CHICAGO, IL (WBBM Newsradio) – The Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker last month and going into effect June 1st, requires new security and ADA measures among other things.
On Thursday, at one of the few remaining meetings of the Regional Transit Authority board, before local transit becomes the concern of the soon to be formed NITA Board, members walked through an updated timeline, showing that a law enforcement task force under purview of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office is required to decide by January 2027 whether or not to create a sworn officer law enforcement program for transit.
“NITA will also establish an office of transit safety and experience”, said RTA director of government affairs Rob Nash, adding that the executive director of that office will designate a full-time chief transit public safety officer, “responsibilities of the office include developing and implementing a regional safety strategy and coordination across law enforcement agencies in the region.”
A transit ambassador program must be functional by July of next year under the new law, placing trained, unarmed personnel on trains, buses, and at stations. Training for those positions is set to begin next January. It has yet to be discussed which infractions on public transit will be handled by either law enforcement officers or the ambassadors.
The RTA board also discussed the need for more funding in the interim, hoping to get a jump on adding security, amid several recent violent attacks on the CTA.
During public comment, Amber Smok, vice president for advocacy at Access Living, requested the board consider raising individual caps on ADA rideshare programs and a more relaxed approach to exceptions, “It shouldn’t take a lot to express to the RTA that I need more than 30 rides a month, because my job requires it. I need to be able to get to and from places and regular paratransit is not going to work for me.”, said Smok.
The board did discuss raising PACE caps from 30 rides to 40.
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