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CTA 2022 Budget Recommendations


NewFlyerMCI

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https://www.transitchicago.com/finance/

This has the quick and dirty of the main recommendations. Will be quoted below:

Quote

Public transportation has been and remains a critical component of the region’s ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. For fiscal year 2022, the CTA is proposing a $1.75 billion operating budget that maintains the essential bus and rail services that have been provided throughout the pandemic. Also reflected in this plan are measures to make CTA’s already low-cost fares even more affordable. Among the proposed changes are:

  • Permanent adoption of the promotional price reductions offered on CTA’s 1-, 3-, and 7-Day unlimited-ride passes
  • Elimination of the $0.25 charge when transferring between rides on CTA buses and trains, or vice versa
  • Price reduction for the CTA 30-Day and the CTA-Pace 7-Day passes

The proposed $3.5 billion Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan for 2022-2026 includes funding for critical transit improvement projects that are underway or set to begin in 2022:

  • Red Line Extension to provide much-needed transit services and connections to the Far South Side of Chicago.
  • All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP), to make CTA’s rail system 100% vertically accessible.
  • Blue Line Forest Park Branch track and power improvements, the first phase of a comprehensive rebuild.
  • Expansion of electric bus fleet, part of CTA’s commitment to complete the electrification of the entire bus fleet by the year 2040.
  • Refresh & Renew, an expanded and accelerated rail station improvement program.
  • Better Streets for Buses, a comprehensive, citywide plan for bus-priority streets.

https://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/6/FY22_Budget_Book_-_Final_(for_website).pdf

For the full document

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Personally, I'm glad to see the elimination of the transfer fee (which shouldn't exist imo) and the reduced cost for the passes. The lower the finacial barrier to riding transit, the more riders we get. I can't believe a 1-day pass used to be $14 at one point. Even at $10, that's was still way too expensive, day passes become effectively worthless once they're more than double a roundtrip. Now, riders can save money, and then the pass will be cost neutral once the transfer fee is eliminated. I'm also glad the Pace/CTA passes are getting the price reduced, but I feel they need to go the extra step and just equalize the price for the 7 day pass (either by making the cta/pace one the only option for $33, or making them both $28). No reason there should be a surcharge for (regular) Pace service, when it costs the same amount and is no better than CTA (the most frequent Pace routes only come every 15 mins at best).

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This part of the document keened my interest. "Today, the CTA has more than 1,000 buses purchased in 2006 that are at or near the end of their useful life, plus another 200 buses that will be at the end of their useful life in 2022. CTA must replace these buses immediately, but to replace these with all-electric buses could take as long as 10 to 15 years. To help ensure the CTA can continue providing the highest levels of service, earlier this year a $334 million contract was awarded to Nova Bus for the purchase of up to 600 clean-diesel 40-foot buses, which will replace the aging 6400-Series Nova buses that are well over 20 years old. These new clean-diesel buses will meet 2021 EPA emissions requirements and are more fuel efficient than other models in our fleet. Delivery of these buses is expected in the first quarter of 2022. This latest purchase of clean-diesel buses is part of CTA’s long-term plan toward converting to an all-electric fleet. Guiding the CTA and its investments is the Bus Fleet Electrification Feasibility Study, which will be available before the end of 2021. This study will evaluate bus and charging technologies, and assess bus replacement, charging infrastructure installation, garage facility upgrades, and electric bus operations and maintenance over the next 20 years." They want to replace the #1000's & #4000's immediately ? yeah ok....good luck with that.

cta bus data.png

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3 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

This latest purchase of clean-diesel buses is part of CTA’s long-term plan toward converting to an all-electric fleet

Yeah, I understand the challenges of trying to go electric, especially in regards to replacing a fleet that size, but this is just such a idiotic statement ???. It’s total bs, just purchase the buses and keep it moving ?

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3 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Yeah, I understand the challenges of trying to go electric, especially in regards to replacing a fleet that size, but this is just such a idiotic statement ???. It’s total bs, just purchase the buses and keep it moving ?

Exactly, no need to look cute for the press just do what you did back in 2006,2008 and 2012. Keep it simple and continue to with the hybrid movement because the electric phase is continuing to evolve each day it seems.  

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1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

This part of the document keened my interest. "Today, the CTA has more than 1,000 buses purchased in 2006 that are at or near the end of their useful life, plus another 200 buses that will be at the end of their useful life in 2022.

 

1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

They want to replace the #1000's & #4000's immediately ? yeah ok....good luck with that.

That's literally about 2/3 of the fleet

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2 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

This part of the document keened my interest. "Today, the CTA has more than 1,000 buses purchased in 2006 that are at or near the end of their useful life, plus another 200 buses that will be at the end of their useful life in 2022. CTA must replace these buses immediately, but to replace these with all-electric buses could take as long as 10 to 15 years. To help ensure the CTA can continue providing the highest levels of service, earlier this year a $334 million contract was awarded to Nova Bus for the purchase of up to 600 clean-diesel 40-foot buses, which will replace the aging 6400-Series Nova buses that are well over 20 years old. These new clean-diesel buses will meet 2021 EPA emissions requirements and are more fuel efficient than other models in our fleet. Delivery of these buses is expected in the first quarter of 2022. This latest purchase of clean-diesel buses is part of CTA’s long-term plan toward converting to an all-electric fleet. Guiding the CTA and its investments is the Bus Fleet Electrification Feasibility Study, which will be available before the end of 2021. This study will evaluate bus and charging technologies, and assess bus replacement, charging infrastructure installation, garage facility upgrades, and electric bus operations and maintenance over the next 20 years." They want to replace the #1000's & #4000's immediately ? yeah ok....good luck with that.

cta bus data.png

More than likely the 4000s will be replaced by either clean diesels and/or hybrids, although New York City is running electric 60' New Flyer artics.    CTA is barely running the 2 electric New Flyers and the new Proterras they have now.

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21 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

More than likely the 4000s will be replaced by either clean diesels and/or hybrids, although New York City is running electric 60' New Flyer artics.    CTA is barely running the 2 electric New Flyers and the new Proterras they have now.

I was actually just in NYC on Monday and took some pics of the aforementioned buses. They run very smooth and quiet, you hear more physical movement and how the bus interacts with the street than of the bus itself. Acceleration is quick too. LACMTA just bought these buses to replace its old NABI 60-fts on its Orange BRT. I think CTA could definitely get these, especially since a lot of routes they use artics on they could get away with only using garage chargers

9FE6A4E6-17D2-4B10-BDC4-74B74A700098.jpeg

AC3106B9-9098-44D8-B68F-8940679B8112.jpeg

1B8A21D1-E0E8-4335-8B88-50FE0E6AF906.jpeg

304C7E99-78A2-448E-93BD-521F4F6CB8B0.jpeg

27359ECB-4C87-4944-92CF-45E751F94338.jpeg

493E23B6-428B-452E-A2B6-C5B23E90E7EB.jpeg

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I also notice that CTA is lowering the PAYG fare on buses from $2.50 to $2.25.  Now that transfers are available for PAYG riders,  that will remove the last barrier to occasional riders just using their credit cards to pay for individual rides rather than pre-loading fares onto a Ventra card.  It will also boost the credit card fees that the CTA needs to pay.

And removing the transfer charge will make it cheaper for anyone who doesn't need two transfers to tap their card on a CTA bus Ventra reader before entering a train station.  Double the savings if it's a Pace bus.

And with the one-day pass going down to $5, there will no longer be any reason to purchase a single-ride ticket at O'Hare  (neither the one-day pass nor the single ride ticket are accepted on Pace).  But most tourists probably won't realize this and continue to buy single-ride tickets at O'Hare.

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4 hours ago, Smolensk said:

I also notice that CTA is lowering the PAYG fare on buses from $2.50 to $2.25.  Now that transfers are available for PAYG riders,  that will remove the last barrier to occasional riders just using their credit cards to pay for individual rides rather than pre-loading fares onto a Ventra card.  It will also boost the credit card fees that the CTA needs to pay.

And for Apple/Google Pay users as well. I used to pay with Apple Pay every time I returned since I left my actual Ventra card in Chicago, but stopped since I realized you didn't get transfers and I was paying $5 to get home from the airport instead of $2.75. This was before you could have your Ventra card in your Apple Wallet

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14 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I was actually just in NYC on Monday and took some pics of the aforementioned buses. They run very smooth and quiet, you hear more physical movement and how the bus interacts with the street than of the bus itself. Acceleration is quick too. LACMTA just bought these buses to replace its old NABI 60-fts on its Orange BRT. I think CTA could definitely get these, especially since a lot of routes they use artics on they could get away with only using garage chargers

9FE6A4E6-17D2-4B10-BDC4-74B74A700098.jpeg

AC3106B9-9098-44D8-B68F-8940679B8112.jpeg

1B8A21D1-E0E8-4335-8B88-50FE0E6AF906.jpeg

304C7E99-78A2-448E-93BD-521F4F6CB8B0.jpeg

27359ECB-4C87-4944-92CF-45E751F94338.jpeg

493E23B6-428B-452E-A2B6-C5B23E90E7EB.jpeg

These are the triple doors.  Somehow I don't CTA has an interest in the triple doors, though I'm sure New Flyer offers the in a two door configuration. 

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1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

These are the triple doors.  Somehow I don't CTA has an interest in the triple doors, though I'm sure New Flyer offers the in a two door configuration. 

They could work if post Covid decides to make a few more locals permanently artic. It’s the same thing with longtitutional if keep on on and off crowds it’s not too bad of a thing just keep the 2 doors on commuter express routes. 

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1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

These are the triple doors.  Somehow I don't CTA has an interest in the triple doors, though I'm sure New Flyer offers the in a two door configuration. 

CTA doesn't have a lot of routes where the third door would be worth the lost of seating and standing capacity. If they were to appear overnight, the 4 & 22 are the only routes I can think of that regularly uses artics where they'd be any sort of beneficial. CTA would need to deploy these on routes that have a lot of stops with close to or evenly matched boarding/alighting rates (the heavy crosstown routes like the 9, 49, etc) and/or routes with all-door boarding (if they ever reactivate the pilot on the J14)

On most of the routes, it would just mean alighting downtown would be slightly faster, and that would be it.

Interestingly enough, and slightly related, RTC Nevada (Las Vegas public transit) has a door configuration on their 40 and 60 ft buses, where the second door (all their artics are triple door) is super close to the front, far closer than it would be otherwise (right after the ADA area). I still don't know what the reasoning was behind that, and I haven't seen it on any other New Flyer in the country. RTC doesn't do all-door boarding either (they do have a lot of the heavy crosstown routes I mentioned above)

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4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

These are the triple doors.  Somehow I don't CTA has an interest in the triple doors, though I'm sure New Flyer offers the in a two door configuration. 

I meant to say CTA has NO interest in triple doors on artics.

As far as Las Vegas having the rear doors closer to the front, the only thing I can think of is that maybe they are encouraging people to alight at the rear doors.  People towards the front of the bus will generally use the front door to alight.  If the front door is used for boarding only, perhaps dwell times can be shortened.   My question would be if that closer rear door also has a ramp and if the bus kneeling accommodate that door?

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22 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

This part of the document keened my interest. "Today, the CTA has more than 1,000 buses purchased in 2006 that are at or near the end of their useful life, plus another 200 buses that will be at the end of their useful life in 2022. CTA must replace these buses immediately, but to replace these with all-electric buses could take as long as 10 to 15 years. To help ensure the CTA can continue providing the highest levels of service, earlier this year a $334 million contract was awarded to Nova Bus for the purchase of up to 600 clean-diesel 40-foot buses, which will replace the aging 6400-Series Nova buses that are well over 20 years old. These new clean-diesel buses will meet 2021 EPA emissions requirements and are more fuel efficient than other models in our fleet. Delivery of these buses is expected in the first quarter of 2022. This latest purchase of clean-diesel buses is part of CTA’s long-term plan toward converting to an all-electric fleet. Guiding the CTA and its investments is the Bus Fleet Electrification Feasibility Study, which will be available before the end of 2021. This study will evaluate bus and charging technologies, and assess bus replacement, charging infrastructure installation, garage facility upgrades, and electric bus operations and maintenance over the next 20 years." They want to replace the #1000's & #4000's immediately ? yeah ok....good luck with that.

cta bus data.png

Nah, I already know they ain’t gon do that quickly???

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1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

I meant to say CTA has NO interest in triple doors on artics.

As far as Las Vegas having the rear doors closer to the front, the only thing I can think of is that maybe they are encouraging people to alight at the rear doors.  People towards the front of the bus will generally use the front door to alight.  If the front door is used for boarding only, perhaps dwell times can be shortened.   My question would be if that closer rear door also has a ramp and if the bus kneeling accommodate that door?

Actually, now that you mention it, I think the front door actually does not have a wheelchair ramp, and wheelchair passengers board through the middle door. I'd have to see the inside of the bus again to confirm. I've only seen this set up before on a Van Hool bus, which aren't really common in the US.

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26 minutes ago, strictures said:

A friend of mine noticed that the 4300 he rode on on the 22 yesterday, had a card reader at the rear door, but not yet activated for use.

That bus might've come from 103rd. A number of buses 77th got from 103rd last summer had Ventra readers on the rear door. However, all the buses were 4000s, as no 4300s were sent to Chicago or 77th.

Alternatively, maybe CTA is going to reactivate the rear door boarding pilot, with a different route. The 22 certainly isn't a bad choice and would definitely allay any "fears" about rampant fare evasion

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  • 4 weeks later...

For the record (literally), I submitted written testimony to the Authority. My top suggestion, which I believe has a chance of being adopted, involves changing the north terminus of route #54 Cicero from Cicero | Montrose to Jefferson Park Transit Center.

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22 minutes ago, pudgym29 said:

For the record (literally), I submitted written testimony to the Authority. My top suggestion, which I believe has a chance of being adopted, involves changing the north terminus of route #54 Cicero from Cicero | Montrose to Jefferson Park Transit Center.

Or just make the 54A via Jefferson Park TC

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9 minutes ago, Policeman said:

Or just make the 54A via Jefferson Park TC

 

32 minutes ago, pudgym29 said:

For the record (literally), I submitted written testimony to the Authority. My top suggestion, which I believe has a chance of being adopted, involves changing the north terminus of route #54 Cicero from Cicero | Montrose to Jefferson Park Transit Center.

I mean you’re still getting the same benefit but adding milage. Better point would be bringing back X54

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