CTA issues latest monthly scorecard tracking the progress on its ‘Meeting the Moment’ Action Plan
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) issued its latest monthly scorecard tracking the progress the agency is making to improve service as part of its “Meeting the Moment” Action Plan.
The scorecard—which measures the agency’s performance in a number of operational areas during the month of December—shows progress in some areas but also the lingering challenges of workforce shortages that lead to service issues.
Among the results of the December scorecard:
Service optimization
The CTA’s efforts to reduce long wait times between trains continues to show improvement. Instances of customers experiencing long wait times for trains—intervals that are double and triple the scheduled headways—fell for the fourth straight month:
- Triple headways down to an average of 15 each weekday, down from 29
- Double headways down to an average of 101 each weekday, down from 158
Service reliability
December 2022 saw improvements in service delivered compared to December 2021:
- Bus service delivered: 82.2 percent in Dec. 2021 compared to 83.4 percent in Dec. 2022
- Rail service delivered: 71.2 percent in Dec. 2021 compared to 75.4 percent in Dec. 2022
December 2022 was down slightly compared to November 2022:
- Rail service delivered was 75.4 percent compared to 79.5 percent in November
- Bus service delivered was 83.4 percent compared to 85 percent in November
- Big gaps in service on buses were 12.9 percent compared to 11.3 percent in November
Two events in December largely contributed to the slight decrease in service delivery:
- The cold weather/snowstorm of December 22-23
- Higher-than-normal employee call offs on a few days during the holidays, including New Year’s Eve.
The Orange, Green, Brown and Pink Lines are all providing approximately 90 percent or more of their weekday scheduled service, a significant improvement from the previous schedule. However, the Red and Blue Lines continue to remain below 70 percent—an improvement from the previous schedule but still below the system average.
CTA continues to undertake aggressive recruitment, hiring and retention efforts to address a shortage of transit workers that continues to plague the transit industry. A fall 2022 study by the American Public Transportation Association found 96 percent of agencies surveyed are having workforce challenges, and 84 percent of agencies reported staffing shortages are impacting service.
The CTA offers regular training classes for current rail employees to become rail operators, and recent classes have had full enrollment. New operators will be assigned to rail lines after completing extensive and rigorous training. The CTA has a current deficit of about 100 rail operators.
As it relates to bus operations, the CTA hired 450 people into bus operator positions in 2022, the majority of which are full-time operators. CTA continues aggressive recruitment and retention efforts to address a current shortage of about 500 operators.
Ridership
Ridership reached just under 21 million for November, an increase of about 11 percent compared to 2021. Ridership grew in all areas of the city but was particularly strong in the Loop (up 21 percent over 2021).
