAP for organizing the PART Steering Committee and their report.

“Simply put, the health, sustainability, and modernization of our region’s public transit system is critical to our regional economy, and an issue we hear about from our members daily. From our members with thousands of employees traveling to the Loop via CTA or Metra on a daily basis, to Chicago residents using the Metra and Pace to commute to jobs in the suburbs, and to our most vulnerable citizens that require paratransit services, our region, in order to remain a world class city, needs a modern transit system that is nimble, safe, reliable and clean to address the ever-changing needs of its riders while also remaining affordable for both riders and taxpayers. This is particularly true as the nature of work continues to evolve in a post-pandemic world.

“And the numbers bear this out. Last month, Argonne National Laboratory published a study that estimated that without public transit, over two million activities would be cancelled daily, resulting in an estimated $35 billion annual loss in direct economic activity. This estimate includes lost jobs, closed businesses, and increased living costs. To quote the study, “every $1 invested in transit generated $13 in economic activity, in addition to creating savings in travel time.

“Our transit system faces many challenges ahead. A looming $730 million federal funding cliff and an evolving shift to a hybrid work model. We hear daily from our members that many employees that used to rely on public transit, simply no longer use public transit. And the ridership numbers, while improved in recent months, bear this out. While Chicago ridership reached 60% of its pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and grew to 64% in May 2024, cities like Los Angeles is now at 74%, Washington DC 76% and nationwide 79% across all modes. Our region’s transit system has simply not been reliable, safe and clean enough to convince more residents to hop back on the train or the bus.

“We also must be clear-eyed. Simply raising new revenues will not address the structural problems our members continue to express frustrations with. Before the conversation around revenues is to occur, a comprehensive set of reforms and priorities must be identified and agreed upon including governance.

“I mentioned safety and reliability, which are the most common priorities we hear about from our members. Regarding safety, the answer is not solely more sworn police officers, but it must be part of the solution. On reliability, we understand the workforce challenges the agencies are facing, but they also need to be much more open to new technologies around real time tracking and logistics. Our members have many ideas on how to improve safety and reliability and have worked with governments across the world to modernize their transit systems.

“Other reforms we’d love to see – a truly integrated fare system, a meaningful program to incentivize equitable transit-oriented development, and much greater collaboration between the service agencies that results in tangible impacts and efficiencies.

“This all leads to the larger questions around the upcoming fiscal cliff, governance and the increased revenues needed to support all of these priorities.

“First, the plans released by the RTA and service boards, as well as the PART Report, have been long on the need for new revenues and extremely sparce in terms of identifying cost controls or efficiencies that can be implemented. Having served on the PART Steering Committee, I am committed to working with this Committee and others to further drilling down into the service board’s budgets to identify as many cost savings as possible. Our region’s taxpayers deserve nothing less.

“Regarding the revenue discussion, the Chicagoland Chamber is not a knee-jerk no when it comes to new revenues, but, again, reforms before revenue. We urge you to hold these systems accountable before approving new revenues on already overly-burdened residents and businesses. As you evaluate the revenue options, some of the revenue proposals – an expansion of sales tax to include services and a congestion tax for instance – are job and growth killers at a time our regional economy can least afford it.

“Ultimately, this is too important of an issue to get wrong, and we’re grateful this committee is holding these hearings early, because it will take an all hands-on deck effort to ensure our residents and businesses truly have the 21st century public transit system they deserve. We’re committed to partnering with all of you towards developing a creative and collaborative approach and we look forward to working with the General Assembly, the service boards, CMAP, Labor and all stakeholders to do this right. Thank you for your time today and I’m happy to answer any questions you have.”

Media Coverage

ABC7: CTA, Metra, Pace, leaders oppose legislation to merge them into single public transit agency

The Daily Line: Want more transit service? Step up state funding, transit agencies tell lawmakers

WTTW: Chicago-Area Public Transit Leaders Call for Funding Boost, Push Back on Merger Proposal

Crain’s: Vote on unorthodox incentive for data centers in Chicago blocked in committee

Block Club: CTA, Metra And Pace Leaders Plead For Funding – Not Merger – At State Hearing