Welcome to the Windy City!

NORA LEERHSEN
Acting President
Chicago Transit Authority

This city is the perfect setting for conversations about the future of public transportation. For 79 years, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has shaped this city, and our riders take more than a million rides daily across 146 rail stations and 127 bus routes.

The Chicago region stands at a defining moment for public transit, full of promise and possibility. Last year, Illinois enacted landmark reform that put the region’s network on stable footing through the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA).

Riders can see our investment everywhere: buses every 10 minutes on our Frequent Network bus routes, multimillion-dollar station upgrades, and, thanks to NITA, 75-cent student fares. At the same time, historic capital investments are expanding and modernizing our system for the next generation of riders.

The best way to experience Chicago is aboard transit. CTA’s Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line station sits steps from the convention center. Ride the elevated Loop for skyline views, hop off at Washington/Wabash for Millennium Park, or visit Roosevelt, where three rail lines meet near our Museum Campus. Of course, our Blue and Orange lines connect riders to O’Hare and Midway airports, respectively.

None of this happens without our 11,500 transit professionals, who are among Chicago’s best ambassadors. You’ll meet many of them this week during your travels across the city.

Chicago is eager to learn from you, and just as eager to show you what’s working here.

Thank you for all you do to keep America moving.

JAMES M. DERWINSKI
Executive Director/CEO
Metra
Chicago, IL

Hello, and welcome to Chicago and APTA’s 2026 TRANSform & EXPO! Metra and its 4,000+ employees are happy to introduce you to our vibrant city and our extensive public transit system.

We hope you get a chance to ride our trains and interact with some of the hardworking and dedicated workers who deliver fast, reliable, and safe service to the Chicago region each and every day. We are proud of our system and its history and proud of the men and women who make it work in the most complicated rail environment in the country.

We invite you to glimpse our future—one of our unique, cutting-edge trainsets from Stadler is on display. Metra is the first operator in North America to order these battery-powered trainsets, and we hope to introduce them into our system in the next year or so [learn more on page 26]. We are excited about their potential to help us operate more frequently, more efficiently, and in a more environmentally friendly manner, and possibly allow us to operate new service such as express trains between Chicago’s downtown and O’Hare International Airport.

We also invite you to see how we refurbish our fleet of equipment with our great workforce, saving the taxpayers of the region millions each year.

This conference is well-timed and well-placed this year; the Chicago region is just beginning a transformation ordained by the State of Illinois in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reforms and new funding promise to make our system work even better.

We look forward to sharing our ideas and experiences with all of you, and learning from your innovations and expertise. That’s what APTA’s TRANSform & EXPO is all about!

BY MELINDA J. METZGER
Executive Director
Pace Suburban Bus
Arlington Heights, IL

On behalf of Pace Suburban Bus and our regional transit partners, I am delighted to welcome you to Chicago for APTA’s TRANSform Conference & EXPO!

We are honored to serve as the host city for this year’s event and showcase our region’s rich cultural history and robust transit network. The Chicago area has so much to offer, from Michelin-starred restaurants to our majestic lakefront.

While you’re here, I encourage you to experience the strength of our region’s transit network. The Chicago region is home to one of North America’s most extensive and integrated transit networks, connecting communities through the collaborative efforts of Pace, Metra, and the CTA. As our region transitions under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act, we are focused on building even stronger coordination, accountability, and rider-centered service across northeastern Illinois.

At Pace, we serve an integral role in our region, delivering innovative services that meet the changing mobility needs of our suburban communities. Whether you’re traveling on one of our Bus-on-Shoulder Express routes to the city; exploring suburban destinations through our extensive fixed-route network; or learning how Pace provides ADA Paratransit service that connects people with disabilities to jobs, healthcare, education, and community life, you will see our commitment to safe, reliable, accessible, and customer-focused service.

I hope you enjoy your stay in one of America’s great transportation cities and leave inspired by the opportunities ahead for our industry!