Transit Future

Transit Future is a campaign to expand the public transit system in Chicago. The project was launched in 2014 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Active Transportation Alliance.^[1]

It is modeled on a successful campaign by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that built public support to raise funds for major transportation investments.^[2] Prominent supporters of the Transit Future initiative include Rahm Emanuel, Toni Preckwinkle, Jesús "Chuy" García, and various business and civic groups.^[3][4]

Advocates have suggested that Cook County establish a "dedicated revenue stream" of some sort to pay for the transit improvements.^[5] They argue that compared to peer cities, Chicago has one of the lowest rates of per capita spending on transit.^[6][7]

Details

Six rail extensions and several other projects are proposed, at a cost of $20 billion:

• Red Line extension to 130th Street
• Brown Line extension to Jefferson Park Transit Center
• Orange Line extension to Ford City Mall
• Blue Line extension to Oakbrook Center (Congress Branch)
• Blue Line extension to Schaumburg (O'Hare Branch)
• Yellow Line extension to Old Orchard Mall
• New Ashland Bus Rapid Transit
• New Lime Line running north-south near Cicero Avenue
• New South Lakefront Service
• New Metra SouthEast Service to Crete
• New express service running between O'Hare and Midway Airports
• Bus rapid transit lines in the suburbs
• West Loop transportation center