CTA, Metra and Pace officially approved the 2026 budgets without service cuts or fare increases, and with some additional money to expand service. But if the budgets are approved by the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) next month as expected, the transit agencies won’t be getting all the new revenue they’re entitled to under the new transit bill, and it remains unclear how the new budgets would impact Evanston specifically.
As in other years, the funding issue comes down to an obscure part of the budget process. Every year, RTA sets “operating marks” — essentially, how much money CTA, Metra and Pace will have to work with as they plan their budgets.
When the 2026 budget process began in June, RTA set its operating marks with the assumption that there won’t be a bailout, while asking the three transit agencies to develop a second set of budgets that assumed the state will provide enough money to avert the fiscal cliff. RTA also instructed them to raise fares by at least 10% no matter what happens.
The General Assembly passed the transit bill that is expected to do more than avert the fiscal cliff — it would bring in around $1.5 billion in new revenue a year. During a special Nov. 6 board meeting, RTA rescinded the fare raising directive. But instead of letting them take full advantage of the expected revenue, it only adjusted the operating marks enough to cover the “funded” budgets. The rest of the funding will go into a reserve.
Chicago Transit Board, the CTA’s governing board, and Pace Board of Directors, approved their respective budgets on Nov. 12, and Metra Board of Directors approved its budget on Nov. 13. They are essentially the funded budgets, with some tweaks.
CTA’s budget calls for modest service improvements to improve rail/bus connections. Metra’s budget calls for an increase in off-peak and weekend service, and opens the door for more frequent service on Union Pacific North line. Pace is increasing service across the board by 10%, but the suburban bus agency officials haven’t shared any details on how individual routes might be impacted.
The three budgets now go to RTA for final approval, which they are expected to receive in December. This week, the RTA opened public comment for the proposed budgets for the CTA, Metra and Pace. Public comment is open until Dec. 5 and can be submitted here. The RTA will also hold a virtual public hearing Dec. 4 at 4 p.m.
CTA
RTA allocated $141.9 million of new funding to the CTA. The transit agency plans to use that funding to improve public safety. It will put more money toward Chicago Police Department’s transit unit and hiring off-duty police officers to provide extra security. It will also pilot the transit ambassador program, where the staff will intervene in situations that may not require a police presence, and help riders who might need mental health services and/or other services.
“These response models will be designed to assist people on CTA in visible crisis with support services and de-escalate potentially troubling situations,” CTA stated in press release announcing the budget’s passage.
When it comes to service, CTA plans to adjust bus routes “to better align and connect bus and rail services to offer more one-seat rides and enhanced transit connections,” but didn’t offer any details.
The final budget did not include changes that could have benefited Evanston Township High School students who take CTA to school.
Both CTA and Pace currently offer discounted fares to high school students on school days between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. (CTA also offers this benefit to younger students). Under CTA’s original proposed fare structure changes, the discounted fares would have gone up slightly, but they would have applied outside school hours, saving students money overall. CTA’s original plan would have also created discounted 7-day and 30-day passes. Pace already offers the 30-day discounted passes.
CTA confirmed to the RoundTable that the adopted budget keeps the fare structure the same, which means no discounts outside school hours and no new passes will be offered.
Unlike Metra and Pace, CTA developed a third budget, what it called the “growth budget” that assumed the state would provide $1.5 billion. It included $30 million “to achieve an eight-minute or better frequency across every line all day, every day.” This would benefit the Purple Line, where trains running outside of rush hours arrive between every 12-15 minutes.
During the Nov. 12 CTA board meeting, agency officials indicated that they will push the RTA to amend the operating marks to let them take full advantage of the new revenue.
Metra
RTA allocated $27.9 million in new funding to Metra. Over the next five years, the commuter rail agency plans to try to eliminate any two-hour schedule gaps on its busier lines, and pilot more modest schedule increases on SouthWest Service, North Central Service and Heritage Corridor lines.
While there aren’t any two-hour gaps on Union Pacific North line’s weekday schedule, the weekend schedule implemented last fall has a few.
The budget also mentions that, over the next five years, Metra will “Implement seven-day-a-week, 30-minute headway service pilots where ridership potential, infrastructure
capacity, and limited freight traffic exists.” While it doesn’t mentions any specific lines, Metra discussed the concept in a memo to the RTA back in March – and that memo listed Union Pacific North as one of the four examples.
One unknown that remains over the budget is the new contract between Metra and Union Pacific Railroad over the use of the three UP lines. The contract will determine how much Metra pays the railroad and how many trains it can run and when. The budget cited the contract negotiations as one of the major factors behind the 4.7% operating budget increase.
According to the status report submitted to the Surface Transportation Board on Nov. 13, the two sides “have exchanged proposals regarding the conditions and compensation for use of the facilities, but have not reached agreement. Negotiations continue.”
Pace
RTA allocated $18.9 in new funding for fixed routes and $56.7 million for paratransit, which already reached its fiscal cliff earlier this year.
For the past two years, Pace has been working on ReVision, an overhaul of its entire route network. The preliminary concepts released last year showed major changes for bus routes serving Evanston. Those “Plus 50” concepts relied on a $1.5 billion regional transit funding increase, which would allow Pace to increase service by 50%.
Pace also developed the more modest “Plus 10” concept that assumed it would get enough funding to increase service by 10%. In Evanston, the plan added Sunday service to Route 213, which currently runs Monday-Saturday. It also increased service on Howard Street.
Pace spokesperson Maggie Daly Skogsbakken told the RoundTable that the agency paused ReVision planning amid funding uncertainty. However, now with the funding secured, it will restart the planning process next year. In the meantime, Pace will proceed with a 10% service increase, Daly Skogsbakken said. However, she cautioned that those changes won’t necessarily reflect the earlier concept.
In her presentation during Pace Board of Directors’ Nov. 13 meeting, Maggie Schilling, the agency’s Chief Financial Officer, said that those increases would entail “some additional hours to fixed-route services,” but did not elaborate beyond that.
Post-bailout transit budgets call for service increases is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston’s most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.
