CTA president defends agency, urges Illinois legislature for fair funding

CHICAGO — Using an address at the City Club of Chicago as a rebuttal to critics, Chicago Transit Authority president Dorval Carter defended his agency as “bouncing back” from the pandemic and demanded equitable funding from the state legislature.

“The unfortunate truth is that the current system for funding transit is tantamount to transit welfare,” Dorval said Thursday.

Serving as CTA president since 2015, Carter assailed the state’s 40-year-old funding formula, which sees the CTA providing 84 percent of public transit rides in the region but receiving only 46 percent of the public funding.

Carter also noted that the CTA provides transportation to the vast majority of low-income and minority riders, while Metra and Pace serve more well-to-do suburban customers.

“So why all the fixation on governance? It’s an easy pill to swallow. And, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper. It is much easier to say the bureaucracy is the problem, let’s rearrange a few things, than to make tough decisions and to take tough votes about raising revenue,” Carter said.

Last spring, amidst questions about ridership, service, and safety, Carter faced calls for his dismissal from three influential publications – the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Crain’s Chicago Business, and most glaringly from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

“Look, a lot of changes are going to have to take place, there’s no doubt, at CTA,” Dorval said. “I think that’s going to take some new leadership and additional leadership.”

Thursday, without naming names, Carter responded, telling his critics to advocate for funding, not firings.

“It is much easier to present governance as the solution to transit challenges than taking a hard look at policy decisions made in the past. It’s much easier to challenge and allege mismanagement than to face the truth of decades-long discriminatory and racially charged funding policies.”

Carter dismissed the idea of merging the CTA with Metra and Pace to create a regional agency but noted that the state legislature would have to provide major funding to avoid a fiscal cliff in 2026.

CTA, Pace and Metra are projected to face a budget gap of $730 million.

“My request to Springfield is simple. You’ve done visionary things in Illinois in the past. Transit should be your next big visionary act,” he said.

Carter noted that the CTA’s labor problems – not having enough bus drivers and rail operators to keep up with demand – are starting to be solved. The agency has 400 more bus operators than it had this time last year and 135 newly trained rail workers, a 10 percent increase from a year ago.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.