Avoiding crisis isn’t the same as solving a problem, and sometimes temporary fixes make things worse in the long run.

It’d be nice to have a cheerier takeaway after the witching hour vote to pass Senate Bill 2111 and bail out the Chicago/suburban public transportation agencies that mismanaged themselves onto the edge of a fiscal cliff … with a little help from a global pandemic that dramatically shifted and perhaps permanently altered commuting patterns.

Happy responses are easy to find, it’s just a matter of identifying sources that had a lot to lose without the $1.5 billion spending and reform package . Consider the Labor Alliance for Public Transportation, which optimistically framed the vote as “a hard-won victory for everyone who wants safer, reliable and more efficient public t

See Full Page