The Chicago Transit Authority recently announced it is running more trains and buses, bringing service back to prepandemic levels. But the service itself? Not so great.
With the CTA, you must always be prepared to be late — a line crack on the Brown Line recently delayed my morning commute. It’ll be harder to track delays in 2025, since the CTA recently decided to deactivate its Twitter account and alert account.
It’s no wonder the CTA wants to escape scrutiny. Since the pandemic, it has faced plenty of challenges: dramatically reduced ridership, persistent safety concerns and a growing budget deficit that threatens the entire public transportation system. It’s good to see service levels increase, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Ridership was up in 2024, but remains at just 63% of prepandemic levels, with 273.5 million riders in 2023 compared to 455.8 million in 2019. Yet the CTA’s $2 billion operating budget in 2024 ballooned by $210 million over 2023, and by 2026 is projected to include a staggering $577 million shortfall.
Chicago’s transit system stands at a critical crossroads. For the CTA to recover ridership in the New Year, Chicago must curb crime, fill business vacancies and correct the agency’s fiscal crisis.
Safety must be the first priority. Crime has been a significant deterrent for potential riders for years. Over 1 in every 100,000 CTA rides resulted in a crime, according to a study by the Illinois Policy Institute. That’s about one crime every three hours. And violent incidents, including four people shot and killed on the Blue Line and a string of forceful robberies on the Red Line, make residents hesitant to use public transit.
About 45% of all crimes reported at CTA stations result in an arrest, according to our analysis of city data. And costly CTA security is mostly unable to intervene when crimes are occurring on the platform. Instead, they must rely on the Chicago Police Department to make arrests.
Our institute estimates it would cost taxpayers just $20 million annually to hire one CPD officer for every CTA train station. Officers could handle threats in real time and help individuals feel safe on the CTA.
The solution isn’t just increased policing, but meaningful enforcement. By addressing fare evasion and maintaining a visible police presence, Washington, D.C., reduced transit crime by 19%. Chicago could do the same. Routine citations for nonviolent offenses and fare enforcement can prevent more serious crimes and deter anti-social, aggressive behavior.
A better business climate
Still, the largest barrier to ridership recovery is the city’s hostility toward business. Chicago’s downtown office vacancy rate is 25.8%, a record high. Businesses have fled, or opted for permanently remote work, directly reducing ridership.
City leaders must take bold steps to make Chicago a more attractive place to live and work.
The city can start by lowering tax rates on the businesses, to fill vacancies and encourage retention. Chicago’s second-highest in the nation commercial property tax rate, combined with Illinois’ second-highest in the nation corporate income tax, make Chicago’s business environment, as measured by license approvals for new and existing businesses, particularly hostile.
The CTA could also offer reduced rates for businesses that cover transit expenses for employees.
Additionally, the city must loosen zoning restrictions to increase housing supply in transit-heavy zones. That can help lower housing cost burdens and increase availability for new commuters in high-demand, job-heavy areas. Chicago’s aldermen and zoning committee must also stop striking down mixed-use and residential developments that are key for upscaling neighborhoods. This bad practice is driving would-be residents and businesses out of the city, plus spiking rents in transit-dense neighborhoods.
The CTA must also address its internal structural problems. Currently, personnel costs consume 68% of the CTA’s budget — $1.36 billion in 2024, projected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2026. While the CTA recently hired enough rail and bus operators to return to prepandemic levels, the agency also added numerous back-office administrative and support positions, such as security project managers and analysts, and new staffers for the diversity, human resources and equity engagement departments.
Egregious examples of misspending include a DJ set to earn $20,000 for only 300 hours of work; and Dorval Carter, the CTA head who’s been widely criticized and barely uses the system. He makes a bloated $376,000 a year salary, exactly the kind of mismanaged spending that erodes public trust and adds to CTA’s deficit.
Asking the state for more funding could result in higher taxes or hiking fares, so the CTA should fix its fiscal mismanagement. Lawmakers might even do it for them by consolidating the region’s transit agencies.
Public transit is more than a service: it’s critical for connecting communities and supporting economic mobility.
The solution isn’t punishing riders with new taxes or fees but creating a transit system that people want to use. This means prioritizing rider safety, optimizing operational efficiency and working hand-in-hand with the business community to rebuild Chicago’s public transit.
By committing to both fiscal responsibility and rider experience, Chicago can make 2025 the year of transit transformation.
Micky Horstman is the communications associate for the Illinois Policy Institute and a social mobility fellow for Young Voices, an organization that helps young conservative writers launch careers.
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