Without a funding solution by the end of spring, thousands of Chicago’s workers could lose access to transportation for their daily commute, transit agencies said Friday.
The warning, from the Regional Transportation Authority, said without a funding solution from the Illinois General Assembly for the $770 million fiscal cliff transit agencies face, the entities would have to make potential “doomsday” cuts to service. Officials said that could include eliminating half of CTA rail lines, all weekend Pace bus service and drastic cuts at Metra. The cuts would leave one in five city of Chicago workers without access to transit for their daily commutes, as well as ending all weekend Pace bus service, eliminating early morning and late evening service for Metra and wiping out nearly 3,000 transit jobs. The cuts would deal a blow to the regional economy, officials said.
“This isn’t just a transit crisis—it’s a regional emergency,” RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden said. “If the General Assembly does not act this spring, hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans will wake up in 2026 without a way to get to work, school or medical appointments with continued uncertainty in future years about their transit services. This doomsday scenario can still be avoided as long as our state partners vote to fully fund transit operations before it’s too late.”
The agencies said the $770 million budget shortfall would require agencies to cut up to 40 percent of their service to balance their budgets. In response to a resolution passed by the RTA Board of Directors in January, the service boards have provided examples of the scale and scope of cuts to address the shortfall.
Planning for the cuts would begin immediately if the legislature does not secure sustainable funding by the end of its session in May. Community meetings and public hearing would be held in the fall before initial cuts were made to the agency’s 2026 budgets.
Officials said without state funding entire communities could lose transit service, business will struggle to retain workers, traffic congestion will surge, and Chicago’s economic engine will stall.