CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority has returned to pre-pandemic levels of rail service, with a 20% increase in weekly train trips, the agency said on Monday, Nov. 4.
The change means more than 1,200 additional rail trips per week compared to the spring 2024 schedule, according to the CTA, and covers all eight rail lines. While the number of trips may equal pre-COVID levels, they will be distributed somewhat differently; the agency said current ridership retention is highest on Saturdays and Sundays, so the schedule reduces some rush-hour weekday schedules to allow more weekend operation, especially on Sundays.
“I am pleased to share that as promised, CTA has returned to pre-pandemic scheduled levels across all rail lines before the end of the year,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. said in a press release. “To our loyal riders, we thank you for your patience. Hundreds of dedicated personnel throughout our agency worked tirelessly over the last couple years to recruit, hire, and train the unprecedented number of employees needed to strengthen our workforce and get us where we are today.” The CTA committed to training up to 200 new rail operators this year, double the number in 2023; more than 150 have entered service, with the remaining in training and expected to qualify for operator status by the end of the year
Bus service is now at 98% of pre-pandemic levels, the CTA said, with a schedule change due in December to close the remaining gap to 2019 operations.
Interesting.
Glad to see the CTA is back to ‘Pre-pandemic’ (2019) service levels. However, the obvious question, and as to Gerald Krug’s comments above, what are the ridership levels for the CTA post-pandemic, relative to before the pandemic (2019).
A recent article that I saw indicated that the total 2023 ridership for the CTA was still approximately 40% below pre-pandemic levels. I don’t know what the CTA ridership statistics look like for 2024, but I don’t think that they’re back to 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels. While it is nice their rail service is back to pre-pandemic levels, if ridership doesn’t support that level of service, questions of cost and efficiency invariably arise, especially given the CTA’s considerable, and ongoing, fiscal problems.
Need to look at pre-pandemic stats but also pre- Mayor Brandon Johnson. He has single-handedly turned me from being a frequent Chicago visitor, to being a Chicago boycotter.
Yes, Mayor Brandon Johnson is really, truly awful. America’s “worst” Mayor?
Not sure about recent crime/safety stats. re – CTA but not sure I would feel safe riding it the next time I go to Chicago …(?)
I wonder if volume will justify the added service. Riders have had a couple of years to respond to a lower volume of trains. Are there as many working downtown now vs. 2019?
I couldn’t have said it any better Thomas. You beat me to it as I slept in this AM.
Typical CTA efficiency. Only took two years after the,so called pandemic, to
return to normal.