Politics

Transit Budget Gap Down to $200M, RTA Says; Advocates Aim to Keep Up Pressure for Reform, Funding

Regional Transportation Authority officials announced Friday that the fiscal cliff facing CTA, Metra and Pace has fallen to $200 million — but warned that without swift action from lawmakers, service cuts and layoffs will still hit in 2026 and dramatically worsen in 2027.

The easing of transit’s money troubles is due to a combination of a spike in sales tax revenue, an expected 10% fare increase and cost savings. RTA has also moved to delay any service cuts by shifting $74 million in operating money from Metra and Pace to CTA, which would have been the first agency to face a revenue gap. RTA also offered Pace an additional $42 million to cover a shortfall in its 2025 paratransit program.

Transit’s previous shortfall had been estimated at $771 million. 

The announcement comes just a week and a half before lawmakers are set to return to Springfield for the fall veto session, during which numerous legislators say transit will be a main priority.

“These actions will buy lawmakers a little more time, but the funding gap still looms,” RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard said in prepared remarks to an ad hoc committee aimed at addressing transit’s budget deficit. “We have worked to delay the impacts for as long as possible. … The responsibility now lies with Springfield.”

The announcement of the new estimate has rankled some transit boosters and labor leaders, who have called for major governance reforms tied to a significant increase in public funding.

“RTA is applying a patchwork of short term funding solutions, fare increases and slow-rolling much needed improvements to a system that drives so much of Illinois’ economy, and which so many Illinoisans rely on,” Active Transportation Alliance Executive Director Amy Rynell said in a statement on behalf of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition. “While the RTA downplays the urgency and need for action, it’s time for the Illinois General Assembly to reverse transit’s downward spiral and finally take action to reform the RTA and invest $1.5 billion in transit.”

Dillard denied any attempt to downplay the crisis and said RTA is committed to improving transit. But the delay in when transit will careen over a fiscal cliff could ease the pressure on state lawmakers to agree on a badly-needed fix. 

Any measure passed during the veto session needs a three-fifths majority to take immediate effect. If lawmakers delay action until the regular session beginning in January, they’d only need a simple majority to pass such a bill — potentially lessening the difficulty of whipping votes but creating further anxiety for transit agencies and riders.

“The people and taxpayers of Illinois deserve better; we cannot keep kicking the can down the road,” Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea said in a statement. “Now is the time to fully fund and pass transit reforms.”

Also on Friday, the Trump administration announced they will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects including the CTA’s planned Red Line extension amid the government shutdown. The money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting,” budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media.

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

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