On October 31, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB 2111, a historic transit funding and reform bill providing $1.2 billion in new annual operating funding for CTA, Metra, and Pace, ensuring no fare hikes or service cuts in 2026 and supporting improvements to service, reliability, and safety.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points

"A stunning 84 percent of transit measures on the ballot in 2025 so far have won, grossing an estimated $11.7 billion in known transit revenue." usa.streetsblog.org/2025/11/06/t...

@aoc.bsky.social says of Mamdani victory: "A lot of people...are willing to talk about party unity when it serves them, but not party unity when it serves everybody." "We have a future to fight for, and we're either going to do that together or you're going to be left behind."

Chicago transit getting funded and Zohran Mamdani comfortably winning election is probably the best week in big city American politics in a long time.

Dowd messes up on the first goal and now he’s afraid to come out of his goal to let in the second. Absolute disaster goalkeeping ending the Fire’s season.

I remember when I first moved to Chicago from the suburbs. I was driving every day to North Lawndale for work. It was a pain and a stressful drive. I still remember the first day I chose to take the pink line instead and that changed my life forever. It really was ‘L’ove at first ride!

In what world is that not a red card???

Playing with the city behind us 💪 #cf97

The development rights in SB2111 are such a huge win. If we can achieve some thing close to the MTR Corporation with how Hong Kong builds and develops, Chicago will be unstoppable.

We saved transit.

Illinois transit is going to be bigger and better than ever! SB2111 passed!!!

SB 2111 passes the senate!

Chicago transit bsky having another 18 inning baseball game rn

UPDATE: We now have a good outline of where the $1.5 billion transit revenues will come from. Check the highlighted paragraph at the link capitolfax.com/2025/10/30/e...

Personally I am partial to scaling vehicle registration to vehicle weight (and hood height while we’re at it) but it is good to see actual transportation related stuff.

Kinda running out of time here

Riders & non-riders have a lot at stake with the public transit fiscal cliff ($2.6 billion GDP, congestion, emissions). Riders will face devasting cuts & missed opportunities. An alternative of investment could yield share benefits (riders & non-riders). Two scenarios for @chicagocta.bsky.social

UPDATE — Mayor Brandon Johnson lays out his FY 2026 budget recommendations to protect Chicago’s most vulnerable residents from Trump. “When they come for any of us, they come for all of us,” Johnsons said to applause. thetriibe.com/2025/10/mayo...

Right-size=cuts & the vicious circle for transit. Reflecting limited ideas of public transit/sector, they use ridership, not accessibility (see @davidzipper.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...). Collective benefits beyond ridership (which enable jobs retained, drs appointments, etc)

It is extremely disingenuous to redline far southside neighborhoods in order to hollow them out, and then say the neighborhood is unworthy of this investment because they are not dense enough. The RLE is as much of an equitable Econ development project as it is a transit project. And that’s good!

Working for the day where something like this can be build and operated on any lot in Chicago.

Nearly 20 y ago a handful of people voted on one plan to revitalize the Broadway corridor. It included downzoning from Foster to Devon and resulted in ZERO housing built on the west side. Today the community fiercely dreams of something better.

This is Berwyn, my red line station ❤️ Imagine instead of this city block wide jewel parking lot, we instead see more storefronts with entrances facing the sidewalk and housing built on top

we can & should build better than this block long Burlington parking lot on Broadway next to the CTA red line. We want more of what makes city living great: more small biz entrepreneurs, more CTA riders, and more housing opportunities for all people no matter your race or class.

Since this is going around, time to point back to this thread. Yes they have attempted to cancel it, no it will not withstand a legal challenge. This is a "don't like it" rescission attempt which is not protected the federal CFR (see thread). bsky.app/profile/nikh... www.reuters.com/world/white-...

This is one of the single greatest threats to housing affordability our city faces. If we can’t outright ban this from happening we must at the very least force those who do this to pay for the negative externalities this imposes. chicagoyimby.com/2025/09/thre...

on the North Side, just 2 percent of land allows construction of high-density multifamily buildings. These are high-opportunity neighborhoods, where schools boast higher test scores and where grocery stores are easier to come by. www.urban.org/urban-wire/z...

After last year’s US election, people liked to point out that almost every OECD country saw the party in power during the post-covid inflation lose office in the next election. With one big exception: Mexico. There may be a reason for that. www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

This is what happens when you play near transit!

WHO ELSE BUT LUDMILA 🤷‍♀️

This opens up the opportunity for what would be a legendary 11 AM Stars kickoff, 1:20 cubs first pitch, 3:30 Fire kickoff, 6:30 Sox first pitch north side mainline/95th branch Red Line quadrupole header

What a great move! Being close to the CTA makes Stars games so much more accessible to me. I cannot wait to pop up to Evanston next season for some lakefront soccer!

Had a great time today walking on a Milwaukee Ave for people instead of cars and then popping over for a drink and a bite at Lottie’s Pub, a great neighborhood bar located on what is otherwise a small, residential side street. Two things Chicago needs a lot more of!

With the new Berwyn and Granville greenways, opening four new fully accessible red line stations, attracting TOD, encouraging ADUs, passing green social housing, revitalizing Bryn Mawr, and thoughtful rezoning on Broadway, Edgewater is pointing in the right direction but still lots of work ahead.

On Aug 13, 200 riders, advocates, and other stakeholders met virtually with the RTA for the 8th Transit is the Answer Coalition meeting to discuss the 2026 budget process including an analysis of HB 3438, the Sustainable Transit for Northern Illinois Act. 🧵 www.rtachicago.org/blog/2025/08...

Not great

I can assure everyone that the aesthetic choices are not what is driving the cost of the station. There is no real difference between this and a basic looking design. There’s no financial reason to not make it look nice. And even if there was, it’s federal $ and transit riders deserve nice things!

Argonne's APS attracts more than 5,000 researchers from all fields of science to Illinois, from new drug discovery to battery development. This upgrade puts our state further on the nanoscale cutting edge.

Mike Simmons dropping a letter calling for a special session for transit!

St. Loses CITY #cf97

Would love to see Chicago Sate grow. Increasing the capacity for another great and significant size Chicago university, this time on the far south side, would do wonders to make college accessible for Chicagoans. Not to mention this pairs well with the new Metra and CTA transit investment nearby!

Illinois legislators Sen. Mike Simmons and Rep. Hoan Huynh discuss funding strategies to help prevent Chicagoland transit from "going off the rails like a crazy train." 🚌 🚃 🚉 🎤 🎸 🎵 chi.streetsblog.org/2025/07/22/s...

Today at the ribbon cutting for CTA’s brand new 100% accessible Red line stations, Senator Simmons made the call clear: it’s time for legislators to get back to Springfield NOW for a special session and fully fund public transit! We can’t wait! We have to get this done now!

Loving the new L stations that opened with the completion of Phase 1 of the Red/Purple Modernization project! Hoping to see continued investment in transit all across Chicago, starting with closing the fiscal cliff as soon as possible!

Great to see investment in Chicago public transportation! Next up, the Red Line Extension! Bringing rapid transit to the far south side!

Four rebuilt Red Line stations opened in Uptown and Edgewater today, delighting neighbors who have dealt with construction for years. blockclubchicago.org/2025/07/20/n...