Springfield update

As you might know, legislative leaders and the Governor reached an
accord late last night on transit funding. Details are currently being
hashed out now down in Springfield, so I can't share specifics yet.
However, it's clear that this is a very positive development. Along
with all of the concerned citizens who care about the health of our
region's transit system, Pace, Metra, CTA and RTA looked to our elected
officials to better fund transit. And our Springfield representatives
stepped up during these difficult budget times. President Kruesi and I
will be working with elected officials to hammer out the details over
the next few days. I'll be sure to update you when I have more
information.

Paratransit bill

Last week the House Committee on Mass Transit approved a bill that would shift responsibility for paratransit service (the service CTA provides as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to customers with disabilities) away from CTA to the RTA (funding and oversight) and to Pace (operations). This is useful first step in establishing a regional responsibility for paratransit services. But we have a long way to go, with many risks ahead.

While it makes operational sense to have this service provided regionally, this approach also requires a dedicated and growing funding source for paratransit. Without funding, this bill will not avert CTA service cuts on July 17th.

Moreover, new paratransit funding will not solve the structural funding problem that exists today, nor will it avert deep service cuts next year and each year after that.

I am hopeful we can address these issues in the days ahead, and I look forward to working with the Governor, legislative leaders, the Committee on Mass Transit, and all other state elected officials to invest more in transit so that CTA, Metra, and Pace can continue to grow to meet the economic needs of Northeastern Illinois.

Bus bunching

Why, after a long wait, do two or three buses often come along at the same time with riders crammed into the first one or two buses and the remaining buses running nearly empty? This problem is known in the transit business as “bus bunching,” and it vexes all transit agencies whose buses use common streets instead of dedicated “rapid transit” lanes.

There are many factors contributing to bunching, including:

• Traffic patterns
• Weather, accidents and construction
• Passenger variance at bus stops (crowded stops take longer to board)

Because of the unpredictable nature of bunching’s many causes, no transit agency is likely to be able to eliminate the problem—but CTA is doing a number of innovative things to manage it. Two of the most promising are traffic signal priority, which would give buses a few more seconds to get through the light (doesn’t sound like much but multiply the extra few seconds by 2000 buses and 12,000 bus stops all day long) and a GPS-based Automatic Vehicle Location bus tracking system to let our control center monitor the spacing of buses in real-time. As you can imagine, the data-crunching necessary to do this is pretty significant, but we’ve got some promising pilot projects in place.

We’ve also added express routes and high capacity buses to meet increased ridership demands. CTA planning staff continuously monitor bus routes to ensure that buses move as quickly as possible through an area while staying accessible to riders. And they work with Bus Operations staff to ensure we have the appropriate buses deployed on the street. CTA also remains in close contact with the City and other municipal agencies that supervise streets, construction projects and other potential “road blocks.”

There are two things customers can do to help speed things up – exit from the rear doors, and get a Chicago Card. The longer a bus sits at a bus stop, the slower your trip.

While we’re at it, a number of folks have asked why some buses stop every block to pick up passengers. CTA tries to space stops every other block where we can, but we work with local elected officials (Aldermen, village managers) to do this. In some cases, senior centers and other high-traffic locations make spacing every other block difficult to do, but please let us – and them – know about bus routes that you think should be sped up with more widely spaced bus stops.

Who pays what for transit?

One of the questions raised in Springfield has been the level of funding provided by different municipalities to Pace, Metra, and CTA. The Illinois Department of Transportation initiated a review of all 3 service boards specifically targeted at municipal contributions, which is an important way to think about RTA funding.

For example

• Pace provides a variety of services 100% paid for by local governments.
• CTA pays Pace about $6 million each year for various interagency initiatives.
• Many municipalities (including the City of Chicago) help build or maintain Metra properties.
• The City of Chicago owns the subway tunnels and the Orange Line, and has contributed over $800 million in capital funding since 1989.
• The City of Chicago also pays directly for CTA security costs related to the CTA police force, over $20 million annually.

These municipal contributions must be weighed against the University of Illinois/Illinois House study (PDF) that showed a significant imbalance between service and funding. When measured by passenger miles (the cumulative number of miles traveled by all passengers)

• Chicago itself, when you include the police force expenses, gets almost exactly the transit that is paid for in Chicago ($654M vs. $656M).
• Suburban Cook County pays $103 million that it does not receive.
  
• The collar counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry & Will) receive approximately $100 million in transit that they do not pay for.

While some might argue that the simplest solution to this disparity -- and to possible service cuts -- would be to force each county or municipality to pay for the service it gets, that could actually undermine the regional nature of our system. Based on passenger miles, that would force major cuts in service to suburban areas that are demanding more transit, not less. It would also completely ignore the fact that

• People work and shop across political lines.
• Air pollution doesn’t recognize county borders. Moreover, neither does the federal government, which ties transportation funding to our entire metropolitan region’s air quality.
• Our economy functions as a region. Businesses and workers aren’t constrained by county borders, we all work together and improve economic opportunities for everyone.

The Chicagoland region is now the second most congested city in the country, costing us $4 billion each year in wasted time and fuel. That’s a $1,000 traffic tax on every rush-hour commuter. It’s time to fix the problem.

Thanks for your feedback

Thanks to all of you for contributing so many insightful, helpful and often humorous posts. Some have been supportive, others critical. Most have been respectful and informative. As “smussyolay” said,

“every time i read a CTA oriented blog or a comment… , i am never let down by the wealth of great ideas from the ridership of the CTA. … ways to save money, ways to improve service, ways to improve morale (of riders and operators alike). ways to be more efficient, ways to brighten things up, ways to improve security. the intelligent troubleshooting and the practicality of these ideas never fails to astound me.”

I agree. Here are a few thoughts to help guide the comments process:

1. If you have a specific service concern, I can respond better if I have a way to reach you. If you don’t want to post your contact info publicly, send an email to to ctaboard@transitchicago.com and we can get any follow-up information (e.g., where and what time you board your bus) necessary to try to improve service. For example, Jenn asked about the #122 and the #123 – I want to send a supervisor to her location to try to address the situation, but I don’t know where she boards.

2. There’s only one of me, and many of you, so please be patient. I will try to respond to as many posts as I can on the blog. If you want a personal response, write to ctaboard@transitchicago.com.

3. No ad hominem attacks, intentionally false posts, or obviously fake identities. They will be deleted.

With that, I turn the conversation back over to you. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and to updating you on my work with our state electedofficials as the spring session nears conclusion.

Get a Chicago Card! We'll make more!!

Recently, someone on this blog asked me:

"How many people are using the Chicago Card? I read someplace recently it's not nearly the number the CTA has to sell."

As of April 2005, there are over 163,000 Chicago Card users, and we have been careful to order more because we want more and more customers to use the Card. The CTA offers two different options in its Chicago Card program: the Chicago Card and the Chicago Card Plus (http://chicago-card.com/). At some locations, that amounts to 1 in 5 customers, but we would like that to be closer to 4 in 5 customers as more and more people realize how much easier (and faster) travel on public transit can be when using the Chicago Card.

You’ve probably seen a customer zip past the bus operator or blow through the turnstile by quickly swiping her wallet against the electronic reader. That speed translates into faster bus performance (less time waiting at lights) and reduced financial processing costs.

Both Cards offer:

• Fare bonus: a 10% bonus on fare purchases. Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus are the only CTA fare payment options that provide this bonus. Under the plan adopted by the board in April, the bonus will require a $20 minimum after July 17^th, up from $10 today.

• Quicker Boarding: to board a bus or enter through a rail station turnstile, simply touch your Chicago Card to the touchpad on the front of rail station turnstiles and bus fareboxes on all CTA and Pace buses.

• Protected Fares: If your Chicago Card is lost, stolen or damaged, a replacement card will be issued and the balance remaining on the card at the time CTA was notified of the loss or damage will be available to you.

Unlike the regular Card, the Chicago Card Plus is a farecard with its balance kept in an online account. This allows Card Plus users to have the additional benefits of:

• Fare Choices: choose between pay-per-use fare payment, where full fares and transfers are deducted from your online account each time you ride, or 30-Day Passes, which provide unlimited rides for 30 consecutive days beginning with the first ride taken using your Card Plus.
• Online Reloading: pay-per-use customers will have their accounts automatically reloaded each time their account value falls below $10. Accounts will be reloaded with the customer's pre-selected reload amounts.

Both Cards save the CTA money by reducing the load time for passengers on buses and reducing administrative costs associated with collecting and retrieving cash fares. That is why we’ve created two new incentives for riders to use the Card by:

• Waiving the $5 one-time purchase fee through July 31, 2005; and
• Keeping fares for Card users at $1.75 after July 17^th while cash fares will increase to $2.00 (pending General Assembly action, of course).

Not to mention the fact that everyone will ask you about it as you zip through the turnstile.

Busy week in Springfield

It's another busy week in Springfield. Tuesday was Transit Lobby Day, with business, labor, environmental, and community groups traveling down together on buses to make the case with General Assembly members for more investment in public transit. I will be down in Springfield again today with Mayor Daley as we continue our efforts to make sure everyone in Springfield understands how important transit is to our six county region's economy and to our daily lives.

Many of you have posted good comments and questions. I'll answer many of them later this week and give you all an update on our lobbying efforts.