Name the Line!

We need a new color.

The Chicago Transit Board approved a new rail line in February connecting the Cermak branch of today’s Blue Line with the Lake Street elevated tracks and the Loop. But we haven't picked a color yet. Instead, we are asking local students to nominate a color for the new line. The “Name the Line” contest is open to all K-8 students in the Chicagoland area. I encourage all students to enter!

This additional rail service was approved by the Chicago Transit Board in February as part of a much larger expansion of service to the West Side and Western Suburbs, including improvements to 14 bus routes and two rail lines. The new rail line will help

• Increase service on all portions of both the Cermak and Forest Park branches of the what is now the "Blue Line" with improved connections to the Orange, Brown and Green Lines, Purple Line Express service and Metra.
• Benefit customers in Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Austin, Oak Park, and Forest Park with increased service frequency at all times on the Forest Park branch.
• Benefit customers in Pilsen, Heart of Chicago, Little Village, Lawndale, and Cicero with increased service frequency at all times on the Cermak branch.
• Benefit about 3,000 daily customers who live or work beyond those communities and transfer from Pace to the Forest Park and Cermak branches.
  
• Improve Cermak branch travel time by up to 10 minutes to the Loop.
• Make additional connections from the Cermak branch to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois Medical District, Racine Station and other locations by rerouting the #7 Harrison bus to Polk Station.
  

CTA planning data show that the new rail route will benefit some 98% of all affected customers with more frequent service.

I am equally excited about the bus service changes, which include 5 new routes (including 3 express routes) and extensions, routing, and scheduling improvements to 8 existing routes. These bus service changes are similar in design and scope to those made as part of the CTA’s north and south lakeshore corridor studies, which significantly increased ridership. I am hopeful that the West Side and West Suburban changes will do the same.

You can see the final service recommendations here.

It’s worth noting that the bus and rail service changes are a result of over a year of work on the West Side and West Suburban corridor study, including 9 community workshops, 7,300 customer surveys, extensive data analysis, and 3 community open houses. (Links: study announced, workshops, interim report, open houses, final report.)

Ultimately, our ridership numbers will bear out how successful these improvements will be. To that end, I am concerned that we need to work hard marketing these rail and bus service improvements to our customers. There has been some confusion about what changes were being proposed and their potential impact on the communities we serve. I have asked staff to report back to the Board with a detailed timeline and marketing plan for communicating to the public about each of these changes.

NOTE: Edited from original post, which said bus route changes would be made to 9 existing routes. The correct number is 8.

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.