Stranded Twice: How Transit Cuts and CPS Policy Are Failing Chicago’s Youth Again

A student stands alone at an unoccupied bus stop, watching as both the school bus and train depart. (Google ImageFx)

Let's be clear: You can't cut public transportation and expect our kids to thrive.

For thousands of Chicago students, CTA and Pace aren’t optional, they’re the only way to get to school, afterschool programs, jobs, and everything in between. But between CPS canceling yellow bus service for general education students and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) preparing to slash up to 40% of CTA, Metra, and Pace service, families are about to be stranded twice.

RTA is preparing two alternative budgets for 2026, both of which include up to 40% service cuts to CTA, Metra, and Pace. These proposed reductions stem from a $770 million budget shortfall, left in the wake of expiring federal COVID relief funds and Springfield’s failure to secure sustainable operating dollars for transit.

These are choices with life-altering consequences for the city’s youth, especially those on the South and West Sides who already face limited options. And this crisis is compounded by a decision Chicago Public Schools made to end bus service for general education students.

The result? Students and families who were told to rely on public transit could see that very option vanish.

We already know what happens when systems fail our youth. They fall through the cracks. They disengage. They miss opportunities.

But because Springfield hasn’t secured long-term operating dollars for our region’s public transit systems AND federal COVID funds are done, the RTA is on the edge of a fiscal cliff of $770 million for 2026.

Instead of innovation or investment, what we’re getting are options that look like this:

• Pace cutting all weekend service and shutting down after 8 p.m.

• CTA closing more than 50 train stations and eliminating entire bus lines.

• Metra scaling back to skeleton service with longer gaps between trains.

For families who already have no access to a car, this is a shutdown of opportunity. These proposed cuts threaten basic access to education and opportunity, widening existing racial and economic disparities. And when a student can’t get to school, the consequences ripple far beyond the classroom.

Here’s the math:

No school buses + No reliable public transit =

Late students. Absent students. Disconnected students.

It also means, a 30 minute trip to school can become a 90 minute puzzle of which routes to take to get me closer to my destination. It could mean teens missing internships, college readiness programs, or that job they just got hired for. Parents having to choose between a working a second job and walking their kids a mile to the nearest open stop.

And let's be honest, Many suburbs are having these discussions, but these cuts will impact Roseland, Englewood, Austin, Lawndale. Those neighborhoods where residents are told to be "resilient" every time someone fails to do their job.

Our youth are already pushing through enough barriers: poverty, violence, underfunded schools, mental health crises. Now, you want to take away their most reliable form of transportation. At what point do we stop asking youth to overcome and urge politicians to fix the systems that keep setting them up to fail. We don't need another elected official to say "We hear you". We need strategy, investment and follow-through.

Here’s What Needs to Happen

1. When CTA, Metra, and Pace release their draft budgets, FLOOD THE COMMENTS. Let them know these cuts aren't just numbers. There are people lives being impacted.

2. Call your state reps. Tell them if they can't fund public transit, they shouldn't be in office.

Chicago...The City that works. But if students can't get to school, work or home, who exactly is working?