CTA: Rauner's Proposed Cuts Deeper Than We Thought
The draconian cut in state aid to the CTA proposed in Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget might be even bigger than first thought.
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The draconian cut in state aid to the CTA proposed in Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget might be even bigger than first thought.
A Regional Transportation Authority analysis released Thursday has determined that the CTA, Metra and Pace face $36.4 billion in capital needs over the next 10 years.
CTA bus ridership is down and the transit agency is offering a lot of reasons why.
The head of the Chicago's areas umbrella transit agency recommends Metra follow up reports that many of its locomotive engineers conductors bring home over $100,000 a year, reports WBBM's John Cody.
Chicago-area commuters have never seen anything like it. Metra has proposed fare increases averaging 10.8 percent, starting in February, with the guarantee of additional increases every year through 2024.
The CTA hopes to attract more riders by speeding up its buses, and giving buses green light priority over other vehicles is a key part of that strategy, but it says it is encountering problems obtaining federal grant money that's been in the hands of the Regional Transportation Authority since 2012.
Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard, who made two attempts at Illinois governor, officially resigned from the Legislature after more than two decades in office to become chairman of the Chicago-area's Regional Transportation Authority, Senate Republican officials announced Monday.
The Regional Transportation Authority is shifting gears – from a developer as its board chairman to a politician and attorney who actually rides mass transit regularly.
The Regional Transportation Authority may not even be around in a few months, yet it has just signed a 38-month, $5 million advertising contract targeting markets that have eluded the area's transit agencies.
RTA Chairman John Gates said he wants the agency to concentrate on what he considers doable -- and said his priority remains finding new money for capital repairs and rehabilitation.
The agency that oversees public transportation in Chicago is suing American Airlines for falsely claiming to buy "vast amounts of jet fuel" from a small office in a rural community to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes in the nation's third-largest city, where the actual work is done.
Metra soon hopes to give you E-alerts about trains at specific times, not just for specific lines.
Metra has begun a self-examination of its performance in this month's snow and bitter cold, even as the Regional Transportation Authority orders its own review.
A union official on Thursday showed reporters a photograph of a Ventra card that worked –- despite having a negative balance of $272.50.
The chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority said Wednesday the problems with the Ventra fare card system amount to "systemic failure," not just "a computer glitch." And he ordered his chief auditor to determine how much it's costing.
The agreement kept intact the historic division of the supposedly discretionary funds: 98 percent to the CTA, 2 percent to Pace, while essentially forgiving a $56 million loan to the CTA that CTA has characterized as a grant and offering Metra $2 million for capital projects.
Pace is the first of the area's transit systems to unveil a proposed 2014 budget, and it holds the line on most fares while promising additional service.
Governor Pat Quinn's transit task force has morphed from checking up on Metra to designing a transit system that's the envy of the world after a few local issues are settled. John Cody reports on day one.
Regional Transportation Authority board member William Coulson said former Metra chair Brad O'Halloran and director Larry Huggins sparked a clash with former CEO Alex Clifford over political hires at the agency.
The Regional Transportation Authority is putting the finishing touches on a sharply critical audit of former Metra CEO Alex Clifford's severance agreement – and says the commuter rail agency could have gotten out of the contract for a fraction of the potential $718,000 cost.
Although the newest appointee to the CTA's governing board suddenly backed out in the past week, the CTA's President says any upcoming agency shakeup should leave his agency out.
After, another resignation from the Metra Board, the head of the Regional Transportation Authority is pleading with suburban official to appoint members to fill all the empty seats. WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore has the story.
Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed former U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and former CTA Board chair Carole Brown to a panel tasked with recommending reforms for the Chicago area's public transit agencies, in the wake of patronage allegations at Metra.
A government watchdog group said Wednesday that the resignations of two Regional Transportation Authority board members this week pointed to larger, troubling issues for the Chicago area's transit agencies.
Governor Quinn says that in the wake of the patronage and executive director payout scandal at Metra, he wants experts to look at an overhaul of the state's transportation agencies, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
In an annual February tradition, some couples had the honor of exchanging or renewing vows on Sunday morning at the top of the Chicago skyscraper that was once the tallest building in the world.
The ages of the victims range from 17 to 68, according to police.
A stretch of busy Dempster Street was shut down in the north Chicago suburb of Niles early Sunday after a vehicle hit a pedestrian.
A driver was killed early Sunday when a sport-utility vehicle hit a Chicago Transit Authority bus in Chicago's Pilsen community.
A woman was in custody after another woman was slashed in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood this weekend.
The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.
The FBI has arrested "one of the key participants" behind the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 that killed four Americans.
A new push to pass a GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act is underway in Congress, but Democrats warn the proposal could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
As immigration sweeps expand nationwide, the work of justifying detentions is overwhelming federal prosecutors, who are being forced to sideline a range of other cases in order to keep pace.
Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in October, plans to attend President Trump's State of the Union address to Congress later this month, according to her attorney.
This week marks Identity Theft Awareness Week, and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza emphasized some safety tips Monday for avoiding and dealing with identity theft.
A controversial data center in Naperville, Illinois, could be the cause to pack a city council meeting there on Tuesday night.
Police in the west Chicago suburb of Geneva are warning of a scam involving spoofed phone numbers.
Protesters on Tuesday were cranking up the heat on Peoples Gas over a recently proposed rate hike that would add an additional $10 to $11 a month to utility bills.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital announced this week that it is planning to open a new pediatric hospital in the west Chicago suburb of Downers Grove.
It has been nearly six years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the many questions doctors are still working to answer concerns the long-term effects.
Leaders from Cook County, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository denounced changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday.
The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a grant from The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation for a new cancer center.
Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital said Tuesday that it is no longer initiating gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
A Near West Side diner known for drawing in Blackhawks fans and players is up for sale.
January may be the coldest time of the year, but Chicago is already looking forward to summer farmers' markets.
A development proposal issued this month calls for the replacement of a building housing a Giordiano's pizzeria in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with a new mixed-use building with 28 residential units.
United Airlines flight attendants picketed outside Chicago's Willis Tower Thursday morning as they fought for a new contract.
WSCR-AM, 670 The Score, will begin a simulcast on 104.3 FM next month.
Brad Arnold, the founder and lead singer of the 3 Doors Down has died following "his courageous battle with cancer," the rock band announced Saturday on social media.
Gamers across the world can now recreate drone strikes in Ukraine from the comfort of their own home, with this newly released game.
The members of Ratboys were teenagers when they met by chance, and now in their 30s, the Chicago band formed by two college friends almost two decades ago appears to be on the brink of something big.
Chuck Negron, a founding member of Three Dog Night whose lead vocals powered a string of hits for one of the top rock acts of the late 1960s and early '70s has died. He was 83.
Bad Bunny used his Grammy acceptance speech on Sunday to denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and call for the end of the ongoing immigration crackdown.
Suzanne Le Mignot recently celebrated a milestone with her 400th HIIT class at Orangetheory River North, while Mary Kay Kleist shows us an ice chapel built at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist has your 6 a.m. First Alert Weather forecast for Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.
Families and coaches are beyond proud that their players are representing their communities in the big game. Asal Rezaei reports.
Police were investigating after a 10-year-old girl was found dead in Chicago’s Bronzeville community this weekend.
The Seattle Seahawks' Julian Love, Rylie Mills, and Eric Saubert, along with the New England Patriots' Robert Spillane, are just some who trace their football beginnings to Chicagoland high schools.
Police were investigating after a 10-year-old girl was found dead in Chicago's Bronzeville community this weekend.
A driver was killed early Sunday when a sport-utility vehicle hit a Chicago Transit Authority bus in Chicago's Pilsen community.
A driver was killed in a crash involving a sport-utility vehicle and a semi-trailer truck on the Bishop Ford Freeway on Chicago's Far South Side early Sunday.
A father says his 15-year-old son was injured during full-contact drills without padding at practice.
Family and former coaches expressed pride knowing that players will be representing their communities on one of the biggest stages in sports.
Fewer Chicago kids are getting the dental care they need, and some dentists are blaming Chicago Public Schools.
Cynthia Eason recounted the moment Chicago police officers raided her family's home in 2018.
Water bills could be going up in several Chicago suburbs and other parts of Illinois, as Illinois American Water seeks a rate increase to fund infrastructure improvements.
The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said that Chicago police officers pointed guns at them during the botched raid.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel no longer will have to testify about an alleged "code of silence" at the Chicago Police Department, after a federal judge reversed an earlier ruling that would have allowed him to take the stand in a lawsuit over a botched police raid.
Lindsey Vonn, who came out of retirement to compete in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, was airlifted off the mountain.
Family and former coaches expressed pride knowing that players will be representing their communities on one of the biggest stages in sports.
Illinois led 39-35 at halftime after six ties and nine lead changes and was ahead by nine points early in the second half.
The Bulls led 104-97 after closing the third period on a 16-2 run, but Denver started the final quarter on a 20-2 spurt to take the lead for good.
More than 35 local, state and federal agencies have been working for the last 18 months to prepare for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California.
A woman was in custody after another woman was slashed in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood this weekend.
Local and federal authorities said "investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity" regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
A South Side community came together on Friday, hoping for justice after a woman was shot and killed while her baby was in the back seat of their car earlier this week.
A Chicago city employee was found shot to death Friday morning inside an apartment in the West Ridge neighborhood.
Actor Timothy Busfield has been indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, officials said Friday.