Although the CTA’s $1.45 billion budget for 2016 keeps base fares for trains and buses the unchanged for the fifth year in a row, it also assumes that the state will continue to fund the CTA at its current level.
At Thursday's news conference, CTA President Dorval Carter and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said they expect the state to fund the CTA at last year's level. One out of every five dollars in the CTA budget comes from the state.
Although Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democratic legislature are going into their fourth month without a budget agreement, Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he can't put the brakes on plans for the city.
"They're farther behind in meeting the responsibility in passing a budge than ever before in the history of the state," Emanuel said. "I will not accept their disfunction for getting in the way of investing in the future."
The state budget stalemate has already hit social service organizations and the lottery. If it hits the CTA, many people are going to feel it; The city's public transportation system gave half a billion rides last year.
