NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois)

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) is the financial and oversight body for the three transit agencies in northeastern Illinois--the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace--which are called Service Boards in the RTA Act.^[1] RTA serves Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Finance addresses the ways in which individuals, business entities and other organizations allocate and use monetary resources over time. ... Look up oversight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word transit, when used alone, has several possible meanings in English means of transport, including mass transit, rapid transit, public transit, public transport Further information: transit (transportation) in astronomy an event involving two bodies along the same line of sight Further information: astronomical transit in navigational position lines when... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Area Ranked 25th - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 390 miles (629 km) - % water 4. ... Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois. ... Metra (officially the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation) is Chicagolands commuter rail system, serving over 200 stations on 11 lines across the Regional Transportation Authoritys six-county service area (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties) providing over 67 million rides annually. ... Pace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago area. ... Cook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. ... DuPage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. ... Location in the state of Illinois Formed January 16, 1836 Seat Geneva Area - Total - Water 1,357 kmÂ² (524 miÂ²) 9 kmÂ² (4 miÂ²) 0. ... Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. ... McHenry County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. ... Will County is a county located in the northern part of the state of Illinois. ...

The RTA Board consists of 13 directors, with 4 appointed by the Mayor of Chicago, 4 by the members of the Cook County Board elected outside of Chicago, one by the DuPage County Board Chairman, and two collectively by the county board chairmen of Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties. The chair of the CTA Board is automatically an RTA Board member. The Chairman of the RTA Board is the 13th member, and is appointed with the concurrence of 9 of the other 12 RTA Board members.^[2] The chief executive officer is the executive director, who is appointed by the Chairman with the concurrence of 9 of the directors.^[3] In relation to a company, a director is an officer of the company charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. ... Executive director is a title given to a person who is the head of an executive branch of an organization or company. ...

The RTA system provides nearly 2 million rides per day. The RTA provides several services to the public, including the RTA Travel Information line at 836-7000 from all Chicago area area codes, an automated Trip Planner, and "try transit" advertising. This article or section should be merged with Telephone numbering plan __ ran (talk) 21:23, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC) The area code is a part of a telephone number normally occurring at the beginning of the number, that usually indicates a geographical area. ... Commercialism redirects here. ...

The RTA has the authority to enter into agreements to provide service between points within the metropolitan region and outside of its territory, including into Indiana and Wisconsin.^[4] Metropolitan area in Western Tokyo as seen from Tokyo Tower A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large city and its adjacent zone of influence, or of several neighboring cities or towns and adjoining areas, with one or more large cities serving as its hub or... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area Ranked 23rd - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 kmÂ²) - Width 260 miles (420 km) - Length 310 miles (500 km) - % water 17 - Latitude 42Â°30N to 47Â°3N - Longitude 86Â°49W to 92Â°54W Population Ranked...

History

1974 Origin

RTA was created after a referendum in 1974. In 1973, CTA had instituted its first major service cuts,^[5] and several suburban bus companies, including Evanston Bus Company and Glenview Bus Company had ceased operations, forcing Evanston to make arrangements with CTA and Wilmette to start a municipal service. The Rock Island and Milwaukee Road were already facing financial distress, which would lead to their eventual bankruptcy, and the Illinois Central was petitioning the Interstate Commerce Commission to increase commuter fares, on the basis that the cost of operating its commuter train system was a burden on interstate commerce. While several suburbs had organized Mass Transit Districts to purchase equipment for the carriers with federal financial assistance, the Rock Island was still operating old equipment that it could not replace. In an attempt to deal with these problems in the six-county area, the RTA was established, with some taxing powers, to provide financial support through grants to the CTA and suburban mass transit districts, and purchase of service agreements with the private bus and rail operators.^[6] Ballots of the Argentine plebiscite of 1984 on the border treaty with Chile A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... Housing subdivision near Union, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. ... An articulated bus operated by the CTA in Chicago, Illinois, USA. A Go North East Bus parked in a lay-by in Tyne and Wear, England A bus is a large road vehicle intended to carry numerous persons in addition to the driver and sometimes a conductor. ... Incorporated City in 1872. ... Incorporated Village in 1899. ... Incorporated City in 1872. ... US BahÃ¡Ã House of Worship in Wilmette Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. ... The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark RI) was a Class I railroad in the United States. ... The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. ... Notice of closure stuck on the door of a computer store the day after its parent company, Granville Technology Group Ltd, declared bankruptcy (strictly, put into administration - see text) in the UK. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of a individuals or organizations to pay their... The Illinois Central (AAR reporting mark IC), sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad carrier in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. ... The Interstate Commerce Commission (or ICC) was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A Virginia Railway Express locomotive in push-pull commuter service (www. ... Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, empowers the United States Congress To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes. ... A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). ...

1983 Reorganization

In 1983, after a financial crisis,^[7] and the RTA taking over several private bus companies and the Rock Island and Milwaukee Road lines, the RTA Act was amended to create the Suburban Bus Division, now known as Pace,^[8] and the Commuter Rail Division, now known as Metra.^[9] RTA's role then changed, so that it is now responsible for reviewing the operating and capital plans and expenditures of the Service Boards,^[10] developing an annual budget and program^[11] as well as a five-year plan,^[12] and distributing sales tax receipts to the Service Boards, in accordance with a statutory formula.^[13] However, RTA no longer provides service directly, as the Service Boards have the authority to determine the level, nature, and kind of public transportation to be provided, ^[14] and to establish fares.^[15] Originally, RTA entered into purchase of service agreements with carriers, but the 1983 amendment gives the Service Boards the power to enter into those agreements with transportation agencies.^[16] The RTA has the power to mediate disputes concerning competing services between Service Boards, at a Board's request.^[17] Budget generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. ... A sales tax is a state or locality imposed percentage tax on the selling or renting of certain property or services. ... Skytrain Bangkok. ... Mediation, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), aims to assist two (or more) disputants in reaching an agreement. ...

The 1983 legislation also imposed the requirements that the level of fares must be sufficient, in the aggregate, to equal 50 percent of the cost of providing transportation,^[18] and that the RTA Board inform each Service Board, as part of the budget process, of its required recovery ratio for the next fiscal year.^[19]

Since 1983, RTA has collected a 1% sales tax in Cook County and a 0.25% sales tax in Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, and Will ("the collar") counties. 85% of this revenue is disbursed directly to the Service Boards under a formula which directs revenue from Chicago and some near suburbs to the CTA and most suburban revenue to Metra and Pace. RTA has discretion over the remaining 15% of tax revenue, with some funding RTA's overhead and most going to the Service Boards, principally CTA.

Funding Debate

In 2004, the CTA, projecting a $55 million funding shortfall in its 2005 budget, called for a "long term funding solution," involving a change to the sales tax distribution formula in the RTA Act.^[20] In response, the Illinois General Assembly appropriated $54 million to cover the cost of CTA's paratransit service for 2005.^[21] An amendment to the RTA Act made the RTA responsible for the funding, financial review and oversight of all ADA paratransit services, effective July 1, 2005, and transferred responsibility for operating or providing for the operation of paratransit service to Pace starting July 1, 2006,^[22] thereby relieving the CTA of that responsibility. The General Assembly also directed the Illinois Auditor General to audit the RTA and the Service Boards, as part of its review of the funding issue.^[23] The legislature also intends to launch a regional consensus-building process on additional funds for transit, coupled with a new funding formula.^[24] The Illinois Auditor General's preliminary report, while agreeing that public funding was insufficient to support the level of transit services, said that the legislature must address other issues, including underfunded pensions, high salaries, absenteeism, and the lack of strong, centralized planning, resulting in several of the service boards competing for customers in the same areas, the Auditor General calling for "an end to the transit agencies fighting each other for customers, routes and federal funding for pet projects that may not fit into an overall regional transit plan."^[25] The Illinois General Assembly convenes at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. ... The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is the short title of United States Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. ... Paratransit is an alternative mode of flexible passenger transportation that does not follow fixed routes or schedules. ... An audit is an evaluation of an organization, system, process, project or product. ...

References

^ 70 ILCS 3615/1.03. The RTA Act may be found at the Illinois General Assembly site.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/3.01. See also http://www.rtachicago.com/aboutrta/boarddirectors.asp.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.14.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.07.
^ Bill Vandervoort, Significant Dates in CTA Route History.
A paper by Ian Savage of the Department of Economics and the Transportation Center, Northwestern University, Management objectives and the causes of mass transit deficits (November, 2002), p. 15, outlines some of the reasons for the CTA's loss of profitability during this period.
^ See also, Krambles and Peterson, CTA at 45: A History of the First 45 Years of the Chicago Transit Authority (1993), pp. 36 to 38. ISBN 0-9637965-4-2.
^ Savage, pp. 16-17, attributes the problem to the unconstrained demand for subsidies, and the RTA's loss of financial viability due to unreliable taxing authority.
Krambles, p. 38, also notes unspecified political problems; Chicago-l.org describes some of them.
The extent of the crisis is partially described in two court cases reflecting the RTA's inability to meet obligations to suburban carriers: Regional Transportation Authority v. Burlington Northern Inc., 100 Ill.App.3d 779, 426 N.E.2d 1143, 55 Ill.Dec. 818 (1st Dist., 1981) and Regional Transportation Authority v. Illinois Commerce Commission, 118 Ill.App.3d 685, 455 N.E.2d 172, 74 Ill.Dec. 142 (1st Dist., 1983).
Some contemporaneous reports are also contained in the New York Times transit system news topics.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/3A.01.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/3B.01.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.01(b).
^ 70 ILCS 3615/4.01(a).
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.01(c).
^ 70 ILCS 3615/4.01(d).
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.01(a).
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.04.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.02.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.12a.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/4.01(b)(i), subject to some exceptions for costs of security and the like.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/4.11(a).
Savage, p. 17, attributes this condition to the need to prevent the continuation of the trend of the 1970s.
^ See keepchicagolandmoving.com, a CTA web site.
^ Announcement at juliehamos.org.
^ 70 ILCS 3615/2.30, as added by HB1663, 94th General Assembly.
70 ILCS 3615/4.01(b)(ii) establishes a recovery ratio for paratransit service.
^ HR0479, 94th General Assembly for the audit of CTA; HR0650, 94th General Assembly for RTA, Metra, and Pace.
^ juliehamos.org/transit.
^ Audit:Overhaul the RTA. Chicago Tribune, February 23, 2007.

Northwestern University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian research university, located in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. ...

Contents

History

1974 Origin

1983 Reorganization

Funding Debate

References

External links

Contents

History GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

1974 Origin

1983 Reorganization

Funding Debate

References

External links

History