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.

On hand to present the awards was past President of the MSBMA and President of Champion Bus John Resnik. Chicago area-based Pace Suburban Bus was the top agency, with more than 1,400 vehicles.

Will allow customers to pay transit fares with any contactless bankcard that conforms to industry standards, the same way they can pay for goods and services in the retail world.

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.

The 30-foot Orion buses seat up to 29 passengers and can accommodate up to two mobility devices, featuring a unique green paint scheme with white accents.

Proposed legislation would raised a projected $168 million over five years for the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace.