The next mayor of Chicago will have to quickly roll up his sleeves to get public transportation back on track.
The CTA, the Metra rail system and the Pace suburban bus system together will face a $730 million budget gap when federal pandemic money runs out. Labor, inflation and fuel prices are severely driving up costs, but ridership is not close to returning to pre-pandemic levels. Service cuts would have to be drastic if that is the only tool used to close the gap.
