ADA Paratransit budget shortfall explained | Regional Transportation Authority

At the RTA’s May Board of Directors meeting, staff shared details on an ADA Paratransit budget shortfall for the 2025 fiscal year that will require immediate and long-term action to address. The result was the creation of an ADA Paratransit Action Plan, which aims to ensure the future health and viability of accessible transportation for Paratransit-certified riders. At the RTA's August Board meeting, the directors voted to fund the 2025 ADA Paratransit budget shortfall.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires transit agencies to provide Paratransit service anywhere they provide fixed-route service. Since 2008, Pace has been the sole operator of Paratransit for our region, running the second largest program in the country and serving more than 2 million trips annually. RTA manages ADA Paratransit Certification for the region, and currently there are over 60,000 certified ADA paratransit riders.

ADA Paratransit is federally mandated but does not have a dedicated funding source. The state of Illinois drastically underfunds ADA Paratransit, in 2024 providing only $10 million of the $249 million cost of the program. In the Chicago region ADA Paratransit is funded first, meaning operating revenues from sales tax and other sources first cover the ADA budget before being dispersed for fixed route service.

In light of current budget conditions, traditional ADA Paratransit service will continue to be fully funded first ensuring this critical service continues to meet the needs of people with a disability throughout the region.

Why is there an ADA Paratransit budget shortfall, and how much is it?

For many years Pace has offered a consumer-subsidy program for certified ADA riders called the Taxi Access Program (TAP). Subsidy programs are used extensively by peer transit agencies, offering on-demand trip booking for riders and often achieving lower cost per trip for the agency, but transit agencies are not required to offer such programs under the ADA. TAP has proven successful both in providing a useful option for riders at $2 per ride and in cutting operations costs—trips taken in taxis have a lower cost than trips taken in a traditional Paratransit vehicle.

In 2024, Pace launched the Rideshare Access Program (RAP) as a pilot, expanding this service to rideshare companies Uber and UZURV. RAP became so popular so quickly that the costs for the program have created a significant gap in the ADA Paratransit budget. Even though the costs of these trips are lower per ride than traditional ADA Paratransit vehicles, people are riding much more frequently than projected. And much of the growth in RAP has come from new and returning riders who had not been using traditional ADA Paratransit prior to RAP’s launch.

Because of this, the region faced a $25.5 million ADA Paratransit budget shortfall in 2024. In April 2025, the RTA Board of Directors authorized the use of $25.5 million from the ADA Paratransit reserve to address this, leaving only $8.3 million in that reserve fund. RTA staff estimates that total 2025 ADA ridership will exceed budget by 1.3 million to 1.8 million rides, producing a potential shortfall of $35 million to $65 million in the absence of mitigating actions.

What can be done to reel in costs?

To fulfill its duty as responsible stewards of public funds while providing the best transit service possible to riders, the RTA developed an ADA Paratransit Action Plan aimed at mitigating the continued, unsustainable growth in RAP and TAP ridership and costs. The guiding principles for this action plan include protecting mobility access, promoting financial sustainability, leveraging one-time funds wisely, ensuring equity and transparency, and linking action to broader reform. The action plan recommendations identify immediate and future actions Pace will implement October 1.

These actions include:

Pace establishing a 30 ride per month cap for both RAP and TAP;
Restoring the current $2 RAP and TAP fares to match traditional ADA at $3.25
Offering free rides on all system-wide fixed route service to ADA-certified riders, which is currently offered only on Pace fixed routes; and
RTA conducting a review to determine effectiveness of RTA’s certification process.

This July Pace held public hearings in each of the six counties to gather input from ADA certified riders that may be impacted by potential changes to TAP and RAP. Community input makes it clear that TAP and RAP are important transportation services offering freedom and mobility to some of the most vulnerable users of the regional system. This input further highlighted that it is critical that Pace and the RTA make programmatic changes to TAP and RAP to ensure the long-term sustainability of these vital and popular programs.

Even with the monthly cap and restored fare, RAP and TAP would still be among the most flexible user subsidy programs offered to ADA Paratransit riders in the U.S.; some peer agencies offer as few as two rides per month for new customers who have not previously used traditional ADA Paratransit. Data shows 5% of eligible ADA Paratransit riders use RAP and TAP more than 30 times per month currently; the average number of trips taken using RAP or TAP is 12 rides per month.

The above immediate actions alone cannot solve the budget shortfall. Future actions will include:

A fare increase for traditional ADA Paratransit along with fixed route modes as part of the 2026 budget;
Improved ridership and cost projection during the budget development process;
Potentially further adjustments to RAP and TAP program parameters; and
Better aligning the county Rideshare Access services with ADA Rideshare Access to standardize fares across programs and ensure the best use of limited resources.

Where will funding for the 2025 ADA Paratransit shortfall come from?

In August, RTA staff presented an update on the ADA Paratransit Action Plan and the RTA Board voted to approve an ordinance authorizing an amendment to the 2025 Pace ADA Paratransit funding amount. View the slides and video here.

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