NARRATION: There’s no question that Chicago’s elevated rail system keeps the city – and suburbs – moving. But what are some of the challenges that prevent it from operating at its best? What are the worst parts about riding the L, whether you rely on it or you’re just taking it for a one-off trip? Do these issues affect all riders, or just some? And if so, who?
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I’m Allison Rauch, and this is Elevating, a new podcast series from WNUR News.
NARRATION: Episode 3: How can the L be better?
It’s safe to say that riding the L isn’t the most glamorous transportation experience. One big issue the L has faced in recent years is long waits for trains, in some cases trains that never arrive.
JOSEPH SCHWEITERMAN: A lot of people are shifting to Metra, even for trips in the city of Evanston. So people maybe used to take the Red Line to come downtown. Now they’re taking Metra.
That’s Joseph Schweiterman again, professor of transportation at DePaul University and director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. He mentioned how long wait times for trains are prompting some riders to stop using the L entirely.
SCHWEITERMAN: There’s been booming ridership in some of the stops for Metra in the city and close in suburbs, people that have previously taken the CTA…a lot of people are migrating to that because you have a predictable high quality riding experience. And there’s a lesson in that for the CTA, of course.
Why is that switch bad for the CTA?
JOSEPH SCHOFER: So in the Chicago metropolitan area, there’s commuter rail, there’s rail, rapid transit, and there’s bus service. And those services are delivered by three different organizations.
That’s Joseph Schofer again, emeritus professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University. He outlined that while the CTA controls the elevated rail system, Metra is its own organization. So if riders are migrating to Metra because they want a more reliable riding experience, that hurts the CTA’s bottom line. And once again, money is the sticking factor. Fewer funds often means fewer improvements.
Schweiterman explained why on-time transit isn’t as big a priority in the United States as it is in, say, Europe.
SCHWEITERMAN: Why don’t we have European style systems? Because voters don’t care enough about it. To make like, if our governor would be worried about CTA delays, you would imagine things get fixed real quick. But he doesn’t feel that pressure. Whereas in Europe, like in Germany it’s a big big crisis and the train is only 80% on time and the Prime Minister, the chancellor of Germany’s embarrassed about it, promising fixes. And here it’s like, oh, that’s just the way life is.
Schofer also discussed the difference between European and American transportation. He noted that while European cities often have higher densities, they’re also willing to pay more for better services.
SCHOFER: You’ve heard the phrase, European socialism, I don’t want European socialism in the United States. And what that’s a catchphrase for, it’s a dog whistle for high taxes. And what they don’t say is, it’s also a dog whistle for better service, more service…people there have made a different decision, long, long, long ago, to accept higher taxation and demand better service and that’s what they get. So if you look at the transit services in Europe, they’re heavily subsidized like they are here, probably more heavily subsidized……people always look at Europe and say, why can’t we have high speed rail in the United States? And the answer is you’re not willing to pay for it.
In the American public transportation context, with fewer subsidies, ridership matters. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle: problems exist due to lack of funds, people stop riding, further depleting funds and preventing problem solving. To be clear, it shouldn’t be just the individual rider’s responsibility to fix the trains. But when you’ve been waiting nearly 20 minutes at Howard for a Red Line train downtown, it’s easy to get frustrated.
BRIAN STEELE: If you don’t have enough operators to run your trains and buses, that service doesn’t go out. So instead of 10 trains an hour, you’re seeing eight trains an hour. That by definition means that somebody is waiting on a platform longer than they should be.
That’s Brian Steele again, Vice President of Communications for the CTA. You might remember back in episode 1 how Steele mentioned the CTA has had a hard time hiring since the pandemic, especially for their rail positions.
STEELE: Rail hiring has been a challenge for a couple reasons. Prime among them is a lot of the rail positions, particularly that of real operator is one of our most complex positions that require the most training. A lot of people have asked us why don’t you just hire rail operators off the street? And our answer is our focus. First and foremost is on safety. We want individuals who have some working experience with a railroad, and it’s why CTA only hires rail operators from the position that I mentioned a moment ago called rail flagger.
Rail flaggers are the people who signal trains to help regulate flow around construction zones.
STEELE: Best thing about being a rail flagger is you learn railroading, 101, you learn how railroads operate, you learn communications techniques, you learn about the infrastructure and how some of the important infrastructure like switches operate. But perhaps most importantly, you learn safety. Safety has been and will always be our number one focus, and you go through some extensive training to even get on the tracks, and then you get more training experience as you’re working as a flagger. That helps you become a good rail operator.
These flaggers ideally move on to becoming rail operators. But Steele says that progression can take a while.
STEELE: It’s a pretty long ramp up to fill these positions. But we feel that that’s very appropriate, given the safety sensitivity of these positions. And given the fact that these men and women are operating 400 ton trains with literally hundreds of people on them… We will not compromise safety for the sake of expediency as it relates to hire.
Thus, if there’s not enough people to run the trains, there simply won’t be as many trains arriving. It’s admirable that the CTA emphasizes safety as a core value. But on the flip side, Steele’s framing makes it seem like there’s no quick fix to improve wait times.
STEELE: We’ve put in place a system a process several months ago called optimize service, basically making the level of service match the workforce that we have available…Now, what is that going to mean? It’s going to mean two things. Number one, it’s going to mean that you’re waiting longer for your train, no question about that…But we’re providing what customers were really telling us back in 2021, and 2022, is they wanted consistent, reliable service. Because what a lot of people are experiencing was they get up on a platform, and there’d be one train that came in five minutes. Next train was 20 minutes. Next train was 12 minutes. Next train was 15 minutes. Next train was 22 minutes, right. So it was kind of all over the place. So the optimized schedule was designed to provide more consistent, reliable service. So even though the individual wait time, in most cases, was a little bit longer. It’s a service that you could rely on.
This optimized service looks more like a Metra schedule: fewer trains but at more predictable times. But it all depends on the customer’s expectations. Are you more content to wait twenty minutes for a Metra train that you know will arrive, because you know that’s how the Metra works? Or do you get on the CTA platform expecting a train to arrive shortly, and are disappointed?
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Another big issue surrounding current L operations is safety, both in terms of accessibility and providing a comfortable riding experience. Steele mentioned the focus on safety in terms of rail operations. But something like accessibility is much harder for them to control.
STEELE: The CTA is what’s known as a legacy system. We’re one of the oldest systems in the country…The CTA was the first large transit agency in the country to make a commitment to 100% Station accessibility. President Carter unveiled a plan in 2018, called ASAP.
That’s President Dorval L. Carter of the Chicago Transit Authority. The All Stations Accessibility Program aims to make 42 remaining non-accessible rail stations vertically accessible by 2038. So far, funding has been secured for 14 currently inaccessible stations. Once this construction is complete (which could take a while), 81% of all L stations should be vertically accessible, per the CTA’s website.
STEELE: Elevators are the primary accessibility component that we install at stations, they take up a lot of space, you have to have space for those big towers. Where do you find that space when you’ve got a 100 plus year old station surrounded by 100 plus year old buildings?
You might remember from episode 2 how we discussed that buses can provide more dense coverage than elevated rail. And here’s another advantage, all CTA buses are currently 100% accessible to those who require step-free access.
Improving accessibility on the L will take a while, but it’s encouraging that the CTA is actively working on a plan. But what about issues such as ridership safety? Between January and November 2023, there were about 4.7 violent crimes on the L for every 1 million rides, per Chicago Tribune. That’s down from 6.2 crimes per million rides during a similar period the previous year. Nonviolent crimes have also dropped. That’s encouraging. But there’s always room for improvement. Schweiterman mentioned a few ideas.
SCHWEITERMAN: There’s talking about an app where you can report problems instantly when they occur to be solved. There’s more, in fact, started a police presence, but also a lot of talk about having ambassadors on the train that just sort of walk around and check things.
Increased police presence on trains, of course, comes with important caveats about avoiding discrimination against marginalized riders. One of the best things about riding the L is that it is for every member of the community. Therefore, police presence or not, it is crucial that more privileged riders avoid forming biases against less privileged riders. These people can include those experiencing houselessness, those soliciting money from other riders, or those suffering from physical or mental illness. While many of these riders are not disruptive, some are, whether they mean to be or not. This can cause other riders to avoid the L.
SCHWEITERMAN: That’s where the bus has been pretty favorable. With a bus you have a gatekeeper, and that’s the bus driver. So it may be one in the morning but once you’re on the bus, you feel pretty safe because the bus driver is not going to let somebody come through and Panhandle you know, and so it’s interesting how post pandemic the bus is taking on. There’s increased interest in the bus.
It’s also important to note that the public nature of public transportation can disproportionately affect some riders who may face increased danger simply by being in public, especially late at night. This can include some of the less privileged riders I mentioned earlier, but more generally, this can also apply to women and LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are non-white.
SCHWEITERMAN: We just have to be realistic about whether a woman traveling alone at one in the morning will be comfortable taking the L. We need to find creative options for those populations, too.
Some of these issues have to do with Chicago as a city, or even society at large. They’re not necessarily exclusive to the L. But again, public transportation is for everyone. That means that everyone deserves to feel comfortable riding the train.
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Next episode will be our final episode. We’ll talk more about how the CTA is currently evolving, and how it might change in the future.
SADOWSKI: There’s no way to separate it. This from politics, it’s always going to have a political aspect to it.
SCHWEITERMAN: We need a big idea to make all the connections work better.
STEELE: What that future looks like? That future is being written now.
SCHOFER: There’s some really nasty hard decisions to be made about whether you want to keep that public transit system and in what form do you want to do it?
Thanks for listening to Elevating. For WNUR News, I’m Allison Rauch.
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Theme: Fight to the End
