Updated in March 2024
January ridership of 25.7 million was at 61.6% of pre-COVID levels, 0.5% favorable to budget. In turn, total system‐generated revenue was $0.8 million or 1.5% unfavorable to budget, as Pace Suburban Service and ADA Paratransit each reported positive results, while CTA and Metra reported unfavorable fare revenue results for January as average fares came in lower than budgeted.
Service Board expense results continue to be significantly under budget, driven primarily by unfilled positions as the Service Boards continue their efforts to restore full staffing levels. Regional operating expenses were $22.5 million, or 7.3%, favorable to budget. The overall strong expense performance resulted in favorable to budget operating deficits for each Service Board and ADA Paratransit, with the combined regional operating deficit 8.6% favorable.
Total public funding for January was close to budget at 0.5% favorable. Actual PTF for January 2024 was 1.5% above budget. Final 2023 sales tax collections of $1.631 billion finished the year 3.9% higher than the prior year. The region has drawn down about 57% of the total federal relief funding including $50 million for January, which was $43 million less than budgeted.
The system‐wide net result was $20.9 million unfavorable to budget for January due solely to a lag in the requisitioning of federal relief funding. Also due to the lower than anticipated relief funding drawdowns, the regional recovery ratio of 44.5% was 13.0 percentage points below the adopted budget for January 2024.
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