One year into a plan to tackle challenges, CTA touts decreased crime and more reliable service

One year after unveiling a broad plan to address CTA service and safety challenges, President Dorval Carter touted decreases in crime on the transit system and service that runs more closely to schedule, helping to limit the prevalence of ghost buses and trains.

But the CTA still faces challenges running all of its scheduled service, agency data shows, and riders complain of wait times between buses and trains. Key to running more service is hiring and retaining more operators, but the CTA has not yet met its staffing targets for the year.

The data marks the progression of the first year of Carter’s plan to address unpredictable wait times, crime and ghost buses and trains, which show up on digital trackers but fail to arrive in real life. The agency has been plagued by complaints about service, safety and conditions since ridership plummeted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. By spring, the average number of riders had ticked back up to about 59% of pre-pandemic levels.

As the complaints mounted, Carter found himself under pressure from riders, advocates and lawmakers. He remains in the hot seat as Mayor Brandon Johnson builds his administration, and declined to answer questions about whether he had met with the new mayor.

“I am very happy doing what I’m doing right now, and continue to work at this job every day to meet the needs of the city of Chicago,” he said.

In his update, Carter highlighted Chicago Police Department data showing violent crime on the CTA was down 13% through July, and overall crime was down 9%.

A Tribune analysis of Police Department data in 2022 found the rate of violent crime on trains that year — or the number of robberies, homicides, more aggressive assaults and batteries and other instances of violence per million rides — had also dropped for the first time since the pandemic emptied trains of many riders, but it remained more than twice as high as in the years before the pandemic.

Carter highlighted additional police officers, private unarmed security and security dogs added to the system throughout 2022. The CTA did not immediately provide the number of security guards currently patrolling the system, but in December spokesman Brian Steele said the agency had about 300 scheduled each day, and 50 K-9 teams.

Carter also said the CTA was working with the state’s attorney’s office on the prosecution of people accused of committing crimes on the CTA, such as banning those charged with serious crimes from the system. The CTA said nine people recently charged have been banned from transit as a condition of their bond.

“I’m not suggesting that crime does not happen on CTA. I think we all know that it does,” Carter said. “But I think it’s important to keep in mind that we have 900,000 people ride CTA every day, and when you look at the number of people who ride our system, it’s pretty clear that crime is not the major component of a customer’s experience on CTA.”

He also highlighted improvements in the reliability of CTA buses and trains, pointing to decreases in the number of large, unexpected gaps in service. In July, the agency ran 88% of its scheduled trains and 96% of scheduled buses. Both figures marked improvements over the past year.

Trains and buses that run as scheduled help reduce instances of ghosting, because trackers rely on both scheduled and real-time service. The less discrepancy between the two, the more accurate the trackers will be. Trackers are also undergoing upgrades.

But a Tribune analysis of CTA data in 2021 found that in the two months before the pandemic shut down Chicago, the CTA ran a higher percentage of its scheduled trains: each line ran at least 92% of scheduled trips. And to make service more reliable, the CTA has changed schedules in an attempt to match them to the number of operators available to drive buses and trains, leaving some riders complaining about wait times between buses and trains.

“I tend to make the point that this is more realistic service,” Carter said. “To say that I had service scheduled that I was never providing, doesn’t really mean that is a (service) cut when I do this.”

In July 2023, the average wait times between trains on the Red and Blue lines, the CTA’s two busiest, during morning rush hour were about seven and nearly eight minutes. During evening rush hour they were about 7.3 and eight minutes, the CTA said. The CTA was not able to immediately provide comparisons to prior years or for other routes.

Carter said the goal of his plan is to get back to pre-pandemic frequency and quality of service. He couldn’t provide a timeline to do so, but said it will come down to staffing.

“This is not a quick and easy process to accomplish, and we are constantly working that problem every single day,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that in six months we’ll be back to full service again.”

In July, the CTA employed the equivalent of 3,400 full-time bus operators, and 709 rail operating employees. Both remained below the budgeted head counts of 3,707 bus operators and 839 rail employees, but Carter said the CTA has been hiring more people than are leaving, which will allow the agency to begin looking at how to boost service levels.

Still, even if the CTA reaches the head count targets set out in its 2023 budget, they will remain below target pre-pandemic head counts. For 2020, the CTA planned for 3,815 bus operators and 1,810 rail operating positions, budget documents show.

Carter said the target head count reflects a goal, and for many years the CTA was below the target but still provided full service. As the CTA adds more employees this year, it can begin adding back service, he said.

To draw back more riders in a competitive job market, the CTA has held hiring fairs and offered financial incentives to help with hiring and retention. The agency also has a plan to refresh employee spaces, such as break rooms and restrooms, Carter said.

Starting pay for both bus and rail operators is now $29.65 per hour, which rises to $39.53 per hour after three years, the CTA said.

Morgan Madderom, a member of the commuter advocacy group Commuters Take Action, said she has noticed service becoming more reliable on the bus she takes to work most days. And the group is pleased to see the CTA publishes more data publicly about its operations.

But still, by her group’s calculations the service changes have amounted to cuts to the number of buses and trains scheduled to run each week. Instead, the group would like to see service added, she said.

“We’re glad they’re running closer to schedule, but they’re still not running often enough,” she said. “And we’re only going to lose more ridership if trains and buses aren’t running often enough to rely upon.”

Carter’s plan also called for the creation of a chatbot to allow riders to report issues to the CTA in real time. That is set to be introduced to the board next week, he said.

Amid heightened awareness of people living on trains, the CTA last year signed a $2 million agreement with the city’s Department of Family and Support Services for outreach and support services for riders who are homeless, as well as for those facing mental health or substance abuse challenges.

Another tenet of the plan called for taller ADA-compliant entry gates to be installed to help prevent fare evasion, and the CTA data shows 24 have been installed so far. The agency said it did not yet have enough data to measure how effective they have been.

“The good news is that our ridership is growing,” Carter said. “The reality is that we’re going to have to continue working hard to keep that number moving forward.”

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com