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Aaron M. Renn's avatar

I used to think like this when lived in Chicago. But in reality, governance issues plague pretty much every region. The MTA actually controls the NYC Transit, LIRR and Metro-North, but can't even make Metro-North and LIRR talk to each other, much less coordinate anything. In Philly, I believe SEPTA's commuter services operate very differently from heavy rail and bus service. There are issues like the way railroad service is regulated differently, different unions, etc. that make this very complex.

I'm not saying that changing the governance wouldn't be a good thing. But is this really the highest bang for the buck we'd get from spending our limited political capital? Maybe, maybe not.

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Politically_Illinois's avatar

I think your point about accountability and funding priority is a great one. That board would be majority suburbs while the ridership would be supermajority CTA is something that will have to be resolved in the legislation. But from the rhetoric around the debate, the suburbanites seem to believe the opposite will happen, Chicago will be the sole focus and they'll be left to dry.

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