A group of public transportation riders wants more equitable Illinois transit funding. They filed a lawsuit today alleging discrimination against minority riders.
The plaintiffs say that the way that mass transit funding is set up shorts the Chicago Transit Authority. The federal complaint says that Metra gets more than its fare share of funding.
The issue for the plaintiffs is that black and Latinos comprise CTA ridership; Metra ridership is mostly white.
Stewart Weltman represents the plaintiffs.
WELTMAN: We want transportation equity. We want people to know they’re getting a fair shake out there when they go to work. We want people not to have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get to a job and travel three hours sometimes.
Weltman says they want a new “equitable” formula, but they don’t have specifics for what that means. The Illinois Department of Transportation declined to comment.
Chicago Talks reports some residents plan to protest CTA cuts.