Special Edition: Transit Survey Results

Special Edition: Transit

In this special edition of our newsletter, we are sharing out the results of our Transit Survey where we gathered constituent input on possible revenue proposals. Revenue proposals were chosen based off of the Senate transit revenue bill passed in Spring 2025 and House Transit Working Group conversations. Our office worked together with the offices of State Representatives Eva-Dina Delgado and Ann Williams to distribute and promote the survey, asking constituents to keep in mind their goal should be to raise approximately $1.5 billion in funding using their answers.

Please keep in mind, these proposals may not be the only sources of funding being considered during the current Veto Session.

Overall Results

Responses were gathered from over 400 constituents across districts with some of the highest populations of transit riders in the state.

Each revenue proposal that was polled received an overwhelming majority of support by constituents. Below is a ranking of the polled proposals, ordered by most popular to least popular.

$1 Delivery Charge - 83.2% support

25% Surcharge on Tolls - 79.3% support

25 Cent increase in CTA Fare - 74% support

IL Road Fund Diversion - 70.6% support

EV Charging Fee - 66.2% support

10% Rideshare Tax - 65.7% support

RETT Extension - 65.2% support

$1 Surcharge on Tolls - 62% support

Large Event Surcharge - 52% support

A further breakdown of these results are detailed as follows.

Would you support a $1 delivery charge for delivery orders over $100, excluding pharmaceuticals and groceries, to fund public transit?

Yes: 342

No: 52

Maybe if it were less: 17

Would you support a 25 cent increase in CTA fares? (The last fare increase was in 2018.)

Yes: 304

No: 70

Maybe if it were less: 37

Would you support a 10% tax on all rideshare trips in the RTA region (Cook and collar counties) to fund public transit?

Yes: 270

No: 73

Maybe if it were less: 68

Since large events put additional strain on public transit agencies, a ticket price surcharge of $5-10 would be added to tickets at venues that contain more than 10,000 people. Your ticket would then include your trip to/from the venue on public transit. Would you support this surcharge to be used to fund public transit?

Yes: 215

No: 60

Depends on type of event: 96

Maybe if it were less: 40

Would you support a 25% surcharge on tolls (charged once per day), which would increase the average cost of tolls by $0.60 to fund public transit?

Yes: 326

No: 53

Maybe if it were less: 32

Would you support a $1 surcharge on all tolls?

Yes: 255

No: 92

Maybe if were less: 64

Would you support a fee of $0.03 per kw/h tax on electric vehicle charging at public chargers to fund public transit?

Yes: 272

No: 118

Maybe if were less: 21

Would you support a one time transfer of funds from the Illinois Road Fund (which contains $3.7 billion dollars) to fund public transit?

Yes: 290

Unsure: 89

No: 32

Would you support extending the Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax RETT to the collar counties, which taxes $1.50 for every $500 during the transfer of a property, to fund public transit?*

*Collar County dollars would be used for Metra and Pace transit needs, not for the CTA.

Yes: 268

Unsure: 95

No: 48

14th District Results

We were also curious if our constituents' input would align with the total population surveyed. Over 90 people in the 14th District responded, with their ranking of the polled proposals below:

$1 Delivery Charge - 89.0% support

25% Surcharge on Tolls - 75.8% support

25 Cent increase in CTA Fare - 71.4% support

IL Road Fund Diversion - 69.2% support

RETT Extension - 67.0% support

EV Charging Fee - 65.9% support

10% Rideshare Tax - 57.1% support

$1 Surcharge on Tolls - 54.9% support

Large Event Surcharge - 49.5% support

Further results are detailed as follows.

Would you support a $1 delivery charge for delivery orders over $100, excluding pharmaceuticals and groceries, to fund public transit?

Yes: 81

No: 8

Maybe if it were less: 2

Would you support a 25 cent increase in CTA fares? (The last fare increase was in 2018)

Yes: 65

No: 19

Maybe if it were less: 7

Would you support a 10% tax on all rideshare trips in the RTA region (Cook and collar counties) to fund public transit?

Yes: 52

No: 17

Maybe if it were less: 22

Yes: 45

No: 15

Depends on type of event: 23

Maybe if it were less: 8

Would you support a 25% surcharge on tolls (charged once per day) which would increase the average cost of tolls by $0.60 to fund public transit?

Yes: 69

No: 14

Maybe if it were less: 8

Would you support a $1 surcharge on all tolls?

Yes: 50

No: 24

Maybe if were less: 17

Would you support a fee of $0.03 per kw/h tax on electric vehicle charging at public chargers to fund public transit?

Yes: 60

No: 24

Maybe if were less: 7

Would you support a one time transfer of funds from the Illinois Road Fund (which contains $3.7 billion dollars) to fund public transit?

Yes: 63

Unsure: 19

No: 9

Would you support extending the Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax RETT to the collar counties, which taxes $1.50 for every $500 during the transfer of a property, to fund public transit?*

*Collar County dollars would be used for Metra and Pace transit needs, not for the CTA.

Yes: 61

Unsure: 23

No: 7