Politics
CTA Touts New Regional Daily Pass, Improved Ridership and Continues Calls for More Public Funding
(WTTW News)
The Chicago Transit Authority board of directors on Tuesday approved a combined daily pass allowing seamless trips across CTA, Metra and Pace — the latest in an effort to better coordinate among the area’s transit agencies in hopes of drawing back riders.
The six-month pilot program must still be approved by the Pace board at its meeting scheduled for Wednesday. The proposal calls for daily passes ranging from $10-16 depending on how far passengers are traveling across Metra’s zones. The pass would be available for purchase in the Ventra app, with staffers estimating an early fall rollout. It follows a monthly regional pass made available to customers last year, but offers a more flexible and less costly option.
A key way to draw much-needed customers back to the system is “figuring out the best pass products or best fare products that are likely to generate the most ridership,” CTA President Dorval Carter said. “All of that is part of a broader strategy.”
Carter and other agency leaders said that strategy also includes efforts to restore service to pre-pandemic levels and improve engagement efforts with customers. The transit system recently hit a weekly post-COVID ridership high of 6.397 million rides.
The agency’s also seen an increase in single days with high ridership. So far this year, the CTA has had 25 one-million ride days, compared to just 27 such days in all of 2023. And unlike many of last year’s high ridership days, 2024’s spikes haven’t necessarily been tied to major events.
Molly Poppe, the CTA’s chief planning and innovation officer, said added bus service has been an effective way to boost passenger numbers. Routes that have seen improved schedules have had a 21% increase in ridership, compared to a 14% rise on routes without added buses.
Those passengers are a key source of revenue for CTA, but the recent gains still haven’t brought ridership up to pre-pandemic levels. The agency’s been making up the gap by using federal COVID relief money. It currently has more than $900 million of that funding still available, which is expected to last into early 2026.
This spring, lawmakers proposed an ambitious plan to merge CTA, Metra and Pace, while boosting annual funding for the transit systems by $1.5 billion. Transit agency leaders have pushed back against that plan, while backing legislators’ calls for increased public support before the relief funding runs out.
Carter says the discussions about the coming fiscal cliff facing public transportation have focused too much on governance and not enough on funding. He told the board that when transit systems achieve the kind of coordination and service that merger proponents are calling for, “it’s because they’re subsidizing their systems at a level that allows for that interaction to occur without putting any of the entities involved in financial jeopardy. … If you don’t have the money then it becomes much more difficult, and that’s the part that we’re trying to educate legislators down in Springfield about.”
As for other key funding priorities, Carter also addressed a question about whether a different presidential administration could affect the Red Line Extension project, which is in line to get more than $2 billion in federal funding. Carter praised the current administration for being “very favorable” to public transit, but said he’s confident he and his staff will have the necessary RLE funding from the feds lined up by year’s end in the event of any changes.
Tuesday’s board meeting also marked the official appointment of Pastor Michael Eaddy, nominated to the CTA board by Mayor Brandon Johnson. A West Side faith leader, community activist, and former member of the Chicago Police Board, some advocates had criticized Eaddy for his lack of direct experience on transit issues. But the pushback he encountered was nowhere near what had faced the Rev. Ira Acree, who withdrew from the nomination process to the Regional Transportation Authority board after an appearance before a City Council committee drew raised eyebrows from many.
Eaddy’s introduction to the CTA board was without incident, with his fellow directors lauding his experience as they welcomed him to the fold.
Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg
