Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Ron Huberman announced that CTA's on- time performance improved in 2008 as a result of a performance management initiative that identifies and tracks key factors that influence reliability.

Over the past year, the CTA has measured the efficiency and on-time performance of buses and trains, and has identified and tracked the behind the scenes activities that influence performance, such as preventative maintenance, percentage of slow zones and manpower levels.

“Through the performance management process, the CTA was able to provide better and more reliable service to its customers in 2008, and that contributed to significant increases in ridership throughout the year,” Huberman said.

For rail customers, travel time has improved as a result of an aggressive plan to eliminate slow zones. Slow zones now exist on about seven percent of the rail system, down from 22.3 percent in October 2007.

Big gaps between buses – measured by arrivals that are either double the scheduled headway or 15 minutes between buses - have decreased by 31 percent since fall 2007, and the number of buses arriving within one minute or less of buses ahead has decreased by 24 percent.

Performance management has also helped the CTA identify areas that continue to need review. This fall, the CTA changed the way in which it is counting bus service disruptions in order to improve the consistency and accuracy of the data collected.