Buckner on Transit Reform: "We're Talking Ad Nauseum"
A CTA Red Line train arrives at a station.
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When a duck swims, everything above water looks calm, but below the surface, it is anything but.
That may be the best way to describe negotiations on reforming mass transit systems in the Chicago area.
While little has been discussed publicly at the Statehouse this spring, one of the top lawmakers charged with securing a deal for mass transit reform says work is ongoing.
Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), who is one of the top House negotiators on the topic, says discussions are being put in three separate “silos,” structure, government, and funding.
“Hopefully we can have something that we can all wrap our arms around in the next days or weeks on what that looks like. And then we'll have to have obviously the revenue conversation and what that looks like,” Buckner told The Illinozie Tuesday. “[We have to] look at the current structure. Everything from farebox to streamlining processes to make sure we're doing the right thing here.”
Buckner said even though mass transit agencies are facing a $750 million funding gap the conversation about new money for the agencies isn’t the first priority.
“Those of us who have been working on this for a long time have been very clear since the beginning that there is no revenue without reform,” Buckner said.
Can they reach a deal by the end of May? Buckner says he’s optimistic.
“We're talking ad nauseam. We're talking daily. I believe we can make this happen,” he said. “What I also believe is that what my colleagues around the state, around both chambers, no matter what region they're from or no matter what party, they understand that if Chicago transit collapses, northeast Illinois transit collapses, then it's going to be very bad for the state. It'll be bad for our bottom line. It'll be bad for how things are funded and things that we need to do to move the state forward. So it's incumbent upon folks like me to be able to tell that story, to carry that message, and to get some buy in from all of the folks who need to be involved in order for us to move this forward.”
Buckner said reports of a $750,000 ad campaign by the Regional Transit Authority to influence the legislature is a bad look by the agency.
“If these entities, one of these entities are saying they don't have enough money to run services or they don't have enough money to do what they're supposed to do, are paying upwards of three quarters of a million dollars for [an] advertising campaign strictly focused on Springfield and the legislature, then it is a it is proof positive that we've got to change the way some of this works,” he said.
