* Carole Brown and Julie Hamos writing in Crain’s about mass transit reform…

As just one example, many regional travelers are still unable to transfer easily between Metra and CTA or Pace (without having to pay twice), despite a legislative requirement to achieve this more than a decade ago.

* House Bill 3597 was signed into law almost 14 years ago…

Provides that, by January 1, 2013, the Regional Transportation Authority, in consultation with the Service Boards (Chicago Transit Authority, Commuter Rail Division, and Suburban Bus Division) and the general public, must develop a policy regarding transfer fares on all fixed-route public transportation services provided by the Service Boards. Sets forth the requirements for the policy.

Provides that, by January 1, 2015, the Authority must develop and implement a regional fare payment system. Requires that the payment system developed by the Authority allow consumers to use contactless credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards to pay for all fixed-route public transportation services

And yet, we’re supposed to trust these same agencies to reform themselves now?

* Back to Speaker Chris Welch’s interview with the Sun-Times…

I think it’s extremely important that we consider reforms to improve administration and rider experience. I think to talk about money before talking about reforms is irresponsible. […]

They’re not getting anything before we talk about reforms, everyone agrees that we need to implement some reforms first. We need to improve administration. We need to improve the rider experience. We can’t even have that money conversation before that. […]

They gotta get the trains to run on time. They gotta get people to and from work on time. They gotta get people around the city, around the suburbs, so that the transit experience helps our economy and not hurts it.