Politics

CTA Leader Warns of ‘Severe and Sobering’ Choices Ahead if State Lawmakers Don’t Come Through With Transit Funding

Chicago Transit Authority Acting President Nora Leerhsen said the agency has entered a “new phase” after the Illinois General Assembly failed last month to pass a measure tackling a $770 million budget gap for Chicago-area transit.

Speaking at the agency’s board meeting Wednesday, Leerhsen cautioned that there will be no changes to CTA service during 2025 and highlighted ongoing plans to boost frequency and adjust certain bus routes aimed at improving rider experience.

But Leerhsen said the agency will soon consider multiple plans for next year: one based on Chicago-area transit receiving some $1.5 billion in annual state funding, as transit agencies, advocates and lawmakers have discussed; one that anticipates lawmakers only addressing the coming fiscal cliff created by COVID-19 relief money drying up; and one that anticipates no additional funding state funding, necessitating “draconian” service cuts.

Leerhsen called the third scenario for 2026 “severe and sobering for all of us, and hard to stomach.” Anticipating a worst-case scenario, she told directors the agency could begin public outreach around potential cuts during the summer and fall.

If drastic service rollbacks are needed, “we will never abandon our values as an agency in terms of equity, access and servicing our riders in the best way possible,” Leerhsen said.

Metra and Pace are also expected to prepare multiple budget and service plans at the behest of the Regional Transportation Authority.

While Leerhsen and members of the board expressed cautious optimism about the work done during the legislative session to highlight the dire need for public funding supporting transit, they also discussed measures approved by the Illinois Senate and introduced in the House that could dramatically restructure Chicago-area transit.

Under two similar plans from state lawmakers, the RTA would be replaced by a new, more powerful Northern Illinois Transit Authority. NITA would assume responsibility for things like fare policy and capital programs at a regional level, leaving the current transit agencies to focus primarily on running buses and trains.

Board Chairman Lester Barclay expressed worry that a more powerful regional authority could make it harder for agencies to respond nimbly to riders.

​“These kinds of structural changes risk undermining the very operations they’re meant to improve,” Barclay said.

Leerhsen said her focus when talking with lawmakers remains on providing adequate funding to transit. She called the agency’s Frequent Bus Network initiative that launched this year, which boosts scheduled service to 10-minute or better frequency on certain routes, a prime example of what CTA can do more of with more resources.

“When you add service, the ridership follows,” Leerhsen said, citing tens of thousands of additional riders across several lines that have recently seen added service.

Agency officials said they plan to add four new lines to the Frequent Bus Network next week: Madison, Chicago, Cicero and Cottage Grove.

Directors also approved a partnership with the Cook County Health and Hospital System to install Narcan vending machines at five stations in communities with high overdose rates: Jefferson Park on the Blue Line, Harlem/Lake on the Green Line, 47th and Howard on the Red line, and Central Park on the Pink Line.

That effort came to fruition after more than a year and a half of conversations among stakeholders. Last month, West Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force member Sheila Haennicke, who lost her son to an overdose, addressed the board and urged the agency to finalize the program.

At Wednesday’s meeting, board member Rev. L. Bernard Jakes thanked Haennicke for her advocacy.

“You are the epitome of turning pain into purpose,” Jakes told her.

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg

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