Politics
CTA Board OKs Bus Lane Cameras, $3.5M Crash Settlement; President Outlines Springfield Outreach Amid Debate Over Transit’s Future
A CTA bus is pictured in downtown Chicago in a file photo. (Credit: Wirestock)
The CTA board of directors approved the purchase of cameras aimed at catching bus lane scofflaws on Wednesday, making good on a plan announced last year as part of a pilot program that also includes city vehicles.
The contract, valued at more than $315,000, will fund six cameras mounted on buses in the pilot program area bounded by the lake, Ashland Avenue, Roosevelt Road and North Avenue. Motorists caught by the cameras parking in bike or bus lines will receive a ticket by mail under an ordinance signed into law in March 2023 but that did not go into effect until November 2024.
The cameras on CTA buses will be equipped with machine learning technology aimed at correctly identifying drivers breaking the law. The agency estimates they’ll be in operation in May or June and rotate among the various bus routes in the pilot area. After a 60-day training period, warnings and tickets will start going out in July or August.
Eight city vehicles are also equipped with cameras. The CTA contract allows it to purchase 94 additional cameras, though there isn’t yet any funding set aside for those.
In other action, the board also approved a $3.5 million settlement for a lawsuit brought by a pedestrian who accused the driver of a #36 Broadway bus of making an unsafe turn onto Clark Street from Division Street in January 2022, striking and knocking her under the bus when she had a walk signal.
CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen also updated directors on a number of initiatives, including the recently-announced frequent bus network, which aims to reduce wait times to 10 minutes or less on 20 routes throughout 2025. The first eight of those will take effect on Sunday, March 23.
Leerhsen also reiterated her commitment to clean buses and trains, with a focus on police officers and security personnel cracking down on smoking. She encouraged customers to use the CTA’s chatbot system to report violations.
And she announced two new efforts to reach out to riders: a newsletter set to launch this week, and a forthcoming podcast highlighting CTA employees.
Merger Proposals
As lawmakers dig into the specifics of competing transit reform proposals ahead of next year’s $770 million fiscal cliff for CTA, Metra, and Pace – one measure that would consolidate all Chicagoland bus and rail under a new agency, another that would grant the RTA new power to coordinate fares, services, and more – Leerhsen told directors that she’s made two recent trips to Springfield for hearings and meetings with legislators.
But with governance reform and additional state money for transit still up in the year, Leerhsen said the CTA and its counterparts will soon begin rolling out worst-case scenario models outlining just how bad things would get without a funding fix – including up to half a million people losing access to transit
“This is a part of the strategy,” Leerhsen said. “For many people, you have to raise alarms and explain the impact of what not getting funding would look like.”
Calling the pain of the potential service cuts “almost impossible to quantify”, Leerhsen said the agency’s models won’t simply slash service on the West and South Sides, as critics charge past rollbacks have. And she emphasized that the agency is working to help lawmakers understand why transit isn’t just a way to move people from point A to point B, but a key community resource and economic driver, one the CTA is working hard to preserve.
“Those scenarios are going to be painful to see, but we are working to make sure we never see them come to fruition.”
Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg
