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Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation pumping $1.5 billion per year into Chicago-area transit agencies and instituting a new oversight system, ending years of debate over how to govern and finance the CTA, Metra and Pace as they struggle to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers bridged the $200 million-plus fiscal cliff that had faced the agencies next year by redirecting gas sales tax revenue, dipping into interest on the state’s massive road fund and increasing a Chicago-area sales tax by 0.25%.

The law will also replace the Regional Transportation Authority with a strengthened Northern Illinois Transportation Authority after it takes effect next spring.

Democratic leaders hailed the measures during a Union Station press conference as landmark legislation taking aim at the shoddy service and crime that have all too often plagued bus and rail lines since ridership plummeted five years ago.

“Far from heading toward the abyss as some predicted, we are on the verge of delivering a world-class transportation network,“ said Pritzker, who long indicated he’d sign the bill that passed the Illinois General Assembly in the waning hours of the fall veto session on Oct. 31. “This new law not only averts the cliff but preserves affordability and makes transit safer and more reliable.”

Fares will be collected under a unified system under NITA, and agencies will be subject to independent audits every five years.

The overhaul includes a task force led by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to coordinate law enforcement across the Chicago-area transit system. It also calls for unarmed transit ambassadors to patrol buses, trains and stations, as well as the introduction of a new mobile application for real-time crime reporting.

Supporters in organized labor and environmental groups celebrated that the law does all that and more without raising fares or service cuts, as the agencies had warned was inevitable before finally landing the transit deal that lawmakers had wrangled over since 2023.

Tolls are expected to increase 45 cents for passenger cars and 30% for commercial vehicles to help further bolster transit coffers, though the Illinois Tollway board still has to vote on potential increases.

“We haven’t raised tolls in the state of Illinois — they haven’t for quite some time,” Pritzker said.

He applauded Democratic leaders who shepherded the legislation in Springfield and singled out west suburban state Sen. Seth Lewis as “the sole Republican who voted to save our transit systems.”

“Transformation takes a little bit of time. … It just doesn’t take one year in order to accomplish all those things. But there is an immediate endeavor to upgrade the service and make sure that we’re providing safer rides for people on transit over the coming year,” Pritzker said.

GOP leaders blasted the legislation as a bailout for “Chicago’s broken transit system,” with downstate transit agencies only expected to receive about $129 million from the package.

“This law permanently diverts more than $1 billion every year from the Road Fund, money that was constitutionally promised to fix roads and bridges, and sends it to prop up transit operations driven by years of mismanagement,” Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said in a statement.

State Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said it will “make life even more expensive for suburban families with tax hikes and surcharges, while reducing suburban representation on transit decisions.”

The incoming 20-member NITA board could include up to 15 members from Cook County, in addition to representatives from Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties.

The seven-member CTA board will have three mayoral appointees and two each from the governor and Cook County board president.

A new era has begun for transit in the Chicago region. In the early morning hours of October 31, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB 2111, a landmark transit funding and reform bill. The legislation includes an estimated $1.2 billion in new annual operating funding for CTA, Metra, and Pace. This sustainable funding means riders will not experience service cuts or fare increases in 2026 and instead will benefit from continued improvements to service frequency, reliability, and safety in the coming years.

The bill reorganizes the transit system under a new regional authority, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA), replacing the RTA and taking on new responsibilities including setting fares, enhancing and coordinating service, overseeing long-term capital planning, and leading implementation of unified rider-focused tools such as more seamless mobile ticketing.

NITA’s board will include 20 members with 5 members appointed by the Governor, 5 by the Mayor of Chicago, 5 by the Cook County Board President, and 5 by the Collar County Board Chairs. Starting in 2027, after funding NITA expenses, ADA paratransit, and baseline funding for the Service Boards, remaining operating funding will be distributed to CTA, Metra, and Pace using a new formula that includes key performance-based metrics from the National Transit Database (NTD) and will later transition to distribution via a soon-to-be-developed service standards model that will help guide appropriate levels of service for different communities.

Where does the new funding come from?

The legislation identifies a variety of new revenue streams for transit operations.

• Dedicating existing sales tax on motor fuel: $860 million statewide ($731 million for RTA region and $129 million for downstate transit)
• RTA sales tax increase of 0.25%: $478 million for RTA region, pending approval by the RTA Board after the legislation’s effective date of June 1, 2026.
• New capital revenue from interest on the Road Fund balance: $200 million statewide ($180 million for RTA region and $20 million for downstate transit)

Simplified fare policy and purchasing with no fare increase in 2026

The legislation requires no fare increases for 2026. In the future, instead of each Service Board offering different reduced fares, NITA will have sole authority over all special fare programs for the entire regional transit system. And in 2028, NITA will implement several new fare programs, including fare capping, income-based reduced fare programs, and free and reduced fare programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

In addition to setting all fare policy for the regional transit system, NITA will also be responsible for rolling out a unified fare collection system including a mobile ticket app by February 2030.

Improved frequency and reliability through service planning and standards

Beginning in December 2027, NITA will work with the Service Boards to develop a 1-3-year service plan with opportunities for public feedback. The service plan will aim to optimize the location, frequency, and days and hours of service and will address issues like reliability, cleanliness, safety, and coordination among CTA, Metra, and Pace.

The service plan must be consistent with new service standards adopted by the NITA Board that will help determine appropriate levels of service for different communities. These standards will be developed cooperatively between NITA and the Service Boards and will look to peer systems around the world to inform qualitative and quantitative attributes of good public transit. Once the service standards are implemented, NITA will meet with the Service Boards quarterly to ensure operations are continuing effectively and to address any issues related to the standards. NITA will also compile and publish reports comparing actual system performance to service standards. This reform empowers the regional authority to formally weigh in on service issues more regularly and prevent long-term service disruptions.

A safer, more secure system

The legislation requires NITA to develop various new staff positions, task forces, councils, and subcommittees in collaboration with law enforcement agencies throughout the region, as well as riders, social service agencies, and other public safety experts. The NITA Board will ultimately vote on whether to institute a sworn officer crime prevention program and will institute a transit ambassador program by July 2027. Transit ambassadors are trained, unarmed personnel deployed on buses and trains and at stops and stations to support riders. Responsibilities may include wayfinding and other passenger assistance and helping address safety concerns.

Learn more

SB 2111 is landmark legislation that establishes a new regional entity, with changes to board structure, recovery ratio requirements, funding distribution to the Service Boards, advisory councils, the budget process, transit-supportive development, and more. For more details on these changes and how the transition will occur, read RTA’s preliminary bill summary.

The new, larger stations replace ones that were over 100 years old, bringing updated amenities to Chicago transit users.

Four renovated rail stations reopened July 20 along the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Red Line. The renovations to make the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations fully accessible are part of the $2.1 billion Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project.

In addition to ADA compliance, including escalators, elevators and wider platforms, CTA customers will experience the following amenities at the updated stations:

• Larger stations replace the previous ones that were more than 100 years old.
• Better lighting and security features.
• Real-time information boards.
• Smoother, more reliable train service.
• Decrease in overcrowding on trains and platforms.
• A brighter, cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing pedestrian environment.
• Original artwork at each station.

CTA notes the RPM Phase One is the largest completed transit investment in agency history, and the opening of four new contiguous stations marks the first time this many stations have opened simultaneously since the Orange Line in 1993.

“It was wonderful to welcome CTA riders today to our brand new, fully accessible Red Line stations and to showcase the RPM team’s hard work to modernize and improve rail service for the people who visit, live in and work in these communities,” said CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen. “I am grateful to the people in the neighborhoods that these stations will serve— including the residents, businesses and local elected officials that have partnered with us during construction—for their support. Now is the time to celebrate together the access and opportunity that these new, breathtaking stations will provide.”

Public space under the ‘L’ tracks

With the completion of track and station construction, CTA says it will continue with some final finishing construction work and be substantially done with RPM Phase One by the end of 2025, with the exception of upcoming development of newly created spaces under the ‘L’.

• CTA plans to develop 10 blocks of open space located under the new Red and Purple line tracks between Lawrence and Ardmore avenues based on input from the community.
• The open space design plans include a pedestrian trail, dog parks, playground, fitness area, benches and flexible-use plaza space for community events.
• Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2027.

The Red Line and RPM

The CTA’s Red Line is CTA’s busiest rail line, providing nearly 40 million rides in 2024. CTA is completing Phase One of the multi-phase RPM Program, which is rebuilding the 9.6-mile stretch of Red and Purple line track structure and stations on the North Side that were a century old. RPM replaces aging infrastructure; increases CTA’s capacity to increase train service as needed; and improves service for customers with more reliable, comfortable service.