These are nerve-wracking days for Chicagoland public transit agencies, workers, riders, and advocates as we teeter on the brink of a $771 million regional transit fiscal cliff next year.
If Illinois lawmakers don't pass a transit funding and reform bill soon to raise at least that much money to save bus and train service, ideally $1.5 billion to improve it, 40 percent service cuts and 3,000 layoffs are predicted. In other words, if you've been paying attention to headlines about Philadelphia's SEPTA cuts debacle, Chicago-area transit could soon be making a Philly sound. I'm not talking about The O’Jays, Patti LaBelle, and Teddy Pendergrass.
But yesterday's packed CTA town hall budget discussion at Truman College, 1145 W. Wilson Ave. in Uptown, one of three taking place citywide, was oddly uplifting. That was a sharp contrast to the single annual budget hearings in recent years under unpopular – and often AWOL from other key meetings – agency president Dorval Carter Jr. Those sessions, held at the agency's West Loop headquarters, and sometimes only lightly attended, were often contentious.
If fairness, Carter was nearing the end of an unusually long, ten-year tenure as transit czar. But customers were getting fed up with his actions, or lack of them, on issues like safety, reliability, and facility cleanliness.
And Acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen is currently in something of a honeymoon period with bus and train riders. She hasn't even been appointed the permanent head of the organization yet . And given recent behind-the-scenes machinations by Mayor Brandon Johnson, such as the bizarre "Don't be a back-biting snake!" fiasco (long story), it's not certain that she ever will be.
But at a City Council hearing last July, Leerhsen laid out her blueprint for the struggling agency, essentially making a case to alderpersons and residents for why she should permanently be handed the keys to the bus. Advocates left with the feeling that she was well-qualified for the job. "The CTA [acting] president is really impressive," activist Cyrus Dowlatshahi told me that day.
There was a similar sense of bonhomie and a "We're all in this together" spirit at last night's meeting as the CTA and its customers discussed strategies to fight the common enemy of an impending funding and service catastrophe. Another recurring theme was that many of the residents who spoke said they moved to Chicago in part for good transit access.
Last night, the train wheels were greased by the witty and sympathetic staffer who served as emcee, and helped make commenters feel heard, as well as frequent applause and cheers from attendees. That's not to say that the many civilian commenters who spoke were shy about pointing out room for improvement in the transit system, but the criticisms were generally constructive.
I won't go into the nitty-gritty of the agency employees' presentations, since I didn't notice any particularly earthshaking announcements. For more details, check out other reports, such as "CTA officials say 24-hour service in jeopardy without additional funding from Springfield," by CBC Chicago's Jermont Terry. Instead, I'll mostly let quotes from and photos of the many speakers do the talking.
Leerhsen's opening remarks
Leerhsen kicked off the evening by discussing the transit systems recent milestones and initiatives. These included the opening of five new stations in Uptown and Edgewater; the launch of a "Frequent Network for Buses"; starting a program to bust the hated "ghost buses" plague; and debuting the "Moving Experiences" podcast.
The acting president's speech grew emotional when she discussed the system's current existential crisis. "It's a worrisome time in many respects," she said. "But there's a ton of opportunity here. We have people across all levels of government, across advocacy groups and stakeholders groups talking about how much transit matters. So to be honest, that's a bit of a dream for us, because all of you are talking about how much transit means to you."
"And I want to take that passion after we get through this moment, and apply it to a better, improved CTA for all of our region," Leerhsen added. "So your feedback today on your experience on CTA, on what service matters to you, is so valuable to us as we put that together... I have a lot of hope that we're going to get to get to a solution. In Springfield, we saw a bill passed the Senate that had over a billion dollars of funding presented in it. There is a recognition of the need to fund transit." That legislation, approved by the Senate minutes before the end of the spring session, wasn't even voted on by the House.
And here are a few samples of the many thoughtful remarks by audience members (and State Sen. Mike Simmons, who provided a written comment, which was read aloud) following the CTA presentations. Apologies in advance for any misspellings of names – please feel free to contact me at jgreenfield[at]streetsblog[dot]org with corrections. I took all of the following photos.
Sen. Simmons
"As a lifelong user of public transit and member of the Senate Transportation Committee, I am dedicated to making sure a transit package is passed during the veto section in October [October 14-16 and October 28-30] and still fully supportive of HB 3438 which passed the Senate in May. We cannot wait any longer. Our transit workers, seniors, folks living with a disability, small businesses, students, and entire communities rely and deserve a public transit system that is safe, reliable. and sustainable for generations to come. I have received over 3,200 emails and phone calls about transit since January 1, and it has been the biggest issue raised by constituents this year, by far. It remains my biggest priority thanks to you, and I will continue to advocate for it as the October session approaches."
Nicholas Stratton
"What CTA means to me is that it allows for a cleaner city that runs faster and smoother. And it's more than just a transit agency. It's an agency that allows people to live life better. While I do recognize that there are some problems, I am proud to be able to take it every day, and I also appreciate the [bus] drivers I see in the morning [and] the train operators. I do really hope that CTA [ridership] can continue to grow after COVID... [Previously] I was ghosted by a bus probably once a day, at least. I haven't really been ghosted by a bus in probably at least a couple months, so I really do see an improvement."
Nick Lopez
(As you might expect from his CTA-themed shirt, this was one of the more colorful speeches of the night, with Lopez's anti-car manifesto drawing hoots and hollers of approval from the crowd.)
"I come with a difficult message. Our transportation system is in crisis and on the verge of complete collapse. Commutes on the road take hours. CTA trains and buses take forever and a day to arrive. The majority of our life, we spend in traffic, and most importantly, our way of getting around has isolated us from our friends, family, neighbors, from our true selves. We lost communities. We try to kill each other over parking. We built inefficient car-oriented infrastructure so we can cut each other off in traffic. Our victories on the road are individualistic and temporary, and our losses are communal and permanent. Urban sprawl has dispersed our cities, commodified our land, and privatized the human experience.
And who benefits from all this? Who is the winner here? The monster screaming the loudest? There's only one true victor here, the parking lot lobby. Instead of taking easily available transportation, exercising our freedom of movement, the parking lot lobby has decided to rid us of any autonomy over our lives. An unelected and unaccountable gang of car manufacturers, real estate developers, single-families-only warlords and homeowners association authoritarians has decided that what we see in front of us is our destiny. The parking lot lobby has made a mockery of logic and reason, they have increased the distance between what is said and what is known to be true. It is always, 'One more lane' and 'I-90 will be fixed soon.'
They'll tell me they brought peace, freedom, justice, and security from their new transportation system. But my allegiance is to the people this republic was supposed to serve, to the democracy I was promised... I stand today here with an important message. It's not too late. We're not too far gone. There may be no light at the end of the tunnel, but that means we have to be the light other people are looking for. CTA is in crisis and is on the verge of imminent collapse. Someone must stand in the middle. Unfortunately, it has to be us."
Mike Lehman
"I've lived here for about three years now. I also moved to Chicago because I don't have a car and transit is really important to me. I can see the difference since Dorval Carter left the agency... I can feel the service improving, the conditions improving, and most importantly, just the accessibility in terms of being able to offer you all feedback, being able to talk to you all, the CTA Chats events. I went to one and talked to [Chief Innovation Officer Molly Poppe] there. Please keep the events up. It's means a lot when riders like us actually get heard, and the agency is actually paying attention to that.
The most important issue I've talked about it before is smoking on the trains, and I have felt those conditions improve over time, but I'd just like to see those conditions to continue to improve. Because whether you're an adult like me, or you're a child learning the system or anyone, we don't have to deal with smoke, So please continue to focus on that, and just continue these in-person events with riders. They really do mean a lot."
Annika Gill
"I left my hometown because they canceled transit when I was a child. That really isolated me and my family. My grandparents got depressed and isolated because they had no access to community resources. They're entirely reliant on Facebook for all their connection. That's a big reason I moved here as someone who graduated school. I saw no future for making new friends, for making community in that city, and I see a lot of that here in this city because of what you've done. I'm really afraid what will happen if Springfield doesn't fund us.
Frankly, the equity here, the connectivity to community events, the amount of hobbies, and cultural events we're able to do, it's all reliant on this work that you guys do. I'm very grateful.
The economics of it all is very stressful to me... If the transit gets defunded, if I have to get a car, frankly I would get a car in a city where it's easier to drive. I don't drive here, but I've heard it's really bad.
[She expressed concerns about safety and sanitation on the CTA.] Frankly, a lot of that comes to the homeless community. It's not their fault, but if you... give people homes, that gets them off the train, I know that's hard to do.
Thank you guys so much. You guys do amazing work. And the reason I'm able to enjoy the city and put so much money the city is the connectivity of buses and train trains. I go to so many restaurants, and I do so many Chicago-funded things because of what you guys do... Please get funded."
Jacky Grimshaw
(Ms. Grimshaw, is Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Vice President for Government Affairs and was recognized by Climate Action Museum with its 2025 Tom Skilling Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been doing heavy lobbying in Springfield for passing a transit bill. An appropriate choice for the final speaker, she also happens to be SBC reporter Cameron Bolton's grandmother.)
"Looking around this room, I think I've been riding the CTA before most of you were born. I was riding the CTA when we still had streetcars...
So the idea that most of you have said tonight... is that you talked about the problem we're facing, and it's a big problem we're facing. We have to convince 71 [House] legislators to get the required supermajority [to pass a bill during the spring veto session]. Getting 71 people from across the state to say yes is a big job, and all of us can do something about that. Only thing you have to do is talk to your representative, talk to your family and friends who are in Illinois, no matter if they're in Chicago, in this region or Downstate, because we need people from around the state to say yes.
So that's one thing. There's something all of us can do besides talk to [the CTA]. These folks know the problem. They're supporting having more funding. We have to get those people who are not onboard to say yes.
The second thing I want to say is that most of you emphasized your concern about what happens if we don't get the money. I'm also an optimist, so I don't look at it as a glass being half empty, that we are going to have to look at what happens when we don't have the money. I'm convinced that if we all work together, we can get the money.
So what I like'd to say here is that the things that you've said are all good things, if we have, security, awesome. That's a good thing to have. But people here have compared to Chicago with other cities in the country. I like to compare Chicago with other cities in the world. Earlier this year, I was in Singapore and Tokyo. If we had transit anywhere near Singapore and Tokyo, we would have not only the richest city, the most accessible city, but the best city in the world. So I'm looking at not just holding up a gap, I'm looking at how we can continue to increase transit service.
I hope you get my drift that this is not impossible. You know, we can do it, but we have to be together. Somebody says that we gotta stay together to do it, and I think we understand the importance of transit for our livelihoods, for our ability to get to work, for our children, to be safe, etc.
So don't just talk to us. Talk to other folks who have the ears of the General Assembly. And there's nothing wrong with taking the train down to Springfield, when the veto session starts and talk to people in the capital, we're going to have a big rally there on October 15, a big lobby day if you want to come down. Coming down. We have lots of friends there from across the state."
Final comment from Leerhsen
"I'm not the only one here that was quite moved by the advocacy and the passion for CTA that we heard today... This is a new thing for CTA. We usually only hold one public hearing right before our budget is passed, at our headquarters Downtown. This is us coming out into the communities, hearing from you, and you have just shown why that matters so much. So I just want to thank you so much for being here, and this is the beginning of a long road ahead of partnering together on many fronts."
The last Transit Town Hall of 2025 will be next Thursday, September 25, at Malcom X college, 1900 W. Jackson Blvd. on the Near West Side.
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