New low emissions buses

Today I joined Mayor Daley, Alderman George Cardenas, and CTA employees to roll-out the first of CTA’s new low-emission buses. Manufactured by New Flyer, today’s bus is the first of 265 that will be delivered throughout 2006. You can see more details here.

CTA provides about twice as many bus trips as rail trips, but often it is the distinctive “L” and major construction projects that get most of the attention. This investment of $95 million in the bus system is an important step in bringing our bus fleet closer to a state of good repair.

Not only will these buses be more comfortable for our customers and cleaner for the environment, they will also help save CTA money. The average useful life of a bus is 12 years. When they get older than 12 years, they cost more to maintain and they break down more often – making it more expensive for CTA to provide the service our customers demand and deserve.

Today, almost half of CTA’s bus fleet is 15 years old or more, and another 20% are currently 11 years old. These New Flyer buses are an important step in our efforts to provide more efficient, high quality service to our customers. We are grateful to the Illinois Congressional delegation for their work in providing 80% of the funds for these buses, and to the RTA and Illinois First for providing 20% local matching funds. I hope we can continue to work together on a regional, bipartisan basis in the Illinois General Assembly to provide the capital and operating funds necessary to build a strong public transit system that is good for our customers, the economy, and the environment.