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8/24/2020
The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra and bus service Pace issued a joint statement calling on Congress to provide $32 billion for transit nationwide in a new COVID-19 relief package, as recommended by the American Public Transportation Association.
The joint statement was signed by Metra Chief Executive Office and Executive Director Jim Derwinski, CTA President Dorval Carter, RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden and Pace Executive Director Rocky Donahue.
The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act last spring provided the Chicago region with a one-time infusion of nearly $1.4 billion that had sustained operations during the pandemic, they wrote.
However, “without additional federal relief, the Northeastern Illinois transit system and others across America will face a significant shortfall in 2021 due to declining revenues,” the executives said in the letter.
"Together, our transit agencies have created a culture of COVID prevention. All riders should know the trains and buses have never been cleaner. CTA, Metra and Pace staff worked heroically in the pandemic’s earliest stages to carry essential workers to their jobs, and they continue providing safe, reliable trips to meet dramatically shifting customer needs,” they wrote.