Since the emergency infusion of federal funds for transit enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic started to run out, Railway Age has been reporting on how major transit providers have been faring. Some, like New York’s MTA and NJ Transit, were among the first to get new state-level funding to keep those systems running for the next few years without severe service cuts. Pennsylvania recently gave its transit, including in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a two-year reprieve, although that required taking money from the capital side and moving it to the operating side. Now transit in Chicagoland has gotten a reprieve, too, thanks to new legislation.
Along with more money to fill the anticipated deficit, the State is changing the structure of transit governance in and around Chicago. A new regional board will replace the existing one, and it will have increased powers over the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra (which runs trains between Chicago and the suburban “collar” counties), and Pace, which operates buses in the suburbs, including lines that originate in outlying areas of Chicago itself.
As in many cities around the nation, the financial picture looked bleak for Chicagoland’s transit and next year’s service was in trouble, as John Greenfield reported for Streetsblog Chicago on June 1 The headline of his story about the previous night’s activity at the legislature was Chicagoland’s transit funding hits roadblock after House non-vote. RTA says 2026 budgets must reflect $771MM deficit. Transit managers and rider-advocates had warned that as much as 40% of existing service could be eliminated unless new sources of funding could be found. Greenfield predicted: “The legislators had a deadline of roughly midnight, after which hopes of properly funding buses and trains would turn into a pumpkin. In that case, the problem wouldn’t be addressed again until the veto session in October or November. But that would probably be too late for the transit agencies to avoid scheduling likely irreversible service cuts and layoffs for next year. The CTA got some temporary relief in August, when the RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) Board took $74 million from Metra and Pace and gave it to the CTA, as ABC7 reported on Aug. 21. The report said: “The CTA is the transit agency that is facing the most pressing fiscal challenges, so the RTA shifted the money over, but it’s only a Band-Aid on a very serious problem that is going to require major funding help from Springfield” but quoted RTA Chair Kirk Dillard as saying: “It’s more than a Band-Aid. It’s making sure that we provide as good service as we can with the dollar amounts that are available, and it gives the legislature a little more time to figure out how they’re going to solve the fiscal cliff.”
Legislation, Finally
Greenfield’s concern might have been well-founded, but it appears that help came in time, although it happened in the fall. The hoped-for legislation finally passed on Halloween morning and had nothing to do with the city’s famous “Chicagoween” parade and celebration. The legislature came through in the nick of time, according to RTA, which reported: “The Illinois House and Senate passed landmark transit legislation early in the morning on Oct. 31, just before the close of the fall legislative session. SB2111, which will be sent to the governor’s desk and is expected to be signed into law, includes and estimated amount of more than $1 billion in new operating funding for the reginal transit system. This sustainable funding will allow the system to not just avoid cuts in 2026 and beyond but improve service for millions of riders in the coming years.” The same day, Ben Szalinski of Capitol News Illinois reported a story with the headline Lawmakers approve $1.5B transit funding package without statewide tax increase: “The Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago Transit Agency, Metra commuter rail and Pace Suburban Bus collectively face a $230 million funding shortfall in 2026 as pandemic relief money runs out. The funding deficit is projected to grow to $834 million in 2027 and $937 million in 2028. Without action in Springfield to plug that gap, the transit agencies have said they could be forced to cut services by 40%” and “Republicans pleaded with the Democratic sponsors to pull the bill given the funding shortfall for the Chicago Transit Authority wouldn’t hit until the middle of 2026. But after more than a year of negotiations, Democratic leaders were ready to put the issue to rest.”
The new statute is not only about transit. It also includes a toll increase on the Illinois Tollway, as Hannah Hundell reported in the Peoria (in central Illinois) Journal-Star: “The new measure would raise tolls for passenger vehicles by 45 cents, ‘with proportionate reductions for reduced fare programs,’ according to the bill. Tolls for commercial vehicles would meanwhile be increased by 30%.’” The Journal-Star report had more to say about the transit provisions but, meanwhile in Chicago, the RTA issued a statement that said “The bill reorganizes the system under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA), with new responsibilities and a board that expands to 20 members with 5 members appointed by the governor. NITA builds on the current responsibilities of the RTA with the authority for setting fares and conducting service and capital planning, allowing the Service Boards to focus on delivering high-quality service. Starting in 2027, operating funding is distributed to CTA, Metra, and Pace using a new formula that includes key metrics from the National Transit Database (NTD) and transitioning in a few years to soon-to-be-developed service standards that will help guide appropriate levels of service for different communities.” In short, NITA, which will replace RTA, will have broad powers to set fares and coordinate regional projects. In effect, much of the decision-making regarding the CTA, Metra and Pace will now occur on a regional basis, rather than by each of the services individually. There had been a proposal to eliminate the separate service boards, but their authority was reduced instead. The RTA gave this example in a post on its web site from November 10: “The legislation requires no fare increases for 2026. In the future, instead of each Service Board offering different reduced fares, NITA will have sole authority over all special fare programs for the entire regional transit system. And in 2028, NITA will implement several new fare programs, including fare capping, income-based reduced fare programs, and free and reduced fare programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.”
The Nov. 6 RTA post also included a lengthy and extensive summary of the legislation, which covers many details of the changes that are coming during the next few years. The new 20-member NITA Board will have five appointees from the governor, the City of Chicago, Cook County (which also includes other municipalities), and one each from the “collar counties” where Metra trains run.
The legislation also included several funding measures to keep transit going in the region, also without raising any state taxes. An estimated $860 million from motor-fuel tax revenue will be dedicated to transit operations, split 85% ($731MM) to the RTA (soon to be NITA) region and 15% ($129MM) for transit downstate. Beginning on July 1, 2026, 5% of the 6.25% state sales tax on gasoline will go from the Road Fund to transit operations. The sales tax in the transit region will be increased by 0.25%, which will also be spent on transit. The RTA expects the increase to bring in $478 million for the region. There will also be new capital revenue from interest on the Road Fund balance, estimated at $200 million and split 90% for the RTA region and 10% for downstate transit.
Szalinski reported on Nov. 6: “Chicago-area public transportation agencies won’t need to raise fares, cut routes or lay off workers next year after state lawmakers approved a bill overhauling public transit, the head of the Regional Transportation Authority said Thursday. The agencies collectively faced a $230 million deficit in 2026 that would increase to $834 million in 2027. The RTA now expects the agencies to receive $565 million in additional funding next year and $1.3 billion more in 2027 and 2028.”
Szalinski also reported on another change expected to bring some relief to the transit agencies: “Less money will also come from fares. Before the pandemic, Chicago’s transit agencies were required by state law to receive half of their revenue from fares. That requirement is being lowered to 25% starting next year before declining to 20% in 2030.” However, he also said that some of the changes will not be coming soon: “Several key changes for riders are also likely still several years away. The bill calls for implementing a new universal fare collection system by early 2030. It also establishes a series of dates by which NITA must complete a series of studies. But it doesn’t require the agencies to follow a coordinated regional service plan until 2029.”
Chicagoans Speak
Two weeks before the legislation was passed, Prof. Justin Marlowe of the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy was interviewed for an article published by the University. He blamed the fiscal cliff on rising costs and declining ridership in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as have many managers and advocates around the country, but also said: “Chicago has one of the best transit systems in the country in terms of options but it hasn’t made the forward-looking investments that could save money down the road, like retrofitting for more fuel-efficient vehicles. On the revenue side, the system has long relied heavily on fares. State law has traditionally required that more than half of operating revenues come from riders, which can trigger the so-called ‘death spiral’ of raising fares, losing riders and then having to raise fares again. Add to that a heavy dependence on the sales tax, which was designed for a 19th-century goods economy, not today’s service-driven one. In Illinois, we traditionally tax goods rather than services. Over time, that tax base has eroded, even as expenses keep rising.” He also blamed a governance problem: “The RTA was set up as a coordinating body, but in practice the CTA, Metra and Pace behave like three separate agencies. They serve different constituencies, have different governance structures and have limited authority to do the kind of centralized, well-coordinated capital planning and service delivery that we see in other regional transit systems” and looked forward to reform: “One proposal would create a ‘super agency’ with real power to borrow, plan and coordinate system wide. That could make a meaningful difference over time, though it won’t solve the immediate budget hole.”
The Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) advocates for rail as part of its advocacy for a cleaner environment. On Nove. 6, the organization posted a statement headlined Two Climate Wins for Illinois: Public Transit and Clean Energy: “These two bills—the transit bill and the energy bill—put the state on a strong and sustainable path forward. By passing the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act, lawmakers not only saved the system, but reinvested in its future. For the first time, the transit system has both the operating resources and oversight needed to provide seamless, safe, and reliable transit across the Chicagoland region and across the state.”
F.K. Plous, a longtime journalist, advocate and Railway Age contributor, told me: “I expect that, before they have full, stable funding, there will be a series of emergency funding measures. That’s what happens when you don’t have serious long-range planning.” He added: “It’s probably a good idea to have a strong and powerful superagency.” He also had more to say, including an ambitious vision for rail service in the region, which we present as an “additional commentary” following this story.
New Funding-Plus
If all the new statute did was keep the funding going for transit in Chicagoland, that alone would constitute a major step in the right direction. Other states, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have done that lately. Illinois went a step further by reforming transit governance to give it a region-wide perspective. Of course, that means the local service boards will lose some authority, because core issues like fares and major service decisions will be made at the regional, rather than individual agency level. Still, the separate boards for the component agencies will still exist as a place for some local decision making and interaction with riders as a major group of stakeholders, or at least that remains a hope. In short, the Illinois legislature might have come up with a practical compromise and a model that could make sense for other places in the country where transit runs beyond a city or county line, and especially where the transit mix includes a railroad like Metra.
One difference between Chicago’s reprieve and those in other states is that it goes beyond the single act of keeping transit funding going for a few years. It changed the governance structure in a way that legislators, along with many managers and advocates, hope will improve both funding and service delivery for the long term. We don’t know how well it will do, but it seems like a worthy experiment.
F. K. Plous Commentary
F.K. Plous began his journalism career at the Sun-Times on the City Hall beat in the 1960s. He has also been observing the rail scene since that time and is an occasional contributor to Railway Age and the Chicago Tribune. He suggests an ambitious agenda for the new NITA Board, which he believes goes well with the new emphasis on regional rail service. This is the commentary that he submitted to me:
“The creation of a super-board to oversee and to some extent manage the three service boards is a long-overdue development. We have a surplus of personnel and a deficit of output at all three service agencies, most particularly the CTA, and some strong top-down management will be needed to restrain spending, reduce employment and raise output and performance standards everywhere in the system. But efficiency alone will not make Chicago transit decisively more effective or efficient. What we need desperately and urgently is growth in the rail infrastructure at both CTA and Metra so that rail can perform more and different logistical tasks now dominated by automobiles. Both CTA and Metra still seem focused on extending their lines into ever more distant and sparsely populated territories when the real task is to enrich the rail route structure in the densely populated but transit-lorn neighborhoods of the city and the existing, older suburbs.
“For the CTA this means re-igniting planning for the inner-city ‘Super Loop’ that was proposed more than 20 years ago and then dropped. The new Super Loop needs to branch off the Orange Line at Chinatown and dive into a new subway under the ‘78,’ the proposed Near South Side neighborhood between Roosevelt Road and 16th Street on empty land that formerly held the tracks and yards leading into the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s long-demolished Grand Central Station. A stop at Roosevelt Road would serve the new Chicago Fire soccer stadium now being planned. The line would then head northwest under the Chicago River to Canal Street and stop at long superstation which for the first time would bring CTA rapid-transit service to both Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center. The line would follow the river north to the site of the proposed Lincoln Yards development (now called Foundry Park), then loop back south under Ashland Avenue and return to the existing Orange Line infrastructure at the Damen Avenue station and head east to repeat its itinerary at Chinatown.
“For Metra, the task is to build new transverse routes that cross the existing mainline spokes centered on downtown Chicago. More than 60 years ago, Illinois built an arc-shaped tollway system allowing suburbanites to travel from suburb to suburb via a gently arcing superhighway system without going downtown to change routes. The suburban rail system needs to offer the same flexibility by building passenger infrastructure along the existing alignments of the Belt Railway of Chicago, the Indiana Harbor Belt Line and the former Elgin, Joliet & eastern Railway that is now part of CN. Two of these routes—the IHB and the CN—would be particularly useful in bringing suburban air travelers into O’Hare Airport, eliminating a huge burden from the regional expressway and tollway systems. And all the routes would enable suburban travelers to make suburbs-to-suburb trips without going downtown to change trains. Further flexibility would be provided at transfer stations wherever one of the new circumferential routes crossed an existing Metra main line centered on downtown Chicago.
“A third major efficiency could be achieved if the new agency were to plan and fund the Regional Rail scheme proposed by the High Speed Rail Alliance. HSRA has proposed a bi-state, 125-mph electrified railroad following the existing South Shore Line alignment from South Bend to Chicago, bypassing the existing downtown terminal at Randolph and Michigan in favor of a Near South Side bypass that would take the trains, via existing but newly electrified tracks, into Union Station. After a brief stop the trains would continue out the north end of Union Station onto the existing Milwaukee North Line tracks, which would be electrified, to a new station under the O’Hare Airport terminal. Leaving O’Hare on existing alignments with electrification, the trains would terminate at Rockford, 90 miles northwest of Chicago.
“The campaign for these new lines will be a long one and construction will have a long and expensive timeline as well, but their construction would result in a huge enrichment of the Chicago regional economy that can be achieved in no other way. I certainly hope that the new transportation authority understands that its remit amounts to much more than a more efficient operation of the existing system. It needs to build—outward and inward—if rail is to make its full contribution to the regional economy and the regional way of life.”
