![\"Driver](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-l-biz-paratransit-uber012_229913658-e1751560071860.jpg\")
Driver Alexander Febus helps buckle in Cathleen O’Brien as she heads to work on May 30, 2025, in Chicago. Febus works for TowerWAV, an affiliate of Uber. (Stacey Wescott\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Pace says it\u2019s cheaper to provide ADA paratransit rides via Uber than it is to provide traditional paratransit rides.<\/p>\n
Use of the rideshare program has increased exponentially since the program\u2019s introduction. Last March, when the program launched, riders took about 5,000 rides through the city and the suburbs.<\/p>\n
This March, there were about 168,000 subsidized rideshare trips, according to data presented at Pace\u2019s most recent board meeting.<\/p>\n
At the direction of its oversight body, the Regional Transportation Authority, the agency is looking at ways to cut rideshare program costs, and is considering raising fares on the program from $2 to $3.25 to match fares for traditional paratransit.<\/p>\n
The agency is also looking at limiting the number of subsidized rides users can take per month to 30. Currently, there is no limit, although riders pay the difference in fare for any rides that cost more than $30 total.<\/p>\n
The program has drawn the particular ire of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents traditional paratransit drivers and argues that the program is a way for Pace to outsource union work to gig drivers, who don\u2019t get the protections and benefits that come with being an employee, let alone those that come with union membership.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just keeping people living day to day,\u201d said John Coli Jr., secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 727.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow am I ever going to move up the social ladder?\u201d he said. \u201cHow am I ever going to achieve the American dream?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-l-biz-paratransi30807808-e1751560211900.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
A Pace paratransit bus makes a trip on June 26, 2025, in Chicago. (Hailey Hoffman\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Local 727 represents about 1,800 paratransit employees, mostly drivers, who work for Pace but are employed by subcontractors, Coli said. The Teamsters want Pace to use Uber only as a last resort, he said.<\/p>\n
Coli said the union doesn\u2019t want paratransit users \u201cto have to sit at home trapped inside because they can\u2019t get a ride.\u201d He said he understands why riders like the convenience of the Uber program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government was going to pay for my Uber to go to the Sox game on Wednesday, I\u2019d be all about that, too,\u201d Coli said.<\/p>\n
Disability advocates bristle at what they describe as a tendency to categorize the program as a luxury.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisabled people have the right to freedom and to do fun things too, but I\u2019m not using this to go shopping,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThis is essential for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the spring legislative session, which wrapped up at the end of May, the Teamsters hoped to win language that would have limited the use of rideshares for paratransit within transit reform legislation mostly focused on averting the fiscal cliff and restructuring the Chicago area\u2019s regional transit governing body.<\/p>\n
But the parties failed to come to an agreement relating to paratransit. And though legislators introduced two different transit reform bills, lawmakers failed to pass either into law.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal was always to try and find some middle point,\u201d said state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, a Chicago Democrat who helped lead transit reform negotiations in the House. \u201cUnfortunately, that just wasn\u2019t something that we could get done by the end of session.\u201d<\/p>\n
With transit reform still an open issue, the Teamsters say they see an opportunity to renegotiate. And the union has threatened that its support for the transit reform and funding legislation \u2014 which lawmakers will need to pass if they want to avoid catastrophic 40% cuts to transit service next year, including cuts to paratransit service \u2014 is not to be taken for granted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really are only inclined to want to support a bill that has teeth in limiting the rapid growth of Pace\u2019s use of rideshare to outsource its work,\u201d said Pasquale Gianni, the Illinois Teamsters\u2019 director of government affairs.<\/p>\n
Laura Saltzman, transportation policy analyst for Access Living, a disability rights organization, said the group was opposed to any language that would remove access to same day, on-demand paratransit service. Organized labor\u2019s demands would have made it functionally impossible for Pace to offer that service, Saltzman said. (The Teamsters dispute this.)<\/p>\n
\u201cMy community is disabled people, so we need the service to be provided,\u201d Saltzman said. \u201cI would welcome the service to be provided by labor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in people being paid fairly,\u201d said O\u2019Brien, who is a former employee of Access Living. \u201cBut there has to be a way to accomplish that without cutting a needed service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re trying to do the best we can\u2019<\/p>\n
When she picks up riders from their dialysis appointments, paratransit driver Enterna Williams turns the heat on or the fan off.<\/p>\n
Dialysis can make people cold, and Williams wants to make sure the ride back is comfortable for her clients. Sometimes, when clients arrive home, there isn\u2019t anyone to help them in, so Williams does.<\/p>\n
Williams, 36, drives for SCR Medical Transportation, one of Pace\u2019s traditional paratransit subcontractors. She\u2019s been on the job for a decade.<\/p>\n
Pace contracts with four companies to provide traditional paratransit service: SCR Medical, MV Transportation, Cook DuPage Transportation and TransDev. Teamsters Local 727 represents drivers at all four companies, including Williams. Another share of paratransit drivers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1028. A small portion are Pace employees, according to the organization\u2019s executive director, Melinda Metzger.<\/p>\n
![\"Enterna](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-l-biz-paratransit-uber-6_230807810-e1751560340694.jpg\")
Enterna Williams, a paratransit driver for Pace and a Teamsters Local 727 member, is passed by another Pace bus on June 26, 2025, in Chicago. \u201cWe deserve our clients,\u201d she said. (Hailey Hoffman\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Dozens](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-transit-labor-presser06_229495060.jpg\")
Dozens of transit workers and supporters gather to urge riders to call state representatives to avoid a transit death spiral during a rally in downtown Chicago on May 21, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n