The Chicago region’s trains and buses are headed straight toward a funding cliff, but there’s still time to avoid disaster if we are willing to change course and work together.
The fiscal cliff facing our transit agencies — the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace — is the direct result of, and was expedited by, the COVID-19 pandemic that undermined traditional ridership in ways that continue. For example, while CTA ridership has recently increased, ridership is only 53% of pre-pandemic levels.
