Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the second largest transit system in the United States. The Chicago Transit Authority offers bus and rapid transit routes throughout the city, as well as to some suburban destinations.

The CTA is a municipal corporation that started operations on October 1, 1947 upon the purchase and combination of the transportation assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines streetcar system. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, which was under the control of Yellow Cab founder John D. Hertz, resulting in a fully unified system. Today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority.


About the Chicago Transit Authority

The Chicago Transit Authority covers Chicago city limits and forty surrounding suburbs. The CTA provided a total of 494.8 million rides in 2006, 2.4 million more rides, a 0.5 percent increase, over 2005 numbers. Gains were especially evident on the CTA’s rail system, which recorded its highest ridership since 1993. CTA has now achieved ridership increases in seven of the past eight years.[1]

CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday, 1.6 million passengers access its buses and trains. It has approximately 2,000 buses that operate over 154 routes traveling along 2,273 route miles. Buses provide about one million passenger trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops. The Chicago Transit Authority's 1,190 train cars operate over eight routes and 222 miles of track. Its trains provide about 650,000 customer trips each day and serve 144 stations in Chicago. The Chicago Transit Authority employs more than 11,000 people to operate the entire system. The system is the second largest in the US. Only the vast New York City Transit is more extensive.


Fare collection

The CTA allows riders to board a bus or train and pay with cash, transit cards, or Chicago Cards.


Paying with cash

Only buses allow riders to pay with cash. The fare is $2.00, and cash transfers are not available. Previously, some rail station turnstiles accepted cash but this feature has been removed in an effort to speed up boarding, except during sporting events at nearby 'L' stations, such as the Red Line 'L' station at Addison and the station for the same line at Sox-35th.


Paying with transit cards

Transit cards are sold at all rail stations and at the CTA's headquarters. There are two types of transit cards: stored-value and unlimited rides. Unlimited ride cards can be purchased at the CTA headquarters and from vending machines at select CTA Stations (O'Hare on the Blue Line, Midway on the Orange Line, and Chicago on the Red Line), as well as from a variety of retail outlets throughout the Chicago area, such as currency exchanges and select Jewel and Dominick's stores. They are available for one day ($5), two days ($9), three days ($12), five days ($18), seven days ($20), and thirty days ($75). There are also reduced fare cards available for senior citizens, people with disabilities, Chicago Public School students, Evanston Public School students, and students of certain area universities as well. Fare card and transit card vending machines were installed at downtown Metra train stations (Union Station, the Ogilvie Transportation Center, and the LaSalle Street Station) in early 2006.


Paying with Chicago Cards

The Chicago Card (along with the Chicago Card Plus) is a contactless smart card, powered by RFID, used by riders of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to electronically pay for bus and train fares. Fares paid with the Chicago Card are less expensive than they are for other riders; $1.75 for a one-way fare on buses and trains, and $0.25 for transfer to up to two other rides within two hours of initial fare. Additionally, riders using this type of card are given a $2 bonus for each $20 they put on it.


Bicycles on the CTA

Bicycles are permitted on CTA buses during all operating hours, and on CTA trains every weekday except from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (0700-0900) and 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (1600-1800) On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, bicycles are allowed on trains all day. If you board the train with your bicycle before the hours listed above and your trip extends into those hours, the CTA allows you to finish your trip. If trains are crowded, the use of trains by cyclists may be restricted by the rail operator as appropriate. Bicycles are not permitted on trains July 3 due to Independence Day celebrations. Folding bikes may be brought aboard CTA trains and buses during all operating periods, including rush hour.

A maximum of two bicycles are allowed per train car; if the train consist is four cars in length, a total of eight bicycles are allowed on that train. However, this rule is not enforced widely throughout the system.

Transit operators have the discretion to deny access to anyone with a bike if they decide that conditions are too crowded. The CTA's entire bus fleet is now equipped with bike racks in front which can accommodate two bicycles. All CTA trains accept bicycles, although bikes are discouraged on rail cars with "blinker doors". Only standard-size bicycles are allowed on all CTA vehicles; tandems are not allowed.

Helpful tips and the full guide to transporting bicycles on CTA trains can be found at http://www.transitchicago.com/welcome/biketran.txt.


Equipment history and folklore

CTA buses were known as the "green limousine" or the "big green" — buses were one or more shades of green from the CTA's establishment through the end of the 1980s. With the delivery of the TMC RTS buses in 1991, a more patriotic color scheme was adopted, and the green scheme was fully phased out by 1996. A notable color scheme was the "Bicentennial" of about 1974 to 1976.[2]

CTA bought very few buses between the mid-1970s and the end of the 1980s. During this time, purchases were only made in 1979 (20 MAN/AM General articulated buses), 1982-83 (200 Flyer D901 buses and 125 additional MAN articulateds), and 1985 (362 MAN Americana standard length buses). Another aspect of this period was that with the exception of the 1979 and 1983 MAN orders, none of those buses had air conditioning, a budget saving move by the CTA. The 1972-76 fleet of New Looks, 1870 total, which were originally air conditioned (although there were problems with the air-conditioning systems, resulting in their eventually being disabled and sliding windows installed in the buses), comprised the majority vehicles in service into the early 1990s.

The heavy rail orders of the CTA include the last railroad stock built by the Budd Company and one of the few examples of rail cars built by Boeing-Vertol. The next order is from Bombardier.


Bus garages

103rd Garage (103rd/Stony Island)
74th Garage (74th/Wood)
77th Garage (79th/Wentworth)
Archer Garage (Archer/Pershing)
Chicago Garage (Erie/Pulaski)
Forest Glen Garage (Elston/Bryn Mawr)
Kedzie Garage (Van Buren/Kedzie)
North Park Garage (Foster/Albany)


Revenue

The CTA generates revenue from farebox collections and also receives supplemental funding for operating expenses from the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). In 2006, CTA generated 53% of its operating budget internally, mostly from fares but also from advertising, parking, and other services; it received $524 million from the RTA, $479.5 million of which stemmed from sales tax receipts collected in the Chicago region.

Funding crisis

The CTA faced the elimination of 82 bus routes out of the present 154 due to a funding crisis. There was a shortfall of $226 million in the 2007 budget which the RTA and CTA had hoped would be addressed by the Illinois General Assembly.[3] A proposal last summer to increase the RTA's sale tax rate failed in the General Assembly last summer, while the state Senate is considering another compromise bill which would also address roads, schools and other infrastructure. Without help from the state, the CTA would have been compelled under the present budget plan to eliminate 82 bus routes in early January 2008, 2,420 employees of the CTA would be laid off, 22% of the workforce. [4] However, on November 2, 2007, two days before the first of the cuts were to be effected, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in cooperation with the General Assembly and the federal government presented the RTA with a grant for $27 million which would be sufficient to allow the full CTA and RTA systems to operate until the end of 2007. [5] However the CTA decided on November 7 to cut 81 routes (all but one initially proposed for cutting) and lay off 2,400 employees as previously proposed on January 20 2008 if no new funding plan is implemented. [6] Governor Blagojevich has proposed a plan to use funds from a proposed casino in the city. To add fuel to the fire, the head of the local Amalgamated Transit Union, Rick Harris, said that if the situation is not resolved by the end of 2007, then the union will strike [7]


See also

Chicago 'L'

List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes

List of Chicago Elevated stations

Mass transit in Chicago

Transit fares


External links

Chicago Transit Authority - official site, including a trip planner, and system maps.

Metropolitan Transit Authority Act from the Illinois General Assembly site - provides the legal framework for the CTA.

Keep Chicagoland Moving - official CTA site to encourage support for mass transit funding.

SaveChicagolandTransit.com - An independent view on the Chicago area transit funding crisis. Offers users the ability to contact legislators.

Ask Carole - the blog of CTA Chairman Carole Brown.

Chicago-L.org - the Internet's largest resource for information on Chicago's rapid transit system.

ChicagoBus.org - a site covering CTA bus operations.

Bill Vandervoort's Chicago Transit and Railfan CTA page - unofficial enthusiast's site.

Yahoo! Groups CHICAGOTRANSIT - a Chicago Transit mailing list discussing CTA and its sister agencies.

Campaign for Better Transit - Site of a former coalition of Chicago public transit riders and community groups.