Officials Celebrate Funding For Pace, RTA, And CTA

Shown, left to right, are State Representative Bob Rita; State Senator Napoleon Harris III; Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger; Governor JB Pritzker; Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski; RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard; and IEPA Acting Director James Jennings. (Photo courtesy of Pace)

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Acting Director James Jennings recently joined Pace Suburban Bus and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) at Pace’s new state-of-the-art Markham Campus Bus Acceptance Facility to celebrate a $27 million award to Pace for the purchase of electric buses and $31.25 million to the RTA (for the Chicago Transit Authority) through “Driving a Cleaner Illinois.”

The Driving a Cleaner Illinois – Volkswagen grant opportunity for electric buses to the RTA region are the largest grants that IEPA has announced from the program to date; the previous high was $14 million.

Pace will provide a $9 million match and the RTA will provide a $10.42 million match to the IEPA award. Pace will purchase 27 battery-electric buses (BEBs) and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will purchase 30-all-electric transit buses to replace the oldest diesel buses in their fleets.

Honored speakers included Governor Pritzker; State Senator Napoleon Harris; Markham, IL, Mayor Roger Agpawa; IEPA Acting Director Jennings; RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard; Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski; and Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger.

Kwasneski welcomed guests and said, “Public transit is more than just buses — it’s about connecting people to jobs, schools, healthcare, and opportunity, and being a good steward of our environment.”

Driving a Cleaner Illinois is the IEPA’s grant program developed to distribute funding for various types of mobile source electrification projects. The Driving a Cleaner Illinois Program implements funding from a variety of sources, including the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Program.

Grant awards from IEPA to RTA and Pace will be incorporated into the RTA 5-Year Regional Capital Program later this year and future service board bus purchasing plans will incorporate these grants to receive new electric buses in the near future.

The Illinois EPA has been designated as the lead agency to administer funds allocated to Illinois from the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust. Illinois’ initial allocation of funds is approximately $108 million to be used to fund mobile source diesel emission reduction projects. The funds are to be used for projects that reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides in Illinois.

“Emissions from diesel powered transit buses negatively impact air quality in the communities they serve and the region as a whole,” Jennings said. “Through the VW settlement funding and additional cost-sharing commitments from both Pace and RTA/CTA, these projects represent a $77 million investment in clean transportation that will benefit communities throughout the Chicago area.”

“It’s refreshing to see how something that began as a challenge for Volkswagen has been turned into a positive force for change, furthering both our region’s and the state’s pollution reduction goals. This transformation underscores the real impact of investing in clean transportation solutions,” Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger said.

Pace provides transit options for the residents of 274 municipalities in the northeastern Illinois counties of Cook, Will, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry.