[thinkcontext]

Why would anyone expect it to be free? Of course they'll charge fares. It important to remember that CTA fares don't cover the full cost of services, it also gets money from taxpayers. And building a new line would most likely involve an appropriation or maybe issuing bonds that get paid back over decades. For this, the city won't have to put out any money of its own, nor take any risk.

I am curious how they'll deal with the new line siphoning off revenue from the existing service. I assume that they'll negotiate this (maybe a share of revenue?), what the price will be, routing, etc.

[nat]

Yeah, of course there will be fares for riders. I meant tax revenue that the city could be spending on other things.

I see that they're claiming there's no risk for the city, and that is a very nice claim. It's also a naïve one.