CHICAGO — The Regional Transportation Authority is scrapping plans for fare increases by Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace in the wake of passage of Illinois legislation providing new funding for the transit operations.
Given budget deficits and uncertainty over state funding, the RTA had required all three operating agencies to include fare increases of at least 10% in their 2026 budget plans. Metra had come up with a plan with increases of 13% to 15%, depending on the fare [see “Metra budget for 2026 …,” Trains.com, Oct. 10, 2025]. Those increases were planned for February. The bill passed last week prohibits an increase during its first year, but it will not take effect until June 2026, meaning the February increases could have gone forward.
But in a Tuesday statement reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, RTA spokeswoman Tina Fessett Smith said “riders and frontline employees can expect no service cuts, no fare increases pending RTA board action this Thursday, and a renewed emphasis on operational improvements to service quality and experience.”
The RTA board will hold a special meeting about the transit bill on Thursday, Nov. 6. That meeting, set for 8:30 a.m., will be livestreamed here.
The bill passed in the early morning hours of Oct. 31 provides $1.5 billion in funding through a package of reallocation of existing tax funds and a sales tax increase in the six-county area served by the RTA [see “Illinois legislature passes bill …,” Trains.com, Oct. 31, 2025]. It also calls for restructuring the RTA into the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which will have the power to address fares and scheduling across the three operating agencies. Metra, CTA, and Pace currently can address those matters individually.
Legislators involved in the bill had suggested any fare increases should be left to the new NITA.
Looking at the last sentence, that means “any fare increases” will be accrued to the suburban counties.