Chicago Fair Transit South Cook pilot: Equitable access and steps towards seamless transit
The Cook County Department of Transportation launched the Fair Transit South Cook pilot program in January 2021, which increased service on South Cook Pace and Metra lines, while reducing South Cook Metra fares. The changes increased public transit access in south Cook County.
In the Chicago area, movement towards fare integration and discounted transfers is providing more equitable access to public transit. This progress can provide valuable lessons and inspiration for the Bay Area’s own movement towards seamless transit.
Residents in Chicago’s South Side and South Cook County spend more time and money commuting than those in the rest of the county.
To address this, the Cook County Department of Transportation launched the Fair Transit South Cook pilot program in January 2021, which increases service on South Cook Pace and Metra lines, while reducing South Cook Metra fares. These changes proved to be successful in their goal of increasing access to public transit in south Cook County.
History
Residents of the South Suburbs and the South Side of Chicago have historically lacked proper access to affordable and accessible public transit, with a 2018 South Cook mobility study finding that these residents spend an unusually high percentage of their income on transportation, while simultaneously having generally longer commute times. Many of these communities experience high levels of unemployment and poverty, and residents are therefore unable to afford these expensive and inconvenient transit lines, and often opt to drive instead. In fact, a pre-pilot survey found that 44 percent of low-income drivers said that they would otherwise take public transit, but it was too expensive.
With this in mind, the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways began research on a new program to address these inequalities in transportation access, and in January 2021, the Fair Transit South Cook Pilot was launched.
The Plan
Metra and Pace suburban bus partnered with Cook County in order to offer reduced fares and increased service to south Cook County residents. These took the form of a 50% reduction in fares on the Metra Electric (ME) and Rock Island (RI) lines, as well as 25% increased service on Pace Route 352 Halsted. In addition to reduced fares, the ME line saw 11 additional weekday and 38 additional Saturday trains (a 9.6% increase in service), while the RI line saw 26 additional weekday trains (an 86.4% increase in service).
Metra operates on distance based fares, and the 50% fare reduction applies only to one-way and 10-ride tickets, as well as monthly passes and (before they were discontinued) round-trip passes. In order to make up for lost revenue due to reduced fares, the county budgeted $30 million of motor fuel tax revenue over the next three years to go towards the program, in addition to a $330,000 Accelerating Innovative Mobility Grant from the Federal Transit Administration. These funds will help to keep the program moving forward so its effects can be fully analyzed, and so that future improvements such as seamless transfers across agencies can be studied and (hopefully) put into place.
Results
The positive impacts of the South Cook Fair Transit pilot cannot be overstated. Evidence already shows that the program successfully accomplished its goals of increasing transit access in south Cook County.
Ridership Recovery: In the wake of COVID 19, transit agencies in cities everywhere continue to experience low ridership, and difficulties getting people back on public transit. Naturally, lines that serve populations with largely in-person jobs (education, healthcare, etc.) are recovering ridership faster by necessity, with the ME and RI lines averaging a 12% faster recovery rate than other Chicago lines in 2020. However, after the pilot launched in 2021, the ME and RI lines averaged a 32% faster recovery rate. While it may seem obvious, it is very clear that increased access to public transit through reduced fares and better service greatly increased transit ridership recovery post-COVID.
Low-Income Riders: One of the primary goals of the pilot was to increase access to public transit for specifically low-income riders living in the south suburbs and south Cook County. In the first year of the program, survey results showed that the share of low-income riders on the ME line increased, and that spending on dining, entertainment, grocery, retail, and tourism increased the most significantly in pilot areas (compared to non-pilot areas). These results suggest not only that the pilot was successful in increasing transit access to low-income families and neighborhoods, but that the savings that came with it freed up a significant amount of extra money for families that would otherwise need it for transportation, as at least 50% of low income riders report taking the ME and RI lines 5 times a week (Year 1 survey). While the expansion of Route 352 Halsted has not increased ridership, results show that the lowest-income riders responded the most strongly to the increased service, and this increased service in low-income areas alone is in line with the goals of the pilot.
Year 1 Survey (July-October 2021): The year one survey showed impressive improvements to overall transit experience and ridership, with 61% of respondents saying their transit experience was greatly or somewhat improved. 46% of respondents reported taking the ME and RI lines more often, with 33% of these respondents stating they would have otherwise driven, and 25% of respondents stating they now boarded at further, more expensive stations to get into the city. This combination of increased transit ridership and decreased car use near the city serve a dual purpose of reducing congestion in Chicago while also reducing carbon emissions from personal vehicles. The survey also suggests significant room for growth, as 48% of respondents who no longer ride the ME or RI lines say they now plan to return.
Moving forward with integrated fares
While the South Cook Fair Transit pilot has produced significant improvements in public transit access for many south Cook County communities, the program seeks to continue to improve and grow in the future in order to offer equitable, accessible public transportation to everyone who needs it. With this in mind, the Chicago Department of Transportation and Highways announced that they will continue the pilot moving forward, and will consider changes needed to further benefit southern Cook County riders. One of the most significant steps in the right direction would be to partner with Metra, CTA, and Pace to enable integrated fares and discounted transfers between agencies.
As of now, the Ventra card (the Chicago equivalent of Clipper), while offering discounted transfers from CTA to Pace and vice-versa, does not offer discounted transfers between these two agencies and Metra. Passes for Pace, Metra, and CTA already have existed for the past 25 years under the Link-Up and PlusBus programs (and were previous add-ons to Metra passes), and transferring between Pace and CTA was achieved through 30-day monthly passes for decades. Recently, however, the county improved the seamlessness of its transit through the introduction of the Regional Connect Pass, which allows Metra monthly pass holders to take unlimited rides all month on CTA and Pace for $30. In order for Chicago residents to feel the full benefits of the fair transit program and others like it, the county needs to uphold its promise to provide funding to support seamless transfer development. With this inclusion, the benefits for low-income and underserved riders and communities will be immense, providing unprecedented mobility to communities that need it the most.
Moving forward, these initiatives should expand to address parts of Cook County that have underrepresented people in addition to south Cook County and the south suburbs. Many more communities could and would benefit from similar changes such as decreased fares and increased service.
Basic challenges remain to ensure that buses are operating efficiently between the Southland and other parts of the Chicago region. It will be important to seek and gain local and federal support for expansion of Red Line service to 130th Street. But what’s clear is that providing high quality, high frequency bus and rail service can help many more people in currently underserved areas to move between home, work, and school.