What’s Next For the CTA?

Earlier this week, Dorval Carter announced that he was resigning as President of the CTA, effective January 31st, 2025. Carter was named President of the CTA in 2015, and for the first few years of his term, enjoyed some real success. Prior to the Pandemic, CTA Ridership reached 456 million people in 2019. In 2024, the CTA is expected to have 289 million riders, which is roughly 63% of its 2019 total ridership, while having a budget that is 30% higher than it was in 2019.

In addition to the reduced ridership, trains and busses were running infrequently, even during the morning & evening rush. Riders also no longer felt safe, especially after 4 people were shot and killed on the Blue Line in September 2024.

To compound it all, according to a FOIA request, Carter only used his Ventra card 23 times in 2022, less than twice a month. How can you possibly understand what your riders are going through when you aren’t riding the CTA yourself? There has been mounting pressure for months from transit advocates for Carter to resign. Recently, Carter mostly stood by as everything got worse, saying “this isn’t about leadership. This isn’t about accountability. Those are measures that are always part of what is expected of any public official. This is really about funding.”

Whoever the CTA hires next is stepping into a role that is highly scrutinized. The CTA secured $2.0 billion in federal funding for the the Red Line Extension, but estimates have ballooned to $5.75 billion for the 5.5 mile extension on the south side, none of which are in true population centers. The next President of the CTA needs to continue to expand the system, but needs to find a way to bring costs down. Costs not only related to new projects, but to personnel and administrative costs. Personnel costs make up 68% of the CTA’s budget, while almost 50% of it’s staff are not conductors, but rather administrative, management, and support roles. You can not run a successful transit agency with wasteful spending like this.

A few other key areas for the next CTA President will include:

• Service enhancements & improvements’

  • Busses and trains run too infrequently. This needs to be the 1st thing addressed.

  • Many of the CTA’s existing stations are falling apart.

• Rider Safety

  • Currently, the CTA spends $65 million on security. These are unarmed, untrained personnel. They need to make serious investment to help determine crime on the subway.

• Expansion

  • Many of the neighborhoods on the Northwest Side (just east & southeast of O’Hare), West Side, Southwest Side, and Southside are severly under served by public transportation. Additional light rail lines and connectivity throughout the system needs to be added.

  • The Yard Social Club is an interesting strategy for improving & integrating Metra rails with the subway

• Public Trust

  • If you talk to anyone who rides the CTA regularly, they all say the same thing. It’s dirty, it runs infrequent, some people don’t feel safe. You need to win back the public trusts and continue to build ridership.

I know that I am a frequent rider of public transportation, and will continue to do so. I just hope that Mayor Johnson selects a CTA President who feels the same as I do.

It’s the only way for Chicago to have a public transportation system that is truly designed for the future.