Chicago's Transit Is Heading Towards Disaster (But we can do something!)

Comments · 67

• FO

  @FordTransitandTrains · 9 months ago · pinned

  As of December 2025, the State of Illinois has taken action to correct this disaster. See my latest video for more on the subject: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ztMynzo5r4">https://youtu.be/8ztMynzo5r4?si=tH08N8soJGZgMMK9</a>

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• TO

  @Touchybanana · 1 year ago

  Another city is also having a funding issue with SEPTA in Philadelphia, they&apos;ve already had a proposed service cuts if they don&apos;t get money.

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• SG

  @sgbuses · 1 year ago

  The problem is going to be with every city that needs to secure funding on an annual basis. Even Canada PT is also facing fiscal cliffs.

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• NK

  @NKim-gj9vk · 1 year ago

  Chicago should write a book on how to drive its residents out. CTA is a huge part of why a lot of people moved to Chicago and live here

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• FO

  @FordTransitandTrains · 1 year ago (edited)

  Just today, the RTA announced the &quot;Save Transit Now&quot; campaign. Joining the fight to save Chicago&apos;s transit is now easier than ever! If you want to join me stopping this massive blow to Chicago from becoming a reality, they have made it possible for you to contact your legislator in mere MINUTES. The more voices we can get, the better the chance for successfully funding a transit system that continues to provide the quality service it does today, and hopefully even better! Remember, we have until May 31st to get this done! To quickly contact your legislator, or for more information, visit <a href="http://savetransitnow.org/">savetransitnow.org</a>.<br><br>See also, RTA Board Meeting from April 17, 2025: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/9Eb1Gk03UEc?si=ttxDvOtF8HSU3nex">https://www.youtube.com/live/9Eb1Gk03UEc?si=ttxDvOtF8HSU3nex</a>

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• PE

  @Peoria_Elevators3096 · 1 year ago

  One time I’d tried to get home in the summer but couldn’t find the quickest way home, I had to bike miles to get to my house and my body ached from all the pushing!

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• LE

  @lewisdsd · 1 year ago

  I have been reading news articles about this online, it’s devastating! I really do hope the result is not the worst one.

• CH

  @ChicoIsGod1 · 1 year ago (edited)

  I am glad that most people understand this, but as someone living in the busy suburbs of Chicago. Let me put this in perspective. Metra runs right through my town along the Union Pacific Northwest line, hundreds, if not thousands of people use this line just in my town in a day. They are all going to Chicago, mostly for work others for leisure. A couple weeks ago there was an accident on the line and two trains, just two, got canceled. The amount of people that got off the Chicago outbound trains, and the people waiting for the Chicago inbound trains. I have never witnessed something like that in my life of how crowded it was. Metra want&apos;s to cut back on that by almost 60%? Not even talking about the apocalypse that would happen in Chicago, it would cause a full faced meltdown in the Suburbs, even on the other lines that runs through the suburbs. I just hope more people realize this issue and how it would affect their lives. You hit all the points on this and the video was fantastic.

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• FO

  @FordTransitandTrains · 10 months ago

  UPDATE - NOVEMBER 8, 2025:<br><br>As of the end of October, the Illinois Legislature has passed a funding measure that will provide the necessary funding to continue RTA operations at their existing service level. The bill includes a number of funding sources as well as requirements for restructuring of transit governance in Chicago which will hopefully improve the path forward. I&apos;ll likely make another video on the topic soon, whenever this bill is finally signed into law, and go into more detail about what it does and what changes we will (and won&apos;t) see in the future of Chicago&apos;s transit. All things considered, it seems like Chicago will be coming out of this well. Once again, I feel it is important to point out that this was never a guaranteed win. Chicago is far from the only transit agency in the country facing these kinds of issues. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) had a similar budget shortfall, and in their case SEPTA did have to move forward with disastrous service cuts. While these have since been reversed, the results were still felt by the people in the SEPTA service region. Just to name another example, the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority (RIPTA) also experienced major service cutbacks this year (for the same reason) and to my knowledge, has no foreseeable path to return to their original service levels. The transit funding crisis is real, and I hope that my video here can continue to serve as a reminder of the very important role that public transit plays in our society and the importance of maintaining adequate funding for high-quality service.

• FO

  @FordTransitandTrains · 1 year ago

  UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 27, 2025:<br><br>As of now, the initial deadline has been missed, the state is not providing the needed funding to RTA. There is still conversation happening amongst law makers about how this crisis could still be averted in the fall veto session, and due to the way budgets are allocated to different agencies within the RTA, they have managed to shift funds around and delay the impending fiscal cliff until at least 2027. Chicago&apos;s transit troubles are far from over, however.<br><br>While it may be easy to look at the delay of the impending situation with a &quot;see, there never was a problem, they always figure it out somehow&quot; kind of mentality, we need to take a look at what has happened with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in the Philadelphia region. SEPTA was in the exact same position as RTA with a massive budget shortfall. The state was not decisive to fix it, most assumed it would be fine, and then massive service cuts did end up needing to be made. The results of the transit disaster in Philadelphia were...not pretty. The situation was so bad that a court order eventually called for SEPTA to restore their original service levels, which sounds great in theory, but the money is still not there. SEPTA, much like RTA, was given emergency authorization to re-allocate certain funds to stave off the disaster in the short term. Both cities are only delaying the inevitable right now.<br><br>We still need to call for action to save our city&apos;s transit. If you&apos;re not convinced that it is worth saving, please watch the video all the way through and be sure to read all of the various comments I have left here as well. Chicago&apos;s transit is vital to the well-being of the very city. It must be saved.

• FO

  @FordTransitandTrains · 1 year ago (edited)

  UPDATE - JUNE 1, 2025:<br><br>First off, I want to thank everyone who stepped up and joined me attempting advocate for the needed funding from the state legislature.<br><br>As of today (June 1, 2025), the Illinois General Assembly has adjourned for the year. A bill to furnish the needed funding for the RTA was successfully passed through the Illinois Senate, but did NOT pass through the Illinois House of Representatives. As a result the state budget does NOT provide any new funding to transit in Chicago and the RTA will need to move forward with planning for budgets in 2026 that reflect the anticipated $771 million shortfall.<br><br>While there is an opportunity for a &quot;veto session&quot; in the fall which MAY allow for another intervention from the state, this will come too late for the RTA to be able to incorporate any potential new funding into the 2026 budget and without that funding in place now, it cannot be expected when the 2026 budgets are created.<br><br>I hate to be the one to say it, but it does look like some severe and irreversible cutbacks will be coming to Chicago transit within the next year. Nothing further is known at this point as to what exactly this may look like, and it does seem that there may be some glimmer of hope that some resolution could come out of the governor&apos;s office still or by super-majority in the house, but both of these are FAR from guaranteed. Unfortunately, the future of Chicago and transit in and around the city is looking bleak.<br><br>I want to remain as positive as absolutely possible on the situation and I will certainly provide any updates as I learn more on the situation.<br><br>Find more information in this press release from Streetsblog Chicago: (<a href="https://chi.streetsblog.org/2025/06/01/chicagoland-transit-funding-has-hit-a-roadblock-after-illinois-house-non-vote-last-night-rta-confirms-2026-budgets-must-reflect-771m-deficit)">https://chi.streetsblog.org/2025/06/01/chicagoland-transit-funding-has-hit-a-roadblock-after-illinois-house-non-vote-last-night-rta-confirms-2026-budgets-must-reflect-771m-deficit)</a>

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• RO

  @roberthansen2008 · 1 year ago

  Yeah that was one of the main reasons why I moved to the city 35 years ago. You know I&apos;m from some town like Lincoln Nebraska where Transit was just a few buses Monday to saturday. You know and I&apos;m a person that legally can&apos;t drive a car. I&apos;d really be screwed. You know it would just make it so people like me would have to just go over to Uber or Lyft or walk everywhere. I&apos;d have to walk everywhere and at least I&apos;d be in a lot better shape. But you know that&apos;s not fair. You know it&apos;s getting to the point to where the have nots can&apos;t even have anything. It&apos;s really disgusting and sad. Here Toronto Ontario is opening up to brand new shiny light rail lines this summer and we could lose half of our rail services. Out of the 138 bus routes that we have down here about 2/3 of that would be whacked out. You know just make Chicago a less desirable city to live in. You know it might turn off people from even wanting to visit here. You know Chicago would become s h i t c a g o. If you know what I mean.

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