The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will each introduce new bus and rail services to better meet the needs of their respective ridership communities.
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To improve the efficiency and reliability of bus service, the CTA has added more scheduled buses throughout the region. Nearly a dozen of CTA’s bus routes will be served additionally as the agency continues to hire more bus drivers – the result of its aggressive recruiting and hiring efforts.
“With this latest change, we have improved service on 59 bus routes this year and returned our bus system to 98 percent of pre-pandemic scheduled service levels,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “The CTA is committed to continuing to work to make our bus service more frequent and reliable, building on our significant successes in recruiting and hiring, and we remain on track to fully restore pre-pandemic scheduled bus service by the end of 2024.”
The bus schedule changes are implemented as part of the agency’s quarterly planning process, whereby bus employees can “pick” their work assignments at specific times throughout the year. The planning process is anchored in the collective agreement with the union that represents bus employees.
The CTA saw ridership increases on routes that added service throughout the year. On routes that added service in March, ridership increased 21 percent in June and July compared to the previous year. On routes that added service in June, ridership increased 18 percent in June and July compared to the previous year.
This fall, the CTA also plans to improve its scheduled service by hiring new drivers who have successfully completed their training. Rail service will be expanded on all routes during both peak and off-peak hours.
SEPTA
SEPTA is working to expand its regional rail network in the coming months by adding 99 weekend trains and 24 weekday trains to the schedule. The new schedules for all lines will take effect on September 8.
The service enhancements will help restore 80 percent of the agency’s pre-COVID-19 service on weekdays (up from 77 percent) and 84 percent on weekends (up from 63 percent). Regional transit ridership recovery is currently at about 67 percent of pre-pandemic levels, with ridership growth on weekends outpacing weekdays.
“While we continue to grow ridership, SEPTA still faces a $240 million annual budget deficit and the need for a permanent solution becomes more urgent by the day,” said SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards. “Despite this funding crisis, we cannot put critical investments in our system on hold. We must continue our efforts to make our service more reliable for our riders who rely on us to get to their destinations.”
The agency will also hire additional employees to address staffing shortages and provide more reliable service, putting SEPTA on track to reach its target headcount of 213 by next spring.
The schedule changes are part of SEPTA’s Reimagining Regional Rail initiative and are intended to enable travel during off-peak hours, evenings, and weekends.
