Riders and regional officials call for sustainable funding and reform to improve service at RTA’s Transforming Transit Summit

Chicago's transit system is facing a fiscal cliff in 2026 that will mean drastic service cuts across CTA, Metra, and Pace. The RTA is advocating for additional funding and reform to ensure our transit system can not only survive, but thrive. We need your help. Send a letter to your legislators at SaveTransitNow.org.

To gather feedback and build support for improving transit service with new, expanded funding and governance reforms, the RTA hosted a half-day Transforming Transit Summit at the Chicago Cultural Center on April 15 in partnership with CTA, Metra, and Pace. The event also provided a forum to soft-launch the RTA's Save Transit Now campaign, which empowers Illinois residents to send letters to legislators urging funding and reform for the transit system as it faces down an unprecedented fiscal cliff.

Attendees heard from leaders of peer agencies in Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay area, as well as key legislators and leaders at RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace. The summit ended with breakout sessions on a variety of topics, including revenue options and reforms, the rider experience, service innovation and coordination, and more.

Opening speakers: The time to act is now

The program opened with remarks from Sen. Ram Villivalam, Chair of the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee, who emphasized after years of discussing the fiscal cliff with riders, advocates, and stakeholders, the time is now to solve the funding and governance issues facing the regional transit system.

An opening conversation between WTTW's Nick Blumberg and RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden emphasized the urgency of the moment. The two discussed background on the fiscal cliff, including that COVID-19 did not cause transit's funding crisis, but exacerbated it, as the system has been chronically underfunded for decades. Redden shared details on two scenarios: falling off the fiscal cliff or investing $1.5 billion in the system. The consequences of inaction include devastating service cuts across the region, including the elimination of portions of four CTA rail lines, an end to weekend Pace bus service that will reduce the ADA Paratransit service area by 66%, and a reduction in Metra trains by nearly half-not to mention dire economic and traffic impacts. Alternatively, investing $1.5 billion in operations annually could cut rider wait times nearly in half, fund a transit ambassador program to make riders safer, and expand service in a way that could be transformative for individuals and the region as a whole.

Peer agency panel: How other regions are approaching their fiscal cliffs

A panel discussion featuring Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) CEO Randy Clarke (Washington, D.C.) and Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Andrew Fremier (San Fransico Bay Area), moderated by RTA Senior Deputy Executive Director, Planning and Capital Programming, Maulik Vaishnav, explored how each agency is confronting their fiscal cliffs and planning to deliver more frequent service, integrated fares, and strategic capital investment.

The panel discussed their unique governance structures and emphasized that there is no one correct way to run a regional transit system, as priorities, histories, and contexts differ from place to place. For example, WMATA's board consists of representatives from D.C., neighboring states, and the federal government, and MTC oversees nearly 30 transit operators. What is consistent across the board is good service requires adequate funding.

"This system is amazing here," said WMATA's Clarke, as the crowd responded with applause. "Chicago has never been funded to the level it needed to be funded. It's just the reality."

Clarke shared his strategy that recently resulted in $460 million in additional operating funding, including grounding the agency in excellent service delivery. His customer-focused strategy has also resulted in an 82% reduction in fare evasion, an eight-year low in crime, the best frequency in the agency's history during peak, off-peak, nights, and weekends, and 26 months of leading the country in ridership recovery. Showing these results was key to securing the funding the system needed as it faced its fiscal cliff. Alternatively, if a major transit fiscal cliff goes unaddressed, it will result in reversing these improvements and spiral agencies into service cuts because transit systems are already run on such tight budgets.

"When you have to make major cuts, you have to cut deep to the bone because there is nothing else to balance it," Clarke said.

The panel also stressed that the idea of joint development (transit agencies generating revenue from developing land they own) is not an immediate solution to transit fiscal cliffs. MTC's Fremier said this has been in progress for decades, and MTC is finally seeing real benefits. While joint development will not provide an overnight budget fix for transit agencies, building housing and developing land near transit improves rider access and therefore increases ridership. RTA is embarking on a joint development study to understand the potential of developing transit owned land at or near rail stations.

Another topic the panel tackled was fare integration and offering a seamless rider experience. Given that the San Francisco Bay Area is served by nearly 30 transit operators, Fremier said they are always working to simplify the rider experience and coordinate fares with tools like the Clipper card. This includes standardizing youth, senior, and low-income fares across the region and simplifying transfers as well as wayfinding signage.

Concluding the panel, Clarke offered that transit agencies and legislatures will need to become more comfortable with technology and with remaining nimble, as funding issues, service planning, and other transportation challenges will need to be addressed quickly.

Local panel: The future of the Chicago region's transit system

Following a break, a panel featuring RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden, CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen, Metra CEO Jim Derwinski, and Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger explored the future of the Chicago region's transit system. A key theme of the discussion was that funding enables frequency, which is key to coordination among the three operating agencies. With $1.5 billion in operations investment, CTA could offer 6-minute headways on rail and 8-minute headways on bus routes. This would be transformative for riders and could encourage a steep increase in transit use. Similarly, more funding could result in expansion of Pace Pulse lines, which have been incredibly successful in growing ridership, as well as Pace on-demand service in more suburban and rural areas of the region. And additional funding could allow Metra to run more regular, frequent service, making it a better option for spontaneous trips and improving access for all riders.

One other example of recent coordination efforts is the RTA and Cook County Access Pilot Program, launched in 2023, which offers reduced fares to low-income Metra riders and which would be expanded to CTA and Pace with additional funding. Other fare programs and products instituted in the past five years include free fare cards for survivors of domestic violence, the monthly Regional Connect Pass for CTA, Metra, and Pace, and the upcoming Regional Day Pass for access to the entire regional transit system.

Small group interactive sessions on the future of the transit system

The summit culminated in small group interactive sessions on the future of the regional transit system. For one hour, participants joined self-selected breakout tables to learn more and provide feedback on several key topics for the future of the region's transit service. These topics included revenue options and reforms, the rider experience, service innovation and coordination, capital needs for transit priority and further service upgrades, and transit-oriented development (TOD) and joint development.

At the revenue and reform breakout, attendees voiced support for fully funding the transit system and explored options like expanding the sales tax to services, increasing the RTA sales tax, and instituting a road use charge. In general, attendees were concerned with limiting regressive taxes, and agency staff emphasized that no one funding stream will fill the $771 million annual budget gap.

The service innovation and coordination breakout focused on ways to ensure different transportation agencies and programs coalesce for a seamless rider experience, including CTA, Metra, Pace, and CDOT/Divvy. Attendees and agency staff discussed last-mile challenges, wayfinding signage, and the importance of advocating for better service and coordination.

At the TOD and joint development breakout, agency staff shared that the RTA plans to evaluate the potential and set goals for a Joint Development program, such as additional transit revenue, expanding affordable housing, climate and sustainability goals, and other community-specific goals.

Other conversations centered on making the rider experience more seamless, affordable, and convenient and how capital investment supports-and is necessary to achieve-these improved operations.

Closing remarks: RTA Board Chair Kirk Dillard

The event concluded with remarks from RTA Board Chair Kirk Dillard, who emphasized that funding and reform must come now to maintain the positive momentum the system has maintained, illustrated by double-digit ridership growth each of the past three years.

"With more funding and authority given to the RTA, we can focus on a more seamless and integrated service, which is something we all espouse in this room-we all agree we need to move this system forward for our riders," Dillard said. "I want to end with this note: As much as we all agree that funding must come with reform-and I have been for reform from day one-I ask all of us, everybody gathered here today, to keep in mind that the crisis before us is very real. If we don't have a resolution on funding by the time the legislature wraps up in about six weeks from now, we're going to face a very stark future."

Alternatively, as laid out in RTA's vision document Transforming Transit, $1.5 billion in additional investment in transit operations could cut rider wait times in half, fund a transit ambassador program, and enable other improvements to service and the rider experience.

Write a letter to your legislator in support of transit funding and governance reform at SaveTransitNow.org.

Join the Transit is the Answer Coalition

Transforming Transit is the RTA's vision for a world-class regional transit system with $1.5 billion in annual operating funding supported by a stronger RTA. To achieve this system, Illinois policy makers must reach a transit funding solution by this May to avoid service cuts of up to 40 percent. The RTA is working with policy makers at all levels of government to develop sustainable funding solutions and improve the system for all riders. Join the Transit is the Answer Coalition to help bring about the legislative changes needed to support transit at this pivotal moment.