Chicagoans should expect to pay more for city trains and buses next year as the CTA looks to raise fares in the face of a looming fiscal crisis.

If the fare hikes of 25 cents per ride are approved by the agency’s board, it will be the first time the CTA has raised ticket prices since 2018.

The fare increases come as the CTA has warned it could have to cut bus and train service by as much as 25% starting in the middle of next year.

“The service cuts we may be forced to make beginning in 2026 will be the single-largest transit service cut in the modern history of the Chicago Transit Authority,” the agency’s acting president, Nora Leerhsen, warned earlier this month.

Like peer transit agencies around the country, the CTA is facing a fiscal crisis caused by the depletion of one-time feder

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