As the clocked ticked down and Illinois’ veto session came to a close, Illinois lawmakers in Springfield in the wee hours of Friday morning approved a new, $1.5 billion transit funding bill for public transportation agencies, mainly in the Chicago area.
The new bill passed passed without large, and controversial statewide tax increases that had been previously proposed, like taxes on streaming services, a $5-per-ticket concert and new speeding cameras in the suburbs.
However, the bill is still likely to raise sales tax in Chicago and the suburbs, and will significantly hike fares for trips on the Illinois Tollway, including to and from to O’Hare International Airport.
What is in Illinois’ new mass transit bill?
The measure also overhauls the Chicago area’s mass transit system by creating a new governing body called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. The new group, which will oversee the CTA, Pace and Metra, shifts public transit authority away from the Regional Transit Authority.
The final vote of the bill, which aims to avoid the doomsday “fiscal cliff” and $771 million hole the RTA had been warning about for weeks, passed 36 to 21 with nearly all Democrats voting in favor.
Senate Bill 2111, which would go into effect June 1, now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.
“This isn’t just another transportation bill. It’s a transformation bill,” state Rep. Kam Buckner said, after the bill passed early Friday morning. “For 50 years, Illinois has been trying to fix transit one piece at a time. No other state has ever attempted a reform this large. No other state has had the courage to say, ‘We’re going to fix this and not just patch it anymore.’ This bill creates a unified system that will replace fragmentation with coordination.”
All of the revenue-generating components of the bill are designed to close a massive budget gap caused by the expiration of COVID-era funding from the federal government. The largest chunks, the Chicago Tribune reported, come from diverting $860 million in state tax revenue on motor fuel sales, which is more commonly known as a “gas tax,” It also includes diverting $200 million from the interest earned on the state’s road fund for mass transit uses, instead of road construction projects.
Sales taxes in the Chicago area are also set to rise, as the bill says $478 million would come from raising the existing RTA sales tax by 0.25 percentage points, to 1% in Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties.
In Cook County, the tax hike would be raised to 1.25%.
How much will the Illinois Tollway cost?
To make up for the funding pulled from road work, the bill will also raise tolls on the Illinois Tollway by $0.45, which one GOP lawmaker described as a 60% increase, the Tribune reported.
Currently, a trip to O’Hare on the Illinois Tollway costs a normal passenger vehicle $0.75. The sharp increase of $0.45 means the trip will now cost $1.20.
Supporters said the new tollway fares could generate as much as $1 billion annually for roadway on the tollways, which serve about a dozen counties. Others argued the plan would divert money meant for road projects near them to instead assist with Chicago-area transit needs.
In a statement, the RTA said the passage of SB211 is a “landmark moment for public transit in Illinois.”
“This bill provides the stable funding and governance reforms needed to protect transit service for the millions who ride CTA, Metra, and Pace—and the thousands of frontline workers who keep our region moving,” it added.
Region: Chicago,Local,City: Chicago
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October 31, 2025 at 06:22AM
Illinois Delivered 