The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) issued a dire report Friday warning that if Illinois lawmakers fail to pass a funding solution before the end of the legislative session, as much as 40 percent of public transportation service in the Chicago-area would have to be cut. 

Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Pace and the RTA, which oversees CTA, Metra and Pace, are facing a combined $700 million-plus deficit in 2026 when pandemic-era federal funds run out. The report says that without state action to fund the organizations, cuts will have to be made to balance the budget.  

According to the report, the CTA will be the first to “off the fiscal cliff.” That would result in four of the eight CTA rail lines seeing service suspended on parts or all of the line. Bus lines would also be reduced from the 127 current bus routes to 74. According to the report, 500,000 CTA riders would be without a bus stop.  

“Public transit is what helped shape the City of Chicago and surrounding suburbs as we know it today— it is why and how millions of us call this region ‘home,’” said CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen in a statement. “The results of a 40 percent service reduction are unconscionable, and no decisions about our service future will be made without community input.”  

Metra would cut early morning and late evening trains. Weekday trains would be scaled back to once per hour, and weekend trains once every two hours. Metra currently runs two to three trains an hour on weekdays, and once an hour on weekends.  

The report says service on the Metra Electric Blue Island Branch could also be completely cut.  

Finally, Pace could see the elimination of all weekend buses, according to the report. Late-night service could also be reduced and wait times between buses could increase from 30- to 60-minutes.  

"This isn’t just a transit crisis — it’s a regional emergency," said RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden in a statement. "If the General Assembly does not act this spring, hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans will wake up in 2026 without a way to get to work, school or medical appointments with continued uncertainty in future years about their transit services.”  

The cuts in service would also lead to layoffs of more than 3,000 transit workers.  

The RTA pitched its own $1.5 billion restructuring plan in February, but it has yet to receive much support from legislative leaders.  

Read more: RTA pitches $1.5B restructuring proposal after Illinois lawmaker files public transit reform bill 

A measure in the Illinois Senate to combine Metra, CTA, Pace and the RTA into one agency — named the Metropolitan Mobility Authority — did not pass the Senate Transportation Committee before Friday’s committee deadline.  

Senate Bill 5 would also direct the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to establish and staff an Office of Public Transportation Support, with the goal of optimizing public transit vehicles and arrival times on state roads. 

The deadline could still be extended for the measure, or it could be added as an amendment to a shell bill. Municipalities spoke in opposition to SB 5 during a committee hearing March 11, expressing fears the measure would remove local control, saying the City of Chicago would have a much larger voice on the authority’s voting board.  

Labor union leaders also said that creating a larger governing body could make it harder for people to share their concerns about public transportation issues.  

Read more: Suburban counties, labor unions testify in opposition of Chicago-area transit consolidation 

Gov. JB Pritzker has previously said that he would like the General Assembly to pass reform before discussing a bailout. His budget proposal did not include any additional money for the agencies. He said in February that meetings between the agencies, the City of Chicago and counties served by the authorities would determine how costs would be split.