Funding the Operation | Regional Transportation Authority

Transit Funding

The RTA plays a vital role in financing the region’s public transit system. The agency is responsible for overseeing the operating budgets and capital programs of the region’s three transit operators: CTA, Metra, and Pace, often referred to as the Service Boards.

How transit is funded, and how the funding is spent, are both complex processes that the RTA is committed to ensuring with as much transparency and accountability as possible.

View the latest data on the RTA's Chicago Region Transit Dashboard.

What is capital funding?

The capital program is the funds used to invest in the long-term maintenance, upkeep, and any expansion of the system. This includes things such as new vehicles, repairs to stations and tracks, upgraded technology, and infrastructure that improves accessibility like elevators and ramps. The 2022-2026 Capital Program totals $5.26 billion.

Recent major influxes in capital funding from state and federal infrastructure bills have led to many long-needed projects being built in the Chicago region, and many more are planned. However, the maintenance costs for the region’s transit system are great and a long-term sustainable funding solution is needed to keep transit in a state of good repair today, and for the next generation.

Learn more about how the capital dollars are spent according to priorities such as safety, equity, and accessibility, and view a map of current projects underway.

Improving the System

Our Role in Financing the Transit System

The RTA led the region's transit system through the COVID-19 pandemic by allocating funds from three major federal relief packages to allow transit operations to continue, analyzing data, communicating transparently about the state of the crisis, and taking action to secure sustainable funding for transit. Federal relief dollars distributed by the RTA earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to support transit operations for the upcoming budget year, making up about 20% of the budget. A gap of that size, projected to become an issue for the first time in 2026, would be devastating to our regional transit system and the riders it serves. The RTA's Transit is the Answer Coalition and the 2024 Legislative Agenda will continue to work to address this gap and address the structural problem resulting from years of overreliance on fare revenue for transit.

View the budget

Transit Funding

Money for public transit is typically divided into Operating and Capital

What is operating funding?

What is capital funding?

Our Role in Financing the Transit System

Thank you!