During its board meeting earlier this month, Metra revealed that it would lose more than $500 million in fares and sales taxes collected by local governments in 2020 and 2021 due to the crisis, which knocked ridership down by 97%. The railroad expects about $480 million in federal relief aid.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.