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 and fourth largest in North America. 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 covers Chicago city limits and forty surrounding suburbs. The CTA provided a total of 499.5 million rides in 2007, a 1 percent increase (4.7 million more rides) over 2006 numbers.^[1]

Chicago Transit Authority trains serve as both elevated rapid transit, and as subway trains in parts of the city. Pictured is the Blue Line terminal in O'Hare International Airport.

CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday, 1.7 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 (357 km) 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 (near Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs) and the station for the same line at Sox-35th (across the street from U. S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox).

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. For example, if the train 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.

Equipment history

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.

Active Bus Fleet

Buses On Order

CTA bus garages

Active L rolling stock

Notes

L rolling stock on order

Notes

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.

Security and safety

After the 2001 terrorist attacks, CTA announced its "If you see something, say something" campaign.^[3] CTA has also installed a security camera network,^[4] and a system to send real time images from cameras in buses directly to emergency responders.^[5]

There were calls to improve CTA's emergency response and communications procedures after a second evacuation of the Blue Line subway after accidents in it (a derailment in 2006^[6] and a stalled train in 2008).^[7] CTA has also had a history of train accidents where operators apparently overrode automatic train stops on red signals, starting with the 1977 collision at Wabash and Lake, when 4 cars of a Lake-Dan Ryan train fell from the elevated structure, killing 11,^[8] extending to two incidents in 2001,^[9] and two more in 2008, the more serious involving a Green Line train that derailed and straddled the split in the elevated structure at the 59th Street junction between the Ashland and East 63rd Street branches,^[10] and a minor one near 95th Street on the Red line.^[11]

CTA has also been actively prosecuting vandals, announcing on several occasions that felony convictions were obtained against persons who spray painted authority vehicles.^[12]

In 2002, 25-year-old Joseph Konopka, better known by his self-given nickname "Dr. Chaos", was arrested by Chicago Police after he was caught hoarding potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in an unused Chicago Transit Authority storeroom in the Chicago L Blue Line subway. Konopka had picked the original locks on several doors in the tunnels, then changed the locks so that he could access the unused rooms freely. Konopka had briefly associated with a Chicago-area urban exploration group in order to obtain information on how to access the large network of unused tunnels and abandoned rooms on Chicago's transit system as well as to lure juveniles to help him.^[13]

Contents

About

Fare collection

Paying with cash

Paying with transit cards

Paying with Chicago Cards

Bicycles on the CTA

Equipment history

Active Bus Fleet

Buses On Order

CTA bus garages

Active L rolling stock

Notes

L rolling stock on order

Notes

Revenue

Security and safety

See also

References

External links