Dear CTA Customers and Transit Supporters,

There comes a time in everyone’s career when it is necessary to make a change. I have arrived at one of those times and have decided to resign as Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board.

I want to thank each and every one of you who contributed to this blog, to my experience as chairman, and to the betterment of CTA. Your thoughtful comments, suggestions and critiques informed our decision-making so that you experience cleaner, safer and more reliable buses and trains.

While the job of chairman is to set policy and guide the agency through change, it is not possible to be effective without a good partner. I wouldn’t have accomplished so much in the past 6 years without the strategic leadership of Frank Kruesi and the energetic vision of Ron Huberman. Though my time with Rich Rodriguez has been brief, I have complete confidence that he too, will weather this most recent economic crisis and make CTA stronger and more viable than ever.

With new leadership brings new ideas, insights and successes. Rich and his team, and the new chairman, are ushering in a new era in public transit. There are great initiatives underway and capital improvements planned that will enhance your experience on CTA. I encourage you to remain involved and take transit wherever you go.

Regards,

Carole L. Brown

Remarks to APTA Rail Conference

This past week the American Public Transit Association (APTA) Rail Conference was held in Chicago. This annual event is a large national gathering of people working for or with ties to public rail transit - officials from rail agencies, rail contractors, community developers, and federal, state, and local government officials. Mayors from as far away as Honolulu attended and addressed the conference.

I was asked to welcome the attendees to Chicago on Monday morning. I took the opportunity to remind the conference that without adequate funding for our rail systems that there may not be any future rail conferences, and that we all need to work together to lobby our federal officials for more funding to ensure that iconic symbols of transit around the country - such as our beloved "El" train in Chicago - are in service well into the future.

Below is a link to my welcoming remarks - your feedback is most welcome.

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/miscellaneous_documents/20090615_chairremarks-apta.pdf

Carole L. Brown's Testimony before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

On Thursday January 22nd, I had the honor of appearing before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to testify on the proposed $825 billion federal stimulus package. According to Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn), the focus of the hearing was to show that transportation money could be spent quickly on ready-to-go projects that would create jobs and jump-start the economy. As the attached testimony outlines, the CTA has $500 million in projects to which it could allocate money in the immediate future. Jobs would be created not only in Chicago, but in places like Minnesota and New York where our buses and rail cars are made.


Link to testimony:
http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/testimony/ChairBrownTestimony_20090122.pdf


Link to video feed of hearing: http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx?NewsID=798


Link to Chicago Sun Times article: http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1397109,CST-NWS-rideside26.article


Link to MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show – segment where Rep. DeFazio discusses Carole’s testimony:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#28820486

Weigh in on the budget

Last week, the Transit Board heard dozens of customers talk about President Huberman's proposed budget.  We appreciate the thoughtful comments and will take them under consideration as we consider the 2009 budget. 

Some of the issues most commonly brought up:

Lifts on CTA buses.  This seems to be a recurring concern for a  number of customers, and while our fleet's accessibility is now at 100 percent, isolated cases of inoperable lifts are unacceptable.  Our garages test each bus before it leaves for a run, but where lift problems occur midroute (or are missed on the garage check), the only way I can help is if customers take note of the bus, time of day, operator number, and any other relevant information.  If you see or experience a lift problem, please let me know.

Fuel cost volatility.  Like you, CTA's fuel costs are up considerably this year.  Fuel costs fluctuate significantly which makes it difficult to forecast future prices.  The CTA is mandated to use ultra low sulfur diesel that costs more due to the refining process.  In 2008 the CTA twice amended its budget to cover the increased cost of fuel. 

Service levels.  There will be no service cuts in this budget.  Let me repeat:  there will be no service cuts in the budget.  The tough budget cutting and cost savings we're talking about, hitting CTA employees especially hard, are necessary so we can avoid cutting service. 

I continue to welcome your comments and input on President Huberman's budget.  As you all know, the Transit Board reads these comments and often makes changes to the final budget CTA adopts based on them, so please let me know what you think.  The Transit Board is scheduled to vote on the budget on November 12, so get your comments in before then.

Again, the best way to communicate your thoughts is by writing to ctaboard@transitchicago.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

More Bus Tracker

I know Bus Tracker questions/concerns are common on this blog.  I've talked to CTA's Chief of Operations and the GM in charge of Bus Tracker to explain to you how Bus Tracker works and why we can't just roll it out system wide (and why some routes have it but others don't yet). This is their explanation:

New CTA buses (despite no capital bill we're still getting old orders filled) do not come with the Bus Tracker equipment installed. This requires our vendor to install these systems after the buses arrive. In addition to new buses, we have to maintain the Bus Tracker equipment already installed.  We recently hired a new contractor to help with bus tracker.  There is a steep learning curve for the installation/programming work plus the need for them to perform maintenance on buses at the publicly launched garages, which, understandably, is pushing back rolling out more routes.

Once equipment is installed, we have to test each bus to insure that it communicates along the entire route. Just like your cell phone drops out at times so does Bus Tracker. As such we have to fine tune the system so that its communication stays constant so that you, the user, have a reliable tool to use. 

For those of you who really like the details, Bus Tracker is based upon a prediction indicator. It compares bus actual travel time to what CTA schedulers plan for it to take. If this is off in any way then our announced wait time is off accordingly. When this happens we have to redo our bus schedules to make them more accurate in terms of each segments of the route. This takes a lot of time and must be done to give our customers accurate wait info. 

There are a small number of routes that do not pass our prediction accuracy testing (including the #22 as has come up here often).  As customers know, CTA has various types of routes: circulators, express, cross-town arterials, etc. The prediction algorithm in the Bus Tracker program can perform very differently on the different types of routes. For example, some of the downtown circulators (the 120s) confound the algorithm because the first timepoint on the trip is also the last timepoint, and is also the first timepoint for the next trip. Each route can fail accuracy testing for different reasons, so it requires a fair amount of sleuthing and coordination with the vendor and then our planning staff to identify the resolution.  In fact, this schedule/communication issue is one of the most time consuming efforts before we are able to turn on a street for Bus Tracker.

Finally, we still have over 150 1991 and 1995 buses that do not have Bus Tracker installed in them since we plan to scrap them by end of year (or soon thereafter).  Since these are still in use, we cannot turn on streets where they are being used since they create back holes in our data where the system assumes there is no bus (and predicts extraordinary waits) but there are actually buses. This gives a false impression of our service.

This, in a nutshell, is what's happening now with our Bus Tracker system.  Ron Huberman has made great progress on this program and for that he deserves credit.  We have very smart, capable people working tirelessly to address these challenges and get the system working across the service area.  We are on track for that.  But in the meantime, if a route you want isn't up yet please keep these facts in mind. 

 

Update on Bus Tracker

On Monday, October 20, eight additional CTA bus routes will be activated on CTA’s Bus Tracker web site.

• #6 Jackson Park Express
• #11 Lincoln/Sedgwick
• #69 Cumberland/East River
• #79 79th
• #87 87th
• #145 Wilson/Michigan Express
• #151 Sheridan
• #157 Streeterville

With these additions, you will be able to track estimated arrival times for buses on 75 out of 153 of CTA bus routes. We will work to get even more routes up as soon as we can.

2009 budget process begins

Today, President Huberman presented his 2009 budget recommendation to the Transit Board.  Veteran readers know how this goes , but for our new readers let me explain how the budget process works.  Despite today's headlines, the Board took no action today on fares or any other aspect of the 2009 budget.  Instead, President Huberman gave the Board his budget recommendation based on the RTA funding marks--what RTA tells us we can expect in public funding and some assumptions about what tax revenue CTA can expect in the coming year--and now the Board has some time to analyze his recommendations and assumptions before voting to adopt a 2009 budget on November 12 at our next Board meeting.   I know that Ron identified some serious cost reductions and efficiencies, including recommending substantial layoffs at CTA. I encourage you to review his recommendations and weigh in with your thoughts on this blog.  You can also write to the Board at ctaboard@transitchicago.com with comments.  Finally, the Board is hosting a public hearing on the President's budget recommendation on October 29th at 6PM at CTA Headquarters, 567 W. Lake Street. 

Before Ron put together his recommendations, I insisted there be no reduction in service levels for 2009.   Therefore, his recommendation does not include any service cuts.  But as you well know, we are in very uncertain financial times, and many of the public revenue sources that fund operations  are expected to  go down.   Costs keep going up, revenues are going down, and we continue to be without a capital program--this is not an ideal situation.  Consequently, the proposed budget does include a fare increase.  Rest assured that I know how important reliable, affordable public transit is to you.  I will work hard to come up with a budget that minimizes as much as possible the impact on customers. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Non farebox revenue

This is a very challenging funding time for CTA.  We depend on the State for about 50 percent of our operations funding, w/the other 50 percent coming from customers (through the fare box) and other sources, including some not-yet developed revenue streams.  CTA is actively seeking to find these other sources of revenue so we can continue to meet increasing customer demand.

A significant move to develop a new source of non fare box revenue is the new management of CTA's real estate assets.  As you may recall, a few years ago CTA used the national transit consulting firm AECOM Consult (AECOM) to review CTA operations and provide recommendations on how CTA could increase revenue, enhance efficiencies and reduce costs while improving the customer experience.  Many recommendations have since been implemented by CTA, and one major area of overhaul AECOM recommended was overhauling CTA's Real Estate department. CTA has now moved to introduce private sector management and leasing practices to its real estate division so that we can better manage our real estate assets.  On August 1, 2008 CTA awarded a five year contract to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to act as CTA’s broker on real estate transactions; manage CTA’s concessions (including leases); and represent CTA in transit oriented development opportunities. 

From this partnership, I expect to see an significant increase in non-farebox revenue--and that revenue will be pumped back into  transit operations.  These are tough funding times, and given our mission, real estate is not one of CTA’s core functions.  JLL, however, is in the business of managing and brokering real estate and has the experience and expertise to generate the revenue CTA so badly needs.  Additionally, JLL brings:

• A developed marketing approach. CTA does not have the internal staff to market larger entities that are more likely to seek long term leases and invest capital which, in turn, will bring in increased revenue.

• Experienced marketing professionals that can create new and innovative approaches for concession opportunities.

• The ability to leverage leasing relationships to CTA’s benefit.

• Transit Oriented Development (TOD) which will create development opportunities making the Chicago area a more transit friendly environment. JLL is an experienced TOD contractor that can create an effective TOD strategic plan and bring transit and financial benefits to CTA.

CTA owes it to its customers to take advantage of public/private partnerships to generate much needed revenue for our core transit operations.  This partnership allows CTA to continue to control its real estate assets but leverage them in a way that makes sense given the current funding environment.

 

Traffic and what it costs our region

Today, the Metropolitan Planning Council (whose President, MarySue Barrett, serves on CTA's Citizens Advisory Board) released a very important study assessing "the true costs of traffic" for all of us in the six county region. Jon Hilkevitch has his Trib. article on the study here. The MPC study is a locally focused and very interesting view of what many, many experts (and, of course, drivers) have observed in general for years---our nation's traffic congestion is only getting worse, the costs flowing from it are serious and are hurting our region, and we can't build our way out of the problem. Needless to say I think sustained investment in transit is the most cost effective way to alleviate traffic congestion and make our region more livable.

I'd love to hear from you on innovative ways our region can address its traffic congestion.

Bus Tracker

We've been having a very busy summer here at CTA. In addition to all of the work you see on the rail lines (slow zone removal, 3-track operations, tie renewal on the Red Line in the Loop and station work) we are continuing to pursue creative enhancements to our buses as well: cleaner buses, new buses hitting the street every week, planning for bus rapid transit and of course, Bus Tracker.

If you haven’t yet tried Bus Tracker, I encourage you to give it a shot on your next bus ride. I think it's a great implementation of customer-driven technology. We now have 67 routes on Bus Tracker and plan to eventually have every route on the system. I find it a great time management tool. I bookmarked the site on my Blackberry so in a matter of minutes I can look up when my bus will arrive no matter where in the City I happen to be.

Of course Bus Tracker is also an operational tool for CTA. With it we can better manage bus bunching, better measure operator performance, improve our fleet allocation, and address problem hot spots (traffic accidents, construction zones, etc.) much more effectively. We are still making tweaks to the interface and underlying system, so stay tuned for updated and improved editions.

On a technology like this, I think it’s important to get user feedback and incorporate that feedback into the system, so please post your comments—negative or positive—as well as suggestions on how you think we can make it more effective and user-friendly. And for you Iphone users out there, we have heard from some of you already about making an Iphone-specific application. Duly noted.

Block 37

I have seen a lot of Block 37 comments on this and other blogs so I would like to take this time to address your comments and concerns. President Huberman, in order to most effectively utilize dwindling capital funds and maintain the valuable work completed to date, recommended adjusting the scope of Block 37. After extensive dialogue between management and the Board and careful consideration, the Transit Board last week approved the recommendation to build a tunnel and station shell—as opposed to a complete and operational tunnel and station. Once this revised project is completed at the end of 2008, we hope that a third party can finish the station if/when funding becomes available. All other work on the station proper will be halted until then. The above-ground development, of which CTA is not a part, will continue.

I made it clear at the Transit Board meeting and to the media that this choice is extremely regrettable and disappointing. This is obviously not the outcome the Board envisioned when we authorized the Block 37 project four years ago, nor is it how we expect CTA’s precious public resources to be used.

Since our initial authorization, as President Huberman discovered and made clear to us, there were three primary factors that lead us to today’s problems: escalating construction market costs (fuel, concrete, steel), unforeseen site conditions (massive amounts of previous construction debris), and logistical challenges at the construction site (two contractors for CTA and the above-ground development and all their heavy equipment working side-by-side in a limited space). Despite this very disappointing situation, I am grateful that President Huberman and his team took a long hard look at the project when he became President and tried to find a way to salvage it cost effectively. The Transit Board agrees with him that this is the only way we can avoid, in the words of Director Zagotta, “throwing good money after bad.” Simply walking away from the project would have proven more costly to CTA and not given us any options for future work at the station. Once the station shell and tunnel work are completed, we will have a valuable asset that at later date can generate revenue for CTA.

I want to also reiterate my skepticism of using an eventual CTA station below Block 37 for some kind of express service to Midway and O’Hare with CTA’s current system. Both when this aspect of the project was first floated four years ago and again now, it just doesn’t make sense to me to propose such a capital-intensive and ambitious project that will require a major reconfiguration of CTA service and infrastructure. If there develops a sound, responsible plan to make express service work that fits within CTA’s strategic priorities, I’ll take a look, but until then I remain skeptical.

So, with this project effectively on hold, we can shift focus to slow zones mitigation, replacing aging buses, updating signal systems, and investing in other improvements to our existing system.

Bus rapid transit and traffic mitigation

Jake and others who wrote on this topic in other posts:

I'm glad to see you have generated a discussion about BRT. This is an enormously complex endeavor CTA is undertaking in an effort to alleviate the region's worsening traffic congestion. On the technical side, it involves CTA bus operations, scheduling, real estate, traffic flow, construction work, pedestrian flow, and parking. On the practical side, it will affect many neighborhoods and require changes in behavior and routine. Real experience in Eugene, Oregon and Los Angeles, as well as theoretical design, tells us it can greatly improve the quality of life for Chicagoans. Jon Hilkevitch and John McCarron have already laid out some of the challenges Chicago could face. I would like input from you and other stakeholders on this blog. As always, my fellow Transit Board members and I will look to public input before making any final decisions. There is clearly a lot of work CTA and others have to do to make this project work-- so let's hear what you have to contribute!

EDIT: President Huberman will be making a presentation to the Transit Board's Strategic Planning Committee on this proposal at the Board's upcoming Wednesday meeting (meeting begins at 8:30AM, his presentation will probably be around 9:00AM). The presentation will be uploaded to the CTA website later on Wednesday for your review and comment.

CTA and Google transit maps begins

Today, CTA and Google launched a transit mapping partnership that will hopefully improve your trip planning. I'm grateful to Google for their commitment to public transit, and I'm excited to use this new tool. I also look forward to programmers and other talented folks getting creative with the application and showing us some new and exciting ways to make our region more accessible.

Another voice for capital investment in transit

Illinois PIRG released its report, A Better Way to Go: Meeting America’s 21 st Century Transportation Challenges with Modern Public Transit, on some of the challenges facing our transportation infrastructure and articulating the clear benefits of a healthy public transit system can have on our quality of life--reduced auto emissions, improved air quality, better land use patterns, etc. I'm happy that Illinois PIRG offered their voice to the large but still growing chorus that Springfield must step forward with a state capital program to invest in transit infrastructure so CTA and others can address these challenges now.

I encourage you to pay close attention to this capital issue---it's CTA's next big funding challenge.