RTA Releases 2025 Report Showing Gains in Transit Capital Funding—But Significant New Investment Still Needed

One-quarter of regional transit infrastructure exceeds its useful life, long-term investment is needed to bring our transit assets to a state of good repair

For years, the RTA has been sounding the alarm that Chicago’s regional transit system will face a $771 million annual operating budget gap in 2026. The operating budget fiscal cliff is a result of decades of underfunding, exacerbated by changing travel patterns and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research revealed riders and residents were unaware of the impending crisis. To educate the public and mobilize support, the RTA launched the Save Transit Now campaign in April. The campaign has already allowed thousands of residents of the region to send letters urging legislators to deliver the operating funding and reform transit needs to thrive.

But even as we focus on the operational gap, the region’s capital needs remain large and separate. As one of the oldest and most extensive transit systems in the country, Chicago region's infrastructure includes aging rail lines, bridges, and facilities built more than a century ago, making the scale of investment required to maintain and modernize it significantly higher than newer systems.

Capital and Operating: Two Different Funding Needs

Capital and operating budgets are separate by law. Operating funds cover day-to-day costs—like running buses and paying staff to operate service. Capital dollars fund longer-term infrastructure investments like replacing vehicles, upgrading tracks, and renovating stations. Read more to understand the difference.

As peer systems across the country face proportional operating budget crises, some have considered flexing their capital dollars to cover operating budget gaps. But in the Chicago region, CTA, Metra, and Pace have demonstrated that those capital funds are critically needed for what they were intended for; despite more capital money flowing into the system in recent years, the region still needs two to four times more the current annual capital investment to bring all our assets to a state of good repair over the next 20 years.

Chicago’s transit system has seen an uptick in capital funding in recent years, supporting infrastructure like vehicle purchases and rehabs, track maintenance, station renovations, garage upgrades, etc. The most high-profile capital project in the region is the CTA’s Red Line Extension project, which will expand transit access for Chicago’s Far South Side more than 50 years after it was promised.

New report shows $30 Billion backlog

RTA and the Service Boards (CTA, Metra, and Pace) recently completed a comprehensive update of the region’s transit asset inventory, assessing the condition, useful life, and replacement cost of all assets. The 2025 Asset Conditions Report calculates the current repair backlog faced by the system, as well as the capital investment that would be needed to bring the system to a full state of good repair.

Key findings:

The system faces a $30 billion repair backlog.
25% of transit assets exceed their useful life.
Achieving a full state of good repair requires $4 billion in capital investment annually for the next 20 years.

The good news? Investment helps. Since the last asset update in 2016, the share of assets past their useful life has dropped from 31% to 25%—thanks to funding from the Rebuild Illinois capital bill, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and ongoing PAYGO funds from the state’s Motor Fuel Tax. Capital funding does make a difference. However, even this recent increase in investment fell well short of the $4 billion per year that is needed.

How transit agencies are using PAYGO funds

In 2019, Gov. Pritzker signed Rebuild Illinois into law, a sweeping capital bill that nearly doubled the funding for the region’s transit system’s 5-year capital program. Part of this legislation is PAYGO (pay as you go) funding, which comes from an increase to the Motor Fuel Tax. Over the first five years of the program, $227 million of PAYGO funding was available on an annual basis, allowing CTA, Metra, and Pace to act quickly on critical improvements to the system—as well as the need for those improvements.

CTA has spent PAYGO funds primarily investing in urgent state of good repair items like:

Bus maintenance and overhauls
Rail car maintenance and overhauls
Elevated track and structure maintenance and upgrades
Stations and facilities maintenance and upgrades
Replacement diesel and electric buses

Metra has spent PAYGO funds also focusing on state of good repair needs including:

Locomotive rehabilitation
Rail car rehabilitation
New rail cars
Bridge improvements
Yard improvements
Right-of-way equipment
Shelters and platform improvements
Vehicles and equipment
Metra Electric station renovations

Pace has also spent PAYGO funds on capital projects that directly impact operations improvements including:

New farebox and Ventra readers
Intelligent bus systems
Shelters, benches, and bus pads
South Campus comprising new facilities bus operator training, customer relations, sign and shelter crew, IT backup data center, and staff safety and training

Future of capital funding

While the early 2020s brought a wave of capital funding, the outlook is tightening. Federal formula funding growth has slowed with funding levels in 2023-2025 remaining about the same. In addition, federal discretionary programs may offer fewer opportunities for transit projects, and historically Illinois has only authorized capital bond programs every 10 years even though the bond programs are for 5 years. That means in the 2025-2029 timeframe, the state contribution could be significantly lower than in the first half of the decade. Overall, this means that PAYGO will remain a key funding source to advance capital projects over the next five years.

Join the Transit is the Answer Coalition

The RTA is working with policy makers at all levels of government to develop sustainable funding solutions and improve the system for all riders. Join the Transit is the Answer Coalition to help bring about the legislative changes needed to support transit at this pivotal moment.