Building Transit from the Ground Up

An ever expanding low wage job market is not the only defining feature of the service economy; sprawl and spatial mismatch accompany this shift. While much attention has been paid to creating more affordable housing near job centers, only recently has attention been paid to how transit systems should respond to these dynamics. The freshly minted act on transit emboldened by new language addresses these issues. Yet, the question still remains whether the transit system can keep pace with job growth along industrial and commercial corridors or when jobs operate today, after 7pm and during weekends.

In 2004, I embarked upon a three-year community-engagement project with my then employer Work, Welfare and Families, now CTBA, to involve stakeholders in defining local solutions to improving access to area jobs. Ending just last December, Getting to Work in Illinois was generously funded by the Grand Victoria Foundation and the work in the 4^th Ward by LISC.

Working with local advisory teams largely led by the local workforce investment boards, we conducted planning sessions in Chicago's 4^th Ward, Waukegan covering most of Lake County, Elgin, Aurora and Rockford covering most of Winnebago and parts of Boone Counties. Turn out far exceeded expectations and close to 400 attended the planning sessions. Chambers, local government representatives, community-based organizations, WIBs, community colleges and local residents all joined the sessions.

Each area sought solutions using the transit system. Car-ownership programs or specially designed child care transportation programs took a back seat to systemic enhancements. For example, Chicago's 4^th Ward, which had the strongest turnout by local residents, unanimously called for increased service along 43^rd Street after 7pm and on weekends connecting to the Red and Green EL Lines. The 4^th Ward was no exception. Waukegan, Elgin, Aurora and Rockford also identified new or enhanced transit routes to access area jobs.

Opening the transit statutes to address funding and accountability provided an opportunity to leverage what I learned from these community planning processes and to involve local stakeholders. In the Northeast region, the new act now requires that regional planning factor in connections between low income populations and area job centers. Service must be assessed for reliability across the region. Two new funding streams have been developed to improve community mobility, including access to jobs as well as life-sustaining services. At $10 million, the Innovation, Coordinating and Enhancement Fund can be used for operating or capital needs to demonstrate new service and build demand. At $20 million, the Suburban Mobility Fund will go to Pace to support, among other projects, the county-wide dial-a-ride programs now located in DuPage and Kane, and soon to be developed in Lake County. Outside of the Northeast region, state match funding has been increased by ten percent to sixty-five percent and eighteen new areas are eligible for transit funding.

As written, the Act can address the gaps and enhancements that each locality identified, and certainly that many more experience. I congratulate all the legislators who led on these issues affecting low wage workers especially State Representatives Julie Hamos, Kathy Ryg and Sidney Matthias. Public attention is now turning to the development of the capital bill, but the next step is translating this new law into good practice.