While there is little doubt that improvements to the region’s public transport system could generate significant economic and environmental gains, the current system barely has enough funding to operate, let alone upgrade or expand. This poses a problem for the metro-region’s future attractiveness, as public transit access and ease of mobility have been cited as key factors in the region’s high rankings among world cities. The Regional Transport Authority (RTA), which serves six counties and 88% of the population in the metro-region, has applied most of its funding on operations (over USD 2 billion annually) rather than maintenance or capital investment.23 This is due in part to operating costs that have outpaced inflation, rising 4.5% annually (CMAP, 2010a). Approximately half of RTA's operating costs are financed by fares and other system-related revenues (e.g. advertising and concession), with the remainder supplied by an RTA sales tax applied, a real estate transfer tax in the City of Chicago, and state matching funds and contributions.