Region

Transit is the Answer

How can we address the most urgent challenges facing our region? Transit is the Answer.

The RTA has released a draft of Transit is the Answer, the 2023 regional transit strategic plan that has been in development for more than a year. The plan vision is safe, reliable, accessible public transportation that connects people to opportunity, advances equity and combats climate change.

Download the plan below, view a press release, and join our coalition.

Read the plan

This draft document is a plan for the future of transit operated by CTA, Metra, and Pace. This work is the result of more than a year of development, input from and engagement with thousands of people, including residents across the region, transit riders past and present, and hundreds of other stakeholders. It comes at a pivotal moment in the future of the region, and it presents RTA’s immediate commitments to improving the transit system, priority policies that need more support and are vital to a well-functioning system, and importantly, a critical choice that RTA, its stakeholders, and leaders must make together about how to fund our system going forward.

Download Transit is the Answer

Learn more

The RTA held a virtual public hearing on Transit is the Answer on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. If you missed the meeting, watch the following video to learn more about how the plan was developed and the major topics it addresses.

The RTA has also developed a summary version of the plan in English and Spanish, and can translate this document into other languages upon request.

2023 Priorities

The plan includes a 14 item Agenda for Advocacy and Action, much of which will require partners and progress over time. Advancing the agenda starts now. RTA is committing to a set of Shared Regional Activities to begin implementing in 2023

Take affirmative steps forward to secure increased funding for transit operations and make the system less reliant upon fare revenue through:

Executing a broad public outreach campaign of education about transit funding and continuing to engage a coalition that will secure sustainable, ongoing funding.
Collaborating with regional partners to identify funding options and developing revenue proposals.
Obtaining continued recovery ratio relief from the Illinois legislature while developing permanent funding structural reform.

Deliver a set of new regional transit initiatives that will make the system better for riders including:

Convening a region-wide, cross-sector safety and security summit to facilitate information sharing and explore holistic solutions to the challenges affecting transit.
Seeking funding to pilot an expanded regional free or reduced fare program available to people experiencing low incomes to make the system more affordable and advance understanding about the barriers that fares present to riders.
Commissioning an independent review of the accessibility and quality of rider communication, signage, and information-sharing across and between agencies.

Collaboratively begin development of three regional action plans to program investments that support a thriving region including:

A regional blueprint for improved accessibility that builds upon existing Service Board plans and provides a comprehensive inventory of capital projects and supporting infrastructure improvements needed to achieve a fully accessible regional transit system.
A regional transit climate action plan that builds upon existing Service Board plans and identifies how transit can support the region’s climate action goals, outlines regional strategies that will encourage more people to ride transit, and charts a course to reduce the footprint of the transit system and move toward zero-emissions for transit operations.
A transit-friendly communities policy, updating the RTA’s Setting the Stage for Transit report, to set standards for communities and hold them accountable for land-use decisions and improving access to transit to ensure that our riders can travel safely and efficiently.

How we developed the plan

The scale, complexity, and existential nature of the challenges that our transit system is currently facing demanded a new, inclusive process to develop this strategic plan. The challenges are too great for any one agency or organization to tackle on its own, and the RTA believes that it is only through coalition building — mutual learning and agenda setting — that we can rise to meet the moment. The RTA is committed to change, and the process we have followed over the past 18 months reflects that commitment. Every aspect of the plan, including its Vision, Principles, and action items have been created through collaboration and engagement with thousands of diverse voices over the past year.

Read more in the Engagement Report and learn more about the Working Groups convened to develop content for the plan on the Working Group Hub.

We Listened

We Co-created

We Coalesced

An adult with a child writes on a sign with the prompt, "I value transit because..."

We Listened

The goal of the listening phase was to gather and share initial input on the priorities, challenges, and opportunities that the plan should address. Key questions asked during this phase were:

What is currently the greatest opportunity for impact that the strategic plan process should address?
What types of transit system changes should be the focus of this process?
Which key financial issues should be addressed through this process?
What are some productive ways for RTA to define, understand, and incorporate equity during this process?

Engagement during the listening phase defined the vision, outcomes, and principles of the plan. These elements were used to hone the approach and key questions asked in later phases of the process. Before moving forward, we shared a draft of the outcomes, which we refined based on feedback and public comment from the RTA Board of Directors and the audiences of focus.

The listening phase made clear that this plan needed to leverage the region to solve problems that RTA was unable to tackle on its own, and to continue engaging a diverse range of stakeholders to embody the principles of the plan: stewardship, commitment to change, and equity.

Engagement Activities

Board workshop in August 2021
Guest speakers at the RTA Board of Directors meetings Fall 2021
Guest blog series from transit thinkers around the country and region
Public forum held with the University of Illinois-Chicago
Public survey with partner promotion toolkit that garnered 1,500+ responses
Stakeholder (“Movers” Group) workshop
Social media, blog, and newsletter updates

We Co-created

In response to the high level of interest seen in the Listening Phase and the strong sense of urgency and demand for an inclusive process that was expressed during that phase, RTA convened five working groups to examine key topics for the plan, identify priorities, and develop recommendations. It was important for RTA to work in partnership with diverse stakeholders and together build the goals and strategies that frame this plan. RTA offered stipends to any participate who requested it to ensure that they were compensated for their time and expertise. The RTA had experimented with using compensation to encourage diverse public participation through its Community Planning program but this was the first time it had been used as a tactic for inclusive engagement as part of a strategic plan process.

Working group meetings were carefully designed to create a productive and inclusive forum for discussion and cultivate a group of stakeholders that are knowledgeable about transit issues and potential solutions and can act as champions of the plan and its recommendations.

Working Groups

Two technical working groups on Capital Priority Projects and 10-Year Financial Plan
- Groups were comprised of technical experts from RTA, the Service Boards, and CMAP.
- Each group produced a technical memo outlining recommendations to be included in the final plan.

Three stakeholder working groups on Transit Service, Financial Responsibility, and Infrastructure Investment

Groups were comprised in total of 100+ individuals, representing 70+ organizations from across the region.
Innovative engagement strategies were deployed including a working group hub website for document sharing, direct compensation (upon request) to individuals and organizations for participation, and feedback surveys following each meeting.
Each group produced a memo summarizing recommendations to be included in the final plan.

We Coalesced

Working group members generated hundreds of desired actions to improve the regional transit system and help deliver this plan’s vision for safe, reliable, accessible public transportation that connects people to opportunity, advances equity, and combats climate change. RTA conducted additional outreach to hear from people in each of the six counties of the region, learning about how and why people value transit and their priorities to improve the system. The RTA worked with partners at the Service Boards and CMAP and incorporated broader public and stakeholder input to craft an Agenda for Advocacy and Action and a plan to immediately begin implementing the highest priority items.

Engagement Activities

Stakeholder (“Movers” Group) workshop and working group panel discussion
Two public input surveys, garnering thousands of responses
Five workshops with Service Board and CMAP staff
Eight in-person engagement events across the six counties
More than 50 presentations to partners, stakeholders, and county boards
Public hearing

2023 Priorities

Take affirmative steps forward to secure increased funding for transit operations and make the system less reliant upon fare revenue through:

Deliver a set of new regional transit initiatives that will make the system better for riders including:

Collaboratively begin development of three regional action plans to program investments that support a thriving region including:

How we developed the plan

We Listened

We Co-created

We Coalesced

Related Documents

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Short Summary (Spanish)

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Short Summary (English)

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Stakeholder Process and Engagement Summary Report

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Chicago Regional Transit System Sketch Economic Impact…

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Transit Service Working Group Memo

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Infrastructure Investment Working Group Memo

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Financial Responsibility Stakeholder Working Group Memo

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Priority Project Technical Working Group Memo

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10-Year-Financial Plan Technical Working Group Memo

Thank you!