A key player in the Springfield scramble to save mass transit said Friday there will be a fall bailout that uses a mix of tax hikes and a modest fare increase to avert dire service cuts at CTA, Metra and Pace.

State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) even floated a new idea to add to the revenue mix: a “large event surcharge” that would add anywhere from $1 to $3 to the price of tickets to major concerts and sporting events.

“It can be a catalyst to increase ridership,” Buckner said. “If you’re going to Lollapalooza and you’re paying an extra buck or $2 on your ticket each day, that ticket also doubles as your pass on the system for that day. That’s not just putting money in the coffers. It’s actually getting people to give back to the system and to use the system, which is what we’ve got to find a way to do as well.”

Buckner said a stalled $1.50-per delivery tax proposal could be part of the revenue mix but, “I don’t know if the $1.50 that the Senate did was the right level.”

But he does not believe a proposed 10% rideshare tax should make the final cut because rides on Uber and Lyft are “pretty high” already.

“Oddly, the reason that rideshare taxes are so high is because the demand is so high — because transit has been so bad,” Buckner said. “If we can find a way to make transit better, rideshare may not be as lucrative of a tax opportunity.”

In 2018, the CTA raised fares by 25 cents — to $2.25 on buses and $2.50 on trains. It was the first fare increase in nine years. The long gap between fare hikes is likely to end as part of the mass transit bailout.

Buckner favors an immediate fare increase of “no higher than 10%,” with an automatic escalator locking in future fare hikes at the rate of inflation.

“They have to be able to…incrementally put up a fare increase and then show immediately how this has helped improve service — that this is a different system,” Buckner said. “People don’t want to keep paying more for a broken system. So, they’ve got a two-pronged dance to do. They have to be able to make things better, get more revenue in creative ways, and they have to be able to show folks that… the juice is worth the squeeze.”

Last spring, Illinois lawmakers ended a state budget-dominated spring session without passing legislation to reform mass transit governance in the Chicago area or direct upwards of $1 billion in new funding to keep the CTA, Metra and Pace from coping with a $771 million budget deficit.

Buckner said he and his colleagues have been “working feverishly” ever since to find the right mix of revenues because no single tax or fee increase will get it done.

“I’m working on this every single day. I see how close we are. I’m not just a Pollyanna optimist. I know that we have done the work and we’re really close,” he said. “I am convinced that we’ll get this done in the fall veto session… It is going to happen this fall.”

The reformed governance structure for mass transit has already been decided. It calls for empowering a new Northern Illinois Transit Authority to set unified fares, allow for easier transfers and assume capital planning responsibilities.

As a 2023 mayoral challenger, Buckner ran a policy-oriented campaign focused on mass transit issues.

Mayor Brandon Johnson apparently liked some of Buckner’s ideas enough to ask his former opponent to become CTA president after the Dorval Carter Jr. retired. On Friday, Buckner refused to say why he turned down the mayor down.

Johnson stuck with Carter a lot longer than Buckner thought he should because the former federal mass transit bureaucrat was instrumental in delivering a full-funding agreement from the federal government to extend the CTA’s Red Line from 95th Street to 130th Street.

The 5.5-mile extension was promised by former Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1969. Now the cost of that project has ballooned to $5.3 billion. Buckner acknowledged that the “numbers are ridiculous now” and that the per-mile cost “continues to grow.”

But he said, “We’re not going to give $5.3 billion back to the federal government. Especially not under this president… Those funds have been earmarked for this project. So you’ve got to move forward.”

Buckner said his biggest concern is the dearth of retail stores and residential buildings along the 5.5-mile route. If “transit-oriented development” doesn’t accompany the project, Buckner said he fears the Red Line extension could turn into a “track to nowhere.”