Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act into law, creating a new regional authority powered by $1.5 billion in annual for transit and infrastructure funding to oversee municipal transit agencies and implement capital projects. The law goes into effect on June 1, 2026.
The law restructures transit operations across the state, awarding NITA with expanded powers over service planning, capital projects, fare collections and operational oversight. Critically, the law accomplishes this shift in dynamics without raising statewide taxes, providing long-term reliability and stability for transit systems.
The annual $1.5 billion in funding will be generated through existing revenue streams. These include:
- Diverting a portion of the gas sales tax to raise $860 million annually for transit operations. NITA will receive 85% of the funding, with the remaining 15% supporting downstate transit.
- Directing the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to increase the regional sales tax by 0.25% across six counties. The increased tax will generate approximately $478 million for NITA operations.
- Diverting interest from the Road Fund and State Construction Account Fund (SCAT) to transit capital projects. Approximately 90% of the interest will go toward Northeaster Illinois, with 10% being allocated downstate. The interest will total roughly $200 million annually.
- The legislation also includes measures to create a new Tollway capital program.
With NITA fully overseeing the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra and Pace, the legislation implements a series of changes to amplify operations and performance. Among these, the law requires that a unified fare system to be in place by 2030 to ensure all fares are processed through a single, integrated system.
While the municipal transit authorities will remain focused on day-to-day service delivery, NITA will set standards and allocate funding as needed. To validate accountability and expertise, boards will be restructured to institute requirements for cross-membership, dual chairs and minimum experience.
Priority investments laid out in the legislation will target community transit by stabilizing operations, improving coordination and expanding services to enhance accessibility and meet local needs. Notably, a significant focus will be shifted toward improving safety, reforming structure-relevant policies and ensuring communities outside major city centers benefit from better transit networks.
The structural reforms will play an essential role in modernizing how the authority approaches transit-related projects from start to finish. This includes implementing a Capital Fast Track Program designed to streamline the process to accelerate major transit capital project planning and delivery, reduce delays and activate critical infrastructure improvements more quickly.
Additional improvements featured in the reform will remove mandatory parking minimums within a half-mile of major transit hubs. In addition, NITA will reduce construction costs and make it easier to advance transit-oriented development projects. The authority also plans to allow downstate capital funds to be used for intercity rail capital projects connecting communities throughout Chicago.
As part of NITA’s efforts to better reach communities outside Chicago and its suburbs, the law will dedicate $150 million to stabilize operations and support capital projects while reducing local cost-shares from 35% to 20%. Additional suburban transit improvements will revolve around improved Metra and Pace coordination, service frequency, a Metra regional rail model providing frequent suburb-to-suburb service and the implementation of a regional Dial-a-Ride program for on-demand transit.
Safety and security are among the top priorities featured in the law, with several components added to better protect riders across the state. These include improving coordinated responses across law enforcement jurisdictions through a dedicated task force and developing a long-term safety strategy between law enforcement and social services, starting in 2027. NITA will train transit ambassadors to assist riders and alert law enforcement of safety issues. Finally, the authority will deploy mobile applications enabling riders to report issues in real time.
Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels
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