CTA, Metra, and Pace approve 2026 budgets with no fare hikes or service cuts

The CTA, Metra, and Pace have approved 2026 budgets without fare hikes or service cuts, thanks to the transit bailout approved by state lawmakers last month.

Metra's board of directors approved a $1.2 billion budget plan on Thursday, including new funding from the state that will allow it to avoid a fare hike.

The boards for CTA and Pace approved budget plans on Wednesday that likewise avoid fare hikes or service cuts in 2026.

Last week, the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the three mass transit agencies, said it would no longer demand they raise fares by 10% in 2026, thanks to the transit funding package passed in Springfield.

The RTA previously insisted that the agencies include the increases in their budgets even if funding were approved, but the deal approved in Springfield would included a provision for no fare hikes for the first year after the legislation becomes effective on June 1, 2026. In order to avoid any confusion over fares that the RTA initially sought for the start of 2026, the agency reversed course on fare hikes for CTA, Metra, and Pace.

While mass transit fares won't be going up in 2026, the transit funding legislation authorizes the RTA to increase its regional sales tax by 0.25 percentage points, to 1% in Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties and 1.25% in Cook County. The RTA board has the authority to raise it within two months of the bill's effective date, which is June 2026. That tax hike is expected to generate $478 million.  

The bulk of the funding for public transit in Illinois, $860 million, would come through redirecting sales tax revenue charged on motor fuel purchases to public transportation operations. Another estimated $200 million would come from interest growing in the Road Fund — a state fund that is typically used for road construction projects but can also be used for transportation-related purposes under the state constitution.

Drivers of passenger vehicles on northern Illinois' toll roads will also have to pay 45 cents more per toll as part of a plan to create a new capital program for tollway projects. Tolls for commercial vehicles will go up by 30%. Those funds will be used to help maintain tollways to offset money being diverted from the gas tax and road fund, and won't be used for mass transit.