The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) partnered with Google Public Sector to develop the much-anticipated Chat with CTA chatbot, a new virtual assistant to be featured on transitchicago.com.

The communication tool will make it easier than ever for riders to report issues and provide feedback to the agency.

“We are committed to continuing to find new, convenient ways for our customers to contact us, and using more modern technology can help improve the CTA travel experience,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. “We’re happy to be partnering with Google Public Sector to help deliver the Chat with CTA chatbot on our website, providing our customers with a next-generation communication tool that will make it easier to ask questions and get the information they need in real-time.”

CTA’s New Chatbot

The Chat with CTA chatbot will add simple, one-step-away support to CTA’s website and resolve many questions and concerns within minutes. And as part of CTA’s renewed focus on providing communication tools to support the diversity of the region, the chatbot will support the following five languages spoken in the CTA service area: English, Spanish, Polish, Simplified Chinese, and Filipino/Tagalog. Thirty-six percent of people in CTA’s service area speak a non-English language at home.

The Chat with CTA chatbot is CTA’s first step toward modernized, enhanced, and expanded customer support. The opportunity to create this virtual assistant builds on Google Public Sector’s previous partnership with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and opens the door to a state-of-the-art, CTA customer support ecosystem, offering customers an array of tools to best suit their needs.

Launch of the chatbot tool is anticipated in early 2024. Chat with CTA will answer basic travel questions and collect rider concerns related to the quality of their trip. The chatbot tool will not support emergencies or urgent matters that require immediate attention.