(70 ILCS 3615/2.11.30) (This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date) Sec. 2.11.30. Safety standards and investments. (a) The Authority shall establish, enforce, and facilitate achievement and maintenance of standards of safety with respect to public transportation provided by the Authority or by Transportation Agencies under a purchase of service or grant agreement. (b) The Authority shall establish standards for the design and maintenance of its facilities in ways that increase the safety of and perception of safety by users of the public transportation system. The standards shall address environmental factors that impact safety, such as the lighting of stations and bus stops. (c) The Authority shall explore and, where appropriate, deploy technologies that enhance the safety of users of the public transportation system. (d) The Authority shall ensure that public transportation system users on service provided by any Service Board or Transportation Agency can report safety issues in real time. The Authority shall develop and deploy a single feature in its mobile application that shall allow users of the public transportation system to report safety issues in real time to the Authority. The feature must connect users to law enforcement or other appropriate personnel who can respond to the user's safety concerns in a timely and meaningful manner. This feature shall be operational no later than 180 days of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly. (e) The Authority may establish standards for other investments to improve the safety of riders and workers as deemed appropriate. (f) The Authority shall conduct customer satisfaction polling annually. The customer satisfaction polling shall collect quantitative and qualitative data about rider experience and safety, including questions that explore and measure the perception of safety, cleanliness, maintenance, availability, accessibility, dependability, rider information, and rider care by users of the public transportation system. (g) In recognition of the fact that travel by public transportation is significantly safer than travel by other means of surface transportation, the Authority shall work cooperatively with the Department of Transportation, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and other units of government to assist them in using investments in public transportation facilities and operations as a tool to help the Department and units of local government meet their roadway crash, fatality, and serious injury reduction goals. To the maximum extent allowed by law, the Authority is eligible to receive funding and other assistance from local, State, and federal sources so the Authority can assist in using improved and expanded public transportation in the metropolitan region to improve safety in the surface transportation sector. (h) The security portion of the system safety program, investigation reports, surveys, schedules, lists, or data compiled, collected, or prepared by or for the Authority under this subsection shall be confidential and shall not be subject to discovery or admitted into evidence in federal or State court or considered for other purposes in any civil action for damages arising from any matter mentioned or addressed in the reports, surveys, schedules, lists, data, or information. (i) Neither the Authority or its directors, officers, or employees nor a Service Board or the Service Board's directors, officers, or employees may be held liable in any civil action for any injury to any person or property for any acts or omissions or failure to act under this Section or under 49 CFR Part 659 as now or hereafter amended. (j) Nothing in this Section alleviates an individual's duty to comply with the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act.
(Source: P.A. 104-457, eff. 6-1-26.) |