Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Designed to accommodate customers making rail-to-rail connections, as well as bus-to-rail connections.

Capital funding will be used largely for rolling stock renewal and other projects aimed at taking care of the existing system.

The Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace accommodated more than 443.5 million passengers on the region’s rail and bus system, a 3.2% increase above last year and the highest reported ridership through August in the last 10 years.

The recently-released performance measures reports analyzed how the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace fared in the areas of service coverage, service efficiency and effectiveness, service delivery, service maintenance and capital investment, and service level solvency.

The $2.5 billion initiative calls for issuing a series of bonds over the next five years, averaging about $500 million in capital improvement dollars each year. While each agency would be able to prioritize the projects to fund, the RTA has an existing list of backlogged projects it will reference before approving expenditures.

The projects, funded through the use of a two-year RTA Innovation Coordination and Enhancement program budget, will be implemented by the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace to advance the vision and goals of the RTA’s regional priorities initiative of Enhancing the Customer Experience.

Key initiatives highlighted include bringing the region’s system to a state of good repair; expanding real-time bus and train arrival information; modernizing fare payment systems; expanding technical assistance and funding efforts related to TOD; studying and piloting more efficient locomotives, trains and buses; and installing additional pollution control technologies on buses and trains.

Eighty-three percent of commuters said they were satisfied with transit service. Twenty-three percent said they were very satisfied. More than 90% said they would recommend the transit system.

Chairman says combining redundant service routes, purchasing, personnel, marketing and maintenance departments, could save taxpayers $150 million a year.

Procedures that will impact commuters riding Amtrak, Metra and Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District trains that run beneath the convention center.