Today’s Headlines for Wednesday, November 5
• Here are RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace statements on the transit bill passing, including RTA becoming the Northern Illinois Transit Authority
• MPC’s recent post about the bill features a fun photo of some key advocates who were present at the birth in Springfield, looking sleep-deprived but excited
• Riders may wonder, can “CTA, Metra riders… expect fare hikes” (WGN, 11/4) or did “RTA [walk] back 2026 fare increases” (Sun-Times, 11/4)? The latter.
• Greg Hinz in Crain’s: “Lawmakers did only half the job of fixing Chicago’s creaky public transit system.”
• Like Streetsblog, a Tribune letter writer also used Otto von Bismarck’s sausage-making analogy to describe the messy but successful bill creation
• Sun-Times letter: Could we fight CTA smoking by making offenders pay for it through Ventra? Short answer: No, but it’s an interesting idea.
• High Speed Rail: Metra will hold public meetings on proposed 2026 budget today and tomorrow 4-6, at 8 different locations, w/ Chicago’s online tonight
• RTA board meeting Thursday 11/6, 8:30 AM, 175 W. Jackson Blvd., 16th floor, watch online here.
• Driver fatally struck grocery worker Darren Lucas, 59, Monday, around 6 PM as he crossed 5-lane Sheridan near 33rd near his workplace in Zion (LMCS)
• Motorist struck and killed man, 81, trying to cross five-lane Milwaukee near Knightsbridge in Lincolnshire Tuesday around 5:15 PM (ABC)
• A person died after their vehicle was struck by Metra MD-N Line train Thursday morning in suburban Grayslake (NBC)
Do you appreciate Streetsblog Chicago’s paywall-free sustainable transportation reporting and advocacy? We officially ended our 2024-25 fund drive in July, but we still currently need $42K to complete our budget and keep publishing at full strength in 2026. We’d appreciate any leads on potential major donors or grants. And if you haven’t already, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us continue publishing next year. Thanks!
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
