Chicago Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and CTA bus service. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 279,146,200, or about 881,400 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2024.
This article is about the transit agency. For other uses, see Chicago Transit Authority (disambiguation).Parent
October 1, 1947
Chicago, Illinois & Suburbs
Bus and Rapid Transit
Bus: 140, Rail: 8
Bus: 1,879, Rail: 1,190
- 881,400 (total, 2023)[1]
- 530,600 (bus, 2023)
- 350,900 (rail, 2023)
- 279,146,200 (total, 2023)[2]
- 161,699,200 (bus, 2023)
- 117,447,000 (rail, 2023)
Diesel, Diesel-electric hybrid, Electric-Drive Motor/Battery
The CTA is an Illinois independent governmental agency[4] 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 Company 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 and CTA service connects with the commuter rail Metra, and suburban bus and paratransit service, Pace.
Technology[edit]
The CTA installed GPS Bus Tracker systems on all buses starting with the 20 (Madison St) bus in 2006,[28] before expanding it to other routes in 2008.[29] The original claim justifying the addition of this technology was that it would reduce the issue of bunching buses. The system also allows riders to be able to determine the location of buses online.
A report prepared by the CTA claims that there was a decrease in bus bunching from 3.9% to 2.3% from 2007 to 2009, but the report neither demonstrated a direct connection between Bus Tracker and this reduction in bunching, nor did it show whether this was a temporary or permanent phenomenon.[30]
CTA has also made its Bus Tracker and other developer tools available,[31] and is making Bus Tracker arrival data available through text messaging.[32] One of the first applications of the Bus Tracker Developer Tools involved the installation of monitors showing the information in several businesses in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood.[33] Using the developer API published by CTA, some augmented CTA bus tracking applications have been developed for mobile phones,[34] and CTA has its own Transit App, CTA also has a bus tracker (Beta starting January 2011), and it can also be accessed through a computer, smart phone, text messaging, or any smart device.[35]
TV show[edit]
The Chicago Transit Authority produced a monthly television show, Connections, from May 2003 until March 2011. The show, hosted by Braydens Connections, was broadcast on City of Chicago Public-access television cable TV channels 23 & 49, as well as on Comcast's CN100 in the Chicago metropolitan area, including areas of Michigan and Indiana.
Connections featured news and information about the CTA and services it provides. Individual segments from Connections are available on CTA's YouTube channel.[38]