The Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) is the financial and oversight body for three transit agencies in northeastern Illinois; the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra, and the Pace Suburban Bus. NITA serves Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
The NITA system provides 1.3 million rides per day over 7,200 miles of bus and train routes, making it the second-largest public transit network in the United States.
Beginning June 1, 2026 the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) transitioned into what is now the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, in accordance with state legislation passed in late 2025. The NITA naming was fully adopted on September 1, 2026.
Overview The Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) serves as the coordinating agency of the Chicago area's three transit service providers: CTA, Metra, and Pace. It has the authority to set fares, create and enforce service standards, and set schedules across the three systems within the six-county region it operates within. NITA will also be responsible for strategic planning for the entire regional transit system.
Each of NITA's three operating service boards provide different service types:
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA): Provides 137 fixed-route bus services and eight rapid transit services (known as the Chicago "L") within the City of Chicago and 35 surrounding suburbs. In downtown Chicago, several "L" rapid transit services use the Loop elevated structure, while several bus routes use the Loop Link busway. Metra (NITA's Commuter Rail Division): Provides eleven commuter rail services from four rail terminals in downtown Chicago to 243 stations across the entire NITA region. One route extends into Kenosha, Wisconsin (which is not part of the NITA region). Pace (NITA's Suburban Bus Division): Provides 134 fixed-route bus services (including expressway-based routes on I-55, I-90, and I-94, and the Pulse express services) throughout the suburban areas of the NITA region, with a few routes entering the City of Chicago. It also operates paratransit, demand-response, and vanpool services for the entire NITA region.
Ventra serves as the official fare-collection system for CTA and Pace. The Ventra mobile app also sells Metra tickets and passes.
Governance The Board Chair Tom Kotarac, and Interim Executive Director Jamie Rhee, were both unanimously elected by the board at its first meeting on September 10, 2026.
The NITA Board consists of 20 members, including: 5 members appointed by the Governor of Illinois; 5 members appointed by the Mayor of Chicago; 5 members appointed by the Cook County Board President; 1 member by the DuPage County Board Chair; 1 member by the Kane County Board Chair; 1 member by the Lake County Board Chair; 1 member by the McHenry County Board Chair; 1 member by the Will County Board Chair. Some members hold dual appointments on the boards of CTA, Metra, or Pace.
History
Establishment of the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974
RTA was created after a referendum in 1974. In 1973, CTA had instituted its first major service cuts,Bill Vandervoort, Significant Dates in CTA Route History.A paper by Ian Savage of the Department of Economics and the Transportation Center, Northwestern University, Management objectives and the causes of mass transit deficits (November, 2002), p. 15, outlines some of the reasons for the CTA's loss of profitability during this period. and several suburban bus companies, including Evanston Bus Company and Glenview Bus Company had ceased operations, forcing Evanston to make arrangements with CTA and Wilmette to start a municipal service. The Rock Island and Milwaukee Road were already facing financial distresses, which would lead to their eventual bankruptcies, and the Illinois Central was petitioning the Interstate Commerce Commission to increase commuter fares, on the basis that the cost of operating its commuter train system was a burden on interstate commerce. While several suburbs had organized Mass Transit Districts to purchase equipment for the carriers with federal financial assistance, the Rock Island was still operating old equipment that it could not afford to replace. In an attempt to deal with these problems in the six-county area, the RTA was established, with some taxing powers, to provide financial support through grants to the CTA and suburban mass transit districts, and purchase of service agreements with the private bus and rail operators.See also, Krambles and Peterson, CTA at 45: A History of the First 45 Years of the Chicago Transit Authority (1993), pp. 36 to 38. .
Reorganization of the RTA in 1983
In 1983, after a financial crisis,Savage, pp. 16-17, attributes the problem to the unconstrained demand for subsidies, and the RTA's loss of financial viability due to unreliable taxing authority.Krambles, p. 38, also notes unspecified political problems; Chicago-l.org describes some of them.The extent of the crisis is partially described in two court cases reflecting the RTA's inability to meet obligations to suburban carriers: Regional Transportation Authority v. Burlington Northern Inc., 100 Ill.App.3d 779, 426 N.E.2d 1143, 55 Ill.Dec. 818 (1st Dist., 1981) and Regional Transportation Authority v. Illinois Commerce Commission, 118 Ill.App.3d 685, 455 N.E.2d 172, 74 Ill.Dec. 142 (1st Dist., 1983).Some contemporaneous reports are also contained in the New York Times transit system news topics. and the RTA taking over several private bus companies and the Rock Island and Milwaukee Road lines, the RTA Act was amended to create the Suburban Bus Division, now known as Pace,70 ILCS 3615/3A.01. and the Commuter Rail Division, now known as Metra.70 ILCS 3615/3B.01. RTA's role then changed, so that it is now responsible for reviewing the operating and capital plans and expenditures of the Service Boards,70 ILCS 3615/2.01(b). developing an annual budget and program70 ILCS 3615/4.01(a). as well as a five-year plan,70 ILCS 3615/2.01(c). and distributing sales tax receipts to the Service Boards, in accordance with a statutory formula.The 1983-2007 formula was contained in 70 ILCS 3615/4.01(d). However, RTA no longer provides service directly, as the Service Boards have the authority to determine the level, nature, and kind of public transportation to be provided, 70 ILCS 3615/2.01(a). and to establish fares.70 ILCS 3615/2.04. Originally, RTA entered into purchase of service agreements with carriers, but the 1983 amendment gives the Service Boards the power to enter into those agreements with transportation agencies.70 ILCS 3615/2.02.
The 1983 legislation also imposed the requirements that the level of fares must be sufficient, in the aggregate, to equal 50 percent of the cost of providing transportation,70 ILCS 3615/4.01(b)(i), subject to some exceptions for costs of security and the like. and that the RTA Board inform each Service Board, as part of the budget process, of its required recovery ratio for the next fiscal year.70 ILCS 3615/4.11(a).Savage, p. 17, attributes this condition to the need to prevent the continuation of the trend of the 1970s.
2004–2007 funding debate and 2008 legislation
Background In 2004, the CTA, projecting a $55 million funding shortfall in its 2005 budget, called for a "long term funding solution," involving a change to the sales tax distribution formula in the RTA Act.See keepchicagolandmoving.com, a CTA web site . In response, the Illinois General Assembly appropriated $54 million to cover the cost of CTA's paratransit service for 2005. An amendment to the RTA Act made the RTA responsible for the funding, financial review and oversight of all ADA paratransit services, effective July 1, 2005, and transferred responsibility for operating or providing for the operation of paratransit service to Pace starting July 1, 2006,70 ILCS 3615/2.30, as added by HB1663, 94th General Assembly.70 ILCS 3615/4.01(b)(ii) establishes a recovery ratio for paratransit service. thereby relieving the CTA of that responsibility. The General Assembly also directed the Illinois Auditor General to audit the RTA and the Service Boards, as part of its review of the funding issue.HR0479, 94th General Assembly for the audit of CTA; HR0650, 94th General Assembly for RTA, Metra, and Pace. The Auditor General's preliminary report, while agreeing that public funding was insufficient to support the level of transit services, said that the legislature must address other issues, including underfunded pensions, high salaries, absenteeism, and the lack of strong, centralized planning, resulting in several of the service boards competing for customers in the same areas, the Auditor General calling for "an end to the transit agencies fighting each other for customers, routes and federal funding for pet projects that may not fit into an overall regional transit plan."
The RTA approved 2007 Service Board budgets premised on the assumption that "a new funding source would be identified in 2007 to meet the funding requirements of [the] budget."Similarly the Pace 2007 Suburban Service Budget stated that its budget was balanced using "new transit funds anticipated to be realized through the Region's Moving Beyond Congestion initiative."The Metra Budget stated: "We have been advised by the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) to prepare a 2007 budget that anticipates additional operations funding from the state. Although such funding is essential, we have no guarantee that it will be forthcoming." Nonetheless, the CTA budget recognized, "Without this new funding source, CTA will be forced to cut service." With no legislative action by August, 2007, CTA and Pace announced proposals for service cuts, popularly known as "Doomsday Plans," to be implemented September 16. The September plans were postponed when the Governor proposed advancing 2008 state subsidies. A new Doomsday date was set for November 4, but that was avoided when the Governor engineered a transfer of capital funds. Again, the legislature having failed to pass a transit bill, the three service boards proposed 2008 budgets that assumed no new funding and postulated service cuts by CTA and Pace, and the deferral of capital projects by Metra, as well as fare increases by all three agencies.
The barriers to 2007 passage of a bill were the requirement that a 3/5ths supermajority of the legislators was needed to pass a bill after May 31 to be immediately effective,Illinois Constitution, Article 4 Section 10. the Governor had threatened to veto a bill that included a sales tax increase, and many legislators tied a transit bill to a capital plan and a casino bill to fund that capital plan. However, with a new Doomsday deadline of January 20, 2008 approaching, the Governor called on the legislature to pass some bill, and he would "improve it," presumably using the amendatory veto.The amendatory veto is authorized by Illinois Constitution Article 4 Section 9. The Legislature passed HB656 on January 10, to which the Governor affixed an amendatory veto allowing senior citizens to ride all transit systems in the state for free. Although various media reports expressed concern that the legislation could not receive the votes to sustain it after it was returned with the amendment, the amendatory veto was accepted and the legislation passed on January 17, 2008.
Legislative response The highlights of the 2008 amendments to the RTA Act include: The RTA sales tax was increased to 1.25% in Cook County, and 0.75% in the collar counties (from 1% and 0.25%, respectively), but one-third of the sales tax collected in the collar counties (i.e. 0.25%) is distributed directly to the counties70 ILCS 3615/4.03. and the county boards may use that money for transportation or public safety purposes.70 ILCS 3615/4.03.3.