For the third year in a row, regional transit ridership was up by double-digits in 2024
Ridership across the Chicago region’s transit system continued to increase throughout 2024, according to the latest data from CTA, Metra, and Pace. The regio...
January 28, 2025
RTA is seeking $1.5 billion in annual operating funding. What would that mean for your commute?
On January 15, RTA released Transforming Transit, a vision for the regional transit system with $1.5 billion in annual operating funding supported by a stron...
January 28, 2025
RTA proposes reforms to increase efficiency, transparency, and accountability across transit system
RTA is proposing a historic restructuring of the region’s transit governance to maximize the impact of new operating funding and ensure all riders experience...
January 24, 2025
What Chicago can learn from Philadelphia as the transit fiscal cliff approaches
Beginning in 2026, Chicago’s regional transit system faces a projected $770 million annual budget gap. At nearly 20% of the annual operating budget, this gap...
January 23, 2025
Voters overwhelmingly support transit nationally this election cycle
Voters across the nation were not only asked to choose their elected representatives this November, but in many states the future of their local transit syst...
November 21, 2024
State hearings show broad support for funding transit and increasing service across region
Lawmakers, local leaders, and transit stakeholders from throughout the region recognize the extraordinary value of the transit system and the need for sustai...
November 21, 2024
2025 Regional transit budget available for public comment, foreshadows risk to system’s future without fiscal cliff solution
The RTA has released the 2025 Regional Transit Operating Budget and Five-Year Capital Program for download and public comment. The budget comes as an operati...
November 15, 2024
Riders and regional officials call for sustainable funding, improved service at RTA’s Suburban Transit Summit
To gather feedback and build support for improving transit service with new, expanded funding, the RTA hosted a half-day Suburban Transit Summit in Arlington...
November 11, 2024
Why Illinois legislators must reach a transit funding solution by spring 2025—and what happens if they don’t
Chicago’s regional transit system is facing a projected operating shortfall of more than $730 million annually—or nearly 20% of the regional operating budget...
October 9, 2024
Illinois should learn from past transit funding crises and achieve sustainable funding
Public transit operations in the Chicago region have been chronically underfunded—particularly at the state level. Today, state funding makes up only 17% of ...
October 1, 2024
How peer states are addressing their transit systems’ fiscal cliffs
Public transit plays an essential role in the lives of millions of riders across the Chicago region and has the potential to reach even more people, but the ...
September 11, 2024
A pivotal choice for transit: RTA analysis explores outcome of either falling off the fiscal cliff or investing in transit
At the RTA’s August board meeting, staff presented new economic impact analyses illustrating two drastically different potential futures for the regional tra...
August 28, 2024
