More bus service. Cleaner trains. And a lot more police.

Those are some of the initiatives the Regional Transportation Authority wants to fund with $132 million in tax revenue for the CTA, Metra and Pace this year.

Last fall, state lawmakers approved landmark transit funding legislation they say will transform Chicago-area public transit with the help of a planned sales tax hike and a diversion of a portion of the state’s sales tax on motor fuel to public transportation.

This month, the RTA announced how it plans to spend the first big batch of new funding, which will pay for new security initiatives and expanded transit service across the region.

The chunk of change is a drop in the bucket compared with the $1.5 billion lawmakers expect the transit reform legislation — which doesn’t go into effect until June — will raise annually in future years. But it represents an initial statement of priorities and offers a glimpse at the improvements riders can hope to see on trains, buses and station platforms this year.

More money from this batch is slated for policing and other security initiatives than for service expansion and improvement, raising the eyebrows of some transit advocates who would have liked to see more of the new money going to increased frequency of trains and buses.

Almost $60 million is slated for security initiatives, with just under $54 million going toward transit service. About $19 million is slated for miscellaneous initiatives like a reduced fare program and signage improvements.

The largest single expenditure in the budget amendment is $20 million for Chicago Police Department staffing on the CTA. An additional $10 million is going to canine security guard staffing, for which the CTA contracts privately. Metra, which has its own police department, is getting more police as well, to the tune of $3.8 million.

The CTA boosted law enforcement staffing on the system significantly this winter after demands from President Donald Trump’s administration that it do so or risk losing up to $50 million in federal funding.

The feds appear to have found the agency’s law enforcement plan — which includes adding patrols from the Cook County sheriff’s police, also funded by the new amendment — satisfactory for now, saying in March that the funds they’d threatened to pull would not be withheld at least for the time being.

In an interview, Maulik Vaishnav, the RTA’s executive director of planning and capital programming, acknowledged the CTA’s law enforcement surge plan “drove a lot of the decisions on funding.”

Vaishnav added that safety is high on the list of concerns from riders.

“It is the No. 1 concern for a lot of folks, and it makes sense to make this investment at this point,” Vaishnav said, adding that most of the agency’s overall budget goes toward paying for transit service.

Serious crimes on the portion of the CTA within city limits are down compared with last year, according to Chicago police data, and the CTA has cited recent improvements in crime numbers since first boosting law enforcement in December. Still, certain crimes, namely aggravated batteries and sexual assaults, are up year-over-year.

“It is a bit concerning that … we’re not seeing as much on the service side,” said Kyle Lucas of the advocacy group Better Streets Chicago. Laura Saltzman, transportation policy analyst for the disability rights group Access Living, said she understood the CTA was under pressure on security, including from the feds, but would have preferred to see a larger percentage of new funding going toward service.

“The $1.5 billion secured through (the transit reform legislation) was designed for operational excellence — not law enforcement expansion,” wrote Denise W. Barreto, who was until last year the CTA’s chief equity and engagement officer, in testimony submitted to the Illinois House’s appropriations committee.

Justin Marlowe, director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago, said the funding decisions “may have been necessary given the current political environment.” And allocating resources to “visible, salient priorities like public safety makes sense,” he said.

However, Marlowe wrote in an email to the Tribune, the allocations demonstrate a reactive budgeting approach, rather than one that is more forward-looking.

It’s mostly a recognition that the system isn’t getting the basics right, and if the basics aren’t right, it’s hard to imagine that NITA will fulfill its promise,” he wrote.

Some say the safety spending will help encourage Chicagoans to use public transit.

Audrey Wennink, senior director leading transportation policy for the Metropolitan Planning Council, said she thought public safety initiatives would help build confidence in transit, adding that there should be “clear reporting” on whether new expenditures deliver their intended results.

And in a statement, state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, a Democrat and a key architect of the transit legislation, said she was “encouraged” to see the amendment reflect both public safety and service priorities. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, another transit legislation leader and Democrat, said he “look(ed) forward to seeing the positive impacts of this budgetary decision.”

The new batch of money is separate from a $245 million pool of new funds officials already allocated to help close looming budget gaps. The CTA got more than half of that batch of funds, with smaller portions going to Metra and Pace.

The RTA is not yet allocating an additional $187 million in anticipated new revenue, saying it is leaving decisions about those funds to the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which will replace it in June.

The staff of the soon-to-be-defunct RTA presented the budget amendment at the agency’s April board meeting. Board members are expected to vote on the new budget in May.

CTA: More frequent buses, slow zone mitigation

All together, the CTA will receive about $64 million, which the agency says will help provide “safe, reliable and accessible services that are responsive to rider needs.”

The CTA will spend $10 million on improving slow zones — stretches of aging track where trains slow to a crawl, making commutes longer. The new funds will go toward work on the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow lines, spokesperson Catherine Hosinski said.

The funding will allow the agency to eliminate about 10,000 feet of slow zones in 2026 on top of previously planned work.

Another $10 million will pay for rail car maintenance for vehicles used mostly on the Orange, Brown and Blue Lines.

The CTA will spend $1.5 million to add the 35, 8, 74 and 85 buses to the agency’s Frequent Network, which means those routes will run at least every 10 minutes throughout most of the day.

And $1.75 million will fund a previously announced expansion of the 10 bus to the Obama Presidential Center as well as an extension of the 57 bus “to address a significant service gap that exists on the West Side of Chicago,” Hosinski said. The latter extension will still need to be approved by the CTA’s board.

In addition to funding for its law enforcement surge, the CTA is planning to spend $2 million on crisis intervention teams.

What’s not included? Funding to run the Orange Line 24 hours a day, one of the first major service improvements that acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen floated after lawmakers approved new transit funding last fall.

“We really see that as a conversation that NITA needs to have,” the RTA’s Vaishnav said.

Hosinski said the Orange Line “remains a critical component of our efforts to improve late night and overnight transit service.”

“We anticipate rolling out late night service improvements in the near future in coordination with NITA,” she said.

Metra: Rock Island service, more police

Metra’s largest line item isn’t for a new initiative: It’s $7.8 million to pay the Union Pacific Railroad for use of its track, mechanical facilities and stations.

Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis said Metra budgeted about $6 million for those purposes this year.

“We did not have a lot of time when putting our 2026 budget together to complete the appraisals necessary to determine that amount for this year,” he said. “After the appraisals were done, the full amount was $7.8 (million) higher.

Metra is also planning to spend $5.5 million on more frequent service throughout the day on its Rock Island Line. The NITA legislation requires the agency to implement a regional rail pilot program on that line by January 2027.

For $3.8 million, Metra is getting 14 new police officers and six sergeants and captains. The agency also plans to spend $1.4 million on a dozen body cameras for train conductors. Gillis said the agency hopes the cameras will serve as a deterrent and that they could help in criminal investigations.

The agency plans to spend $3 million on enhanced cleaning of Metra train coaches.

Pace: More staffing, better shields for operators

Pace is getting a total of $8.5 million from the new budget amendment.

The largest chunk, $5.5 million, is for weekend bus garage staffing, which spokesperson Maggie Daly Skogsbakken said would cover operators, supervisors, maintenance workers and administrative staffing to support expanded suburban bus service.

Another $3 million is going toward retrofitting bus shields for bus operators. Skogsbakken said the funding will be used to make sure Pace’s bus shields comply with specs dictated by the new transit legislation, which include requirements that shields stretch from floor to ceiling.

Reduced fares, better signage

The amendment includes more than $37 million that will fund regionwide priorities. That includes $10 million that will be used primarily to expand a reduced fare program for low-income riders on the CTA and Pace. The program already exists for Metra riders.

There’s also $5.4 million for improving signage and other information for riders, such as providing real-time elevator status information at transit stations.

Land-use related initiatives are getting $3.75 million, most of which is additional funding for an RTA program that funds infrastructure improvements like bike racks and bus shelters.

The allocation also funds a study of transit-oriented development around the future CTA Green Line station in Englewood, which the transit legislation requires the CTA to open in a few years.

The RTA is seeking public comment on the proposed budget amendment through May 8.

tasoglin@chicagotribune.com