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Acting CTA President Pledges Outreach, Engagement as Agency Works to Tackle Budget Gap and Draw Back Passengers
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The Chicago Transit Authority’s newly minted acting president said her focus is on “stability as well as opportunity” as the transit agency faces down a massive fiscal cliff and works to improve its relationship with riders.
Nora Leerhsen, who has worked at the CTA for more than 10 years, took over as its leader on Feb. 1. At Wednesday’s meeting of the agency’s board, Leerhsen told directors she spent her first days on the job traveling across the system and its facilities to meet with employees, reaching out to elected officials and working to better understand the most frequent complaints from passengers.
“Any change brings a natural opportunity to look at issues with a fresh view, to set a tone that is responsive to what we know riders and stakeholders want to hear from CTA,” Leerhsen said.
A key way for the CTA to learn about rider priorities is the agency’s chatbot launched last spring, which allows people to submit complaints about issues on the system. Leerhsen said she asked the team behind the chatbot to look for trends, and that baseline things like cleanliness and smoking quickly emerged as common themes.
“The smoking issue does come up as a primary complaint,” Leerhsen said. “Not all rule violations are created equal, and I think smoking really has an ability to really set a tone for a rider that is not indicative of what we want them to see.”
Leerhsen also told directors she is focused on working with other partners in the city to address “major societal issues” the agency can’t tackle on its own, including aiding the unhoused population on the CTA. Conversations are underway around potentially funding shelter beds specifically for people currently sheltering on transit, she said.
Issues of service reliability, cleanliness and other items Leerhsen raised in her first report to the board as the CTA’s president have been among key complaints from riders, transit advocates and lawmakers in recent years. With legislators in Springfield currently debating the future of public transportation in Chicago, Leerhsen said she understands the gravity of public engagement as a path to securing the funding that Chicago-area transit needs to stave off estimated service cuts of 40%.
“We have many audiences at this time, including state legislators, so part of the reason I’m voicing this work today is to make sure that people know we’re interested and committed (to) making these issues better,” Leerhsen told directors. “It is my hope that in doing that … we can be focused on the funding that we need.”
Last spring, lawmakers unveiled a measure that would do away with the Regional Transportation Authority, CTA, Metra and Pace in favor of a new regional agency overseeing all transit operations. Last week, a labor-backed coalition released a more modest proposal calling for increased service coordination and governance reforms that would keep the current agencies in place — though the potential cost and funding sources of that bill have not been publicly disclosed.
As of the end of 2024, the CTA had $626 million remaining of the federal COVID-19 relief funds that have been plugging the budget gap created by ridership that still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, fiscal woes that agency officials say are compounded by decades of underfunding. CTA Chief Financial Officer Tom McKone told directors he expects the agency will spend $578 million of the remaining relief money during 2025, creating a gap necessitating massive cuts in service if lawmakers don’t take action.
Officials said they plan to present a detailed scenario of how those cuts would play out at next month’s board meeting. Currently, McKone projects the CTA’s 2026 budget gap at $600 million, with a $640 million gap in 2027.
McKone was also asked whether Trump administration attempts to freeze federal funding and make major changes to policy priorities have so far affected the CTA. The agency relies on some $400 million in federal funding each year for its capital program, as well as major grants to fund infrastructure projects like the Red-Purple Modernization effort on the North Side and the Red Line Extension on the South Side.
“We’re watching it very closely,” McKone said. “We continue to draw against those awarded and obligated grants. The money continues to come back for reimbursement, so we have not seen a direct impact yet on any of the funds.”
With challenges on multiple fronts, Leerhsen said her work leading the CTA will be driven by a focus on outreach and engagement.
“These are not ordinary times for us in many ways,” Leerhsen told directors. “The work that we’re doing is on a stage that matters for our financial health and our future, and I want to make sure people are aware of that.”
Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg
