Chicago Transit Agencies on Brink of Major Crisis

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) of Northern Illinois, which serves the Chicago metro area, faces a devastating $770 million budget shortfall without additional funding from the state, officials warn.

“According to the agency, the lack of funding would end all weekend bus service for Pace and eliminate early morning and late evening service for Metra, wiping out nearly 3,000 transit jobs and delivering a devastating blow to the regional economy,” states an article in Mass Transit. The agency estimates the region would lose $2.6 billion in annual GDP due to the cuts.

Regional transit agencies including the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace could see service cuts of up to 40 percent. “According to RTA, planning for cuts would begin immediately following the end of session if sustainable funding is not secured, with community meetings and public hearings held in the fall before initial cuts are included in the agencies’ 2026 budgets.”

RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden called the crisis “a regional emergency,” noting that “If the general assembly does not act this spring, hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans will wake up in 2026 without a way to get to work, school or medical appointments with continued uncertainty in future years about their transit services.”

CTA officials say the funding gap would cause it to reduce or eliminate service on half of its rail lines, impacting service at over 50 stations, and eliminate as many as 74 of its 127 bus lines. “CTA would go from one of the largest transit systems in the country to having fewer bus routes than Madison, Wis., and Kansas City, Mo.” Similar cuts would happen at Metra, which would likely eliminate early morning and late evening trains and reduce weekday service to once per hour. Pace riders in transit-dependent suburbs could see all weekend bus service eliminated in addition to reduced nighttime service and longer headways.