The Chicago Transit Board has approved a USD 1.64 billion operating budget that is dependent on new federal funding to support public transport across the United States.
For 2021, the CTA is facing an operating budget deficit of USD 375 million, a shortfall caused solely by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic in March, the CTA, like transit agencies across the country, has seen an unprecedented loss of ridership and revenue. Further, state sales tax funding that supports transit is well below anticipated levels. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) estimates that if Congress or the Administration do not provide additional emergency federal transit funding, six in ten public transit agencies will have to consider service cuts or other cost-cutting measures.
“This budget is a reflection of our unwavering efforts to continue to provide essential transit services to all those who rely on it, despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic. As we look to 2021, the CTA remains committed keeping the City of Chicago moving, and at the heart of every decision made will be the safety, security and best interests of our customers and employees,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. said.
The board also approved a USD 3.4 billion five-year capital improvement programme (CIP) which outlines continued modernisation and capital improvement projects that will provide safer, more reliable service for customers, and an overall improved transit experience through the continued expansion of public art, removal of slow zones, upgrades to popular transit tools such as Ventra.
More than half of the capital funding will go toward previously announced major projects, including USD 60 million for the upgrade of the Cottage Grove Green Line station, USD 50 million for the Blue Line O’Hare Branch power improvements, USD 327.8 million for advancement of the Red Line extension project and USD 78 million for the first phase of station improvements under the All Stations Accessibility Plan.
Other capital projects to continue or begin in 2021 include the trials of the 10 new 7000-Series rail cars, quarter-life overhaul work on 5000-Series rail cars, the roll-out of newest all-electric buses and the beginning of station and track structure construction as part of the phase one of Red and Purple modernisation programme.
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