Acronyms 

ADA Americans with Disabilities Act 
APB Accounting Principles Board 
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 
BAB Build America Bonds 
BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics 
BOB State Bureau of the Budget 
BRT Bus Rapid Transit 
CBO Congressional Budget Office 
CGB Capital Governance Board 
CMAQ Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program 
CIP Capital Improvement Program 
CDOT Chicago Department of Transportation 
CPD Chicago Police Department 
CPI Consumer Price Index 
CTA Chicago Transit Authority 
DBE Disadvantaged Business Enterprise 
EIA Energy Information Administration 
FASB Financial Accounting Standards Board 
FFGA Full Funding Grant Agreement 
FICA Federal Insurance Contribution Act 
FOMC Federal Open Market Committee 
FTA Federal Transit Administration 
FY Fiscal Year 
GAAP General Accepted Accounting Principles 
GASB Governmental Accounting Standards Board 
GDP Gross Domestic Product 
GFOA Government Finance Office Association 
HUD U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
ICE Innovation, Coordination and Enhancement Fund of RTA 
IDOT Illinois Department of Transportation 
JARC Job Access and Reverse Commute Program 
LACMTA Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 
LIBOR London Interbank Offered Rate 
MBTA Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 
NTD National Transit Database 
NYCT New York City Transit 
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries 
PBC Public Building Commission of Chicago 
POB Pension Obligation Bond 
PPI Producer Price Index 
RTA Regional Transportation Authority 
RETT Real Estate Transfer Tax 
SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users 
SCIP Strategic Capital Improvement Program 
SEPTA Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 
SGR State of Good Repair 
STIP State Transportation Improvement Program 
STO Scheduled Transit Operations 
SWAP Sheriffs Work Alternative Program 
TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act - 21st Century 
TIGGER Transit Investment for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction 
TIP Transportation Improvement Program 
TSP Traffic Signal Prioritization 
UWP Unified Work Program 
WMATA Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 

Glossary 

2008 Legislation:  The amendments to the RTA Act in 2008 included the following policies affecting the CTA budget: 1) Increased the RTA sales tax to 1.25 percent in Cook County and 0.75 percent in the collar counties; 2) Prescribed a new distribution of revenues - of 85 percent of 80 percent of the total sales tax collected within the City of Chicago, 48 percent is allocated to the CTA, 39 percent to Metra and 13 percent to Pace; 3) Established an Innovation, Coordination, and Enhancement Fund, an ADA Paratransit Fund, and a Suburban Community Mobility Fund and 4) The chair of the CTA no longer was on the RTA Board. 

Accessible: As defined by FTA, a site, building, facility, or portion thereof that complies with defined standards and that can be approached, entered and used by persons with disabilities. 

Accounting Principles Board: The former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It was created by the AICPA in 1959 
and issued pronouncements on accounting principles until 1973, when it was replaced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). 

Accrual Basis:  A method of accounting in which revenues are reported in the fiscal period when it is earned, regardless of when it is received, and expenses are deducted in the fiscal period they are incurred, whether they are paid or not. 

ADA:  The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including changes made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, became effective on January 1, 2009. This federal act requires many changes to ensure that people with disabilities have access to jobs, public accommodations, telecommunications and public services, including public transit. Examples of these changes includes mandating that all new buses and rail lines be wheelchair accessible and that alternative transportation be provided to customers unable to access the transit system. 

Alternative Analysis Study: To conduct the Study is the first step proceeded through the FTA's process in order to be qualified for New Starts funding. The Study is 
designed to examine all the potential transit options available and determine a locally preferred alternative. Among the projects that were authorized for further analysis by the United States Congress, the CTA has completed the Studies for the Red Line Extension south of 95th, the Orange Line Extension to Ford City, and the Yellow Line 
Extension north of Dempster Avenue in Skokie in the year of 2010. The CTA is currently conducting the Study for the Circle Line project. 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: An economic stimulus package enacted in February 2009 to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending during the recession. The Act includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions and domestic spending in education, health care and infrastructure, including the energy sector. 

Articulated Bus:  A high capacity passenger bus that flexes in the middle. 

ADA Paratransit Fund: Outlined by the RTA Act, grants and appropriations from the state, which the RTA distributes to the Suburban Bus Board for regional 
Paratransit services. 

Accounting Principles Board: Former authoritative body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which issued a series of accountants opinions 
constituting much of what is known as GAAP. 

Bond: An interest-bearing promise to pay a specified sum of money on a specified date in the future. 

Build America Bonds: A subsidy provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that provides for a wider pool of capital financing funding for state, 
county and municipal entities, such as the CTA. 

Big Gap: An instance when the time in-between buses is more than double the scheduled interval and also a gap of more than 15 minutes. 

Capital Budget:  A formal plan of action for a specified time period for purchases of fixed assets using capital grants. 

Capital Expense: Expenditures that acquire, improve or extend the useful life of any item with an expected life of three or more years and a value of more 
than $5,000 (e.g. rolling stock, track and structure, support facilities and equipment, and stations and passenger equipment). It can also include the costs associated with the long-term maintenance of these assets, such as bus overhaul programs, rail overhaul programs and preventive maintenance. Also referred to as a capital improvement. 

Capital Governance Board: An advisory board formed to facilitate decision making with regard to the capital plan of the CTA. It is also responsible for adopting a 
strategic plan outlining capital projects to accomplish within a constrained set of funding marks, as well as an aspirational program of projects, which could be achieved with considerable additional capital resources. 

Capital Grant: Funds received from grantor funding agencies used to finance construction, renovation, and major repairs or the purchase of machinery, equipment, buildings or land. 

Capital Improvement Program: A strategic and comprehensive financing program in which available capital funds are identified and targeted toward key capital renewal 
and improvement needs of the CTA system to yield the greatest customer benefit. 

Chicago Card: A stored-value farecard that has an imbedded microchip that can be read to register fares by the fare equipment when touched to the touchpad on the front of rail station turnstiles and bus fareboxes on all CTA routes and Pace buses. Value is added with cash at CTA vending machines or off-site Touch-n-Go devices. 

Chicago Card Plus: A farecard with its balance maintained in an online account rather than stored on the card itself. Value is added with credit cards or through electronic transit benefit deductions only. The card also features online reloading  customer accounts automatically reload each time their account value falls below the pre-selected reload amounts. 

Collar Counties: The five counties that surround Cook County as identified in the RTA Act. Collar counties include Will, Kane, DuPage, Lake, and McHenry. 

Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program: A program initially authorized by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991 and provided $6.0 billion in funding for surface transportation and other related projects that contribute to air quality improvements and reduce congestion. It was reauthorized in 2005 under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEALU) and provides funding to State Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations and transit agencies to invest in projects that reduce criteria air pollutants regulated from transportation-related sources. The Program provides the CTA with funding totaling $19,920,000 over a period of five years (2011 to 2015). 

Congressional Budget Office: Branch of the federal government that provides economic data to congress. 

Consumer Price Index (CPI): A measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. A CPI measures a price change 
for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same area and is used as a measure of the increase in the cost of living (i.e. economic inflation). 

Corridor: A defined study area considered for significant transportation projects such as highway improvements, bus transitways, rail lines or bikeways (e.g. Dan Ryan corridor, Western Avenue corridor). 

CTA Board Member Terms of Office: Board member terms are in seven year increments. Board members may be appointed to terms already in progress, in which case they may serve until the end of that term.

Depreciation: An accounting term that recognizes the loss in value of a tangible fixed asset over time attributable to deterioration, obsolescence and impending retirement. Applies particularly to physical assets like vehicles, equipment and structures. 

Discretionary Funds: Funds that the RTA allocates, at its discretion, to the Service Boards. These funds include Public Transportation Funds and a portion of the 
15 percent of the RTA Sales Tax. 

Environmental Impact Statement: An environmental impact statement (EIS) under United States environmental law is a document required by the National Environmental Policy Act for federal government agency actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. As a tool for decision making, an EIS describes the positive and negative environmental effects of proposed agency action and cites alternative actions. 

Fare: The amount charged to passengers for bus and rail services. 

Farebox: Equipment used for the collection of bus fares. 

Farecard: Electronic fare media used for payment of fares. 

Federal Funds Rate: The interest rate at which banks lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other banks overnight. The rate is set by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC's long term goals are price stability and sustainable economic growth in the economy. 

Federal Open Market Committee: Branch of the Federal Reserve that is responsible for open market operations, such as the purchase and sale of U.S. Treasury and 
federal agencies securities. 

Federal Transit Administration (FTA): The federal agency which provides financial and planning assistance to help plan, build and operate rail, bus and paratransit systems through grant programs. 

Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA): Social Security payroll taxes are collected under authority of FICA. 

Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB): The FASB establishes and improves standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors and users of financial information. 

Financial Plan: In addition to an annual budget, the Regional Transportation Authority Act, amended in 2008, requires that all transit agencies prepare a financial plan encompassing the two years subsequent to the budget year. This provides a three-year projection of expenses, revenues and public funding requirements. 

Fiscal Year A fiscal year is a 12-month period used for calculating annual financial reports in organizations. The CTAs fiscal year is synonymous with the calendar year and begins on January 1 and ends on December 31. 

Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA): Grant agreements authorized under federal transit law that establish the terms and conditions for federal financial participation in a New Starts project. The FFGA defines the project, sets the maximum amount of Federal new starts funding for a project, covers the period of time for completion of the project, and facilitates efficient management of the project in accordance with applicable federal statutes, regulations and policy. 

Fund Balance: The excess of funding over deficit for a given period of time. Refers to the unreserved/undesignated funds. Annual budget surpluses (or deficits) generally add to (or subtract) from the fund balance. 

Funding (Budget) Marks: The Regional Transportation Authority Act, as amended in 1983, calls for RTA to advise each of its Service Boards by September 15th 
of the public funding to be available for the following year, as well as the required recovery ratio. 

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP): GAAP is the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting, mainly used in the United States. It includes the standards, conventions and rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions, and in the preparation of financial statements. 

Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB): The GASB establishes and improves standards of state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting. 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): As a measure of economic activities, it is the amount of goods and services produced in the United States in one year. It is calculated 
by adding together the market values of all of the final goods and services produced in a year and reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

Headway: The time span between when one service vehicle (bus or rail) leaves a stop/station and when the following vehicle arrives at the same stop/station on specified routes. Also called service frequency. 

Heavy Rail: An electric railway with the capacity for a heavy volume of traffic. Heavy rail is characterized by high-speed passenger rail cars and trains operating on fixed rails in separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic is excluded. 

Hedge: A type of investment activity used to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. Normally, a hedge consists of taking an offsetting position in a related security to minimize unwanted risks associated with price fluctuation. 

Hybrid Bus: A hybrid bus combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system and uses a diesel-electric powertrain. Also known as a hybrid diesel-electric bus. 

Illinois Fund for Infrastructure, Roads, Schools and Transit (FIRST): A five-year public works improvement program that allocated capital funds between FY 2000 through FY 2004. 

Illinois Jobs Now Program: $31 billion program creating over 439,000 jobs in six years improving bridges and roads, transportation networks, schools and communities. 

Illinois Low-Income Circuit Breaker Program: The official name of the Program is the Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act, governed by the Illinois Department on Aging. The Program is to help offset the cost of property taxes and other living costs by providing 
low-income, senior or disabled residents with yearly grants. 

Infrastructure: Capital assets that make up the CTAs transportation system, including maintenance facilities, rail track, signals, stations, elevated structures and power substations. 

Innovation, Coordination and Enhancement Fund: A fund established by the 2008 amendments to the RTA Act for operating or capital grants or loans to Service Boards, transportation agencies, or units of local government that advance the goals and objectives identified by the RTAs Strategic Plan. Unless an emergency is determined by the RTA Board that requires some or all amounts of the Fund, it can only be used to enhance the coordination and integration of public transportation and develop and 
implement innovations to improve the quality and delivery of public transportation. Forty-eight percent of its balance is allocated to the CTA, 39 percent to the Commuter Rail Board (Metra) and 13 percent to the Suburban Bus Board (Pace). 

Intermodal:  Transportation by more than one mode (bus, train, etc.) during a single journey. 

Interval: The time between when one service vehicle (bus or train) leaves a stop/station to the time when the following vehicle leaves the same stop/station. 

Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (JARC): A program established by the FTA to address the unique transportation challenges faced by welfare recipients and low-income persons seeking to obtain and maintain employment, which often is located in a less accessible area and/or requires late at night or weekend schedules when conventional transit services are not sufficiently provided. 

London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR): Short-term interest rate used when banks borrow funds from other banks in the London interbank market. The worlds most widely used benchmark for short-term loans. 

Major Delay  Rail: An instance where a train experiences a delay to service of ten minutes or more. 

Mean Miles Between Defects: The average mileage a train runs before experiencing a defect. 

Metra: Commuter Rail division of the RTA responsible for the day-to-day operation of the regions long-distance commuter rail transit service (with the exception of those services provided by the CTA). Metra was created in 1983 by an amendment to the RTA Act. 

National Transit Database (NTD): FTAs primary national database for statistics on the transit industry. 

New Starts: FTA discretionary program that is the federal governments primary financial resource for supporting locally-planned, implemented and operated transit guideway capital investments. 

Non-Farming Payroll: A compiled employment level of goods-producing, construction and manufacturing companies. It is released monthly by the United States Department of Labor to represent the number of jobs added or lost in the economy over the last month. 

Non-Operating Funds: Expenses funded with capital grants. 

Non-Revenue Vehicle: Vehicles that do not carry fare-paying passengers and are used to support transit operations. 

Operating Budget: Annual revenues and expenses forecast to maintain operations. 

Operating Expenses: Costs associated with the day-to-day operation of the delivery of service for a transit agency. Examples of operating expenses include labor, material, fuel, power, security and professional services. 

Operating Revenues: Revenues generated from user fees (in the form of fare price for the public transit system) or other activities directly related to operations 
such as advertising, concessions, parking, investment income, etc. 

Pace: The Suburban Bus Division of the RTA responsible for all non-rail suburban public transit service and all paratransit service. Pace was created in 1983 by an amendment to the RTA Act. 

Paratransit Service: Demand-response service utilizing wheelchair-accessible vans and small buses to provide pre-arranged trips to and from specific locations within the service area to certified participants. Paratransit includes demand-response transportation services, subscription bus services and shared-ride taxis. 

Passenger Miles: The cumulative sum of the distances traveled by passengers. 

Pay-As-You-Go Funding: A practice of financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed. 

Pension Obligation Bonds: Debt instruments issued by a governmental entity to fund all or a portion of the Unfunded Actuarially Accrued Liabilities (UAAL) for 
pension and/or Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB). 

Performance Management: Performance management is the process of assessing and acting upon progress toward achieving predetermined measures and metrics. All personnel are held accountable to these measures and metrics. The CTA implemented a performance management program in May 2007. 

Power Washing - Facilities: The deep cleaning of a CTA station or facility using pressure wash equipment. 

Preventive Maintenance: The care and servicing of equipment and facilities in order to maintain them in satisfactory operating condition. Preventive maintenance provides for systematic inspection, detection and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects. 

Producer Price Index (PPI): A family of indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that measures the average changes over time in the prices received by 
domestic producers of goods and services. 

Public Funding: Funding received from the RTA or other government agencies. 

Public Transportation Funds (PTF): As authorized by the RTA Act, the Illinois State Treasurer transfers from the State General Revenue Fund an amount equal to 25 
percent of RTA sales tax collections to a special fund, called the Public Transportation Fund (PTF), and then remits it to the RTA on a monthly basis. Per the 2008 Legislation, the State funding package increases the percentage of State sales tax dedicated to mass transit and deposits additional amount of funding to PTF. All funds 
deposited are allocated to RTA to be used at its discretion for the benefit of the Service Boards. 

Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT): A source of public funding for the CTA collected by the City of Chicago. The 2008 legislation authorized a $1.50 per $500 increase 
in RETT and the CTA receives 100 percent of the RETT increase. 

Recovery Ratio: The ratio measures the percentage of expenses that a Service Board must pay against revenues that it generates. The RTA Act mandates that the RTA region must attain an annual recovery ratio of at least 50 percent. 

Reduced Fare: Discounted fare for children age seven through 11, grade school and high school students (with CTA ID), seniors 65 and older (with RTA ID), and riders with disabilities (with RTA ID) except paratransit riders. 

Reduced Fare Reimbursement: Reimbursement of revenue lost by the Service Boards due to providing reduced fares to students, elderly and the disabled. The CTA recovers the cost of trips with both the fare revenue and operating subsidies. The reimbursements are made from the State of Illinois to cover the difference between the standard and reduced fare. Reimbursement amounts are allocated to the Service Boards based on reduced fare passenger trips taken during the year. 

Regional Transportation Authority (RTA): The RTA is the financial oversight and regional planning body for the three public transit operators in northeastern Illinois: the CTA, Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus. 

Regional Transportation Authority Act (RTA Act): An Act that regulates which public funds may be expended and authorizes the State to provide financial assistance to units of local government for distribution to providers of public transportation, including the CTA. It authorizes the distribution of sales tax revenue collected by the City of Chicago and Collar Counties, Public Transportation Funds, State Assistance, as well as other funding streams for the CTA. It also outlines six criteria that the CTA has to 
meet for its budget approval. RTA Sales Tax The primary source of operating revenue for the RTA, the CTA, Metra and Pace. For the CTA, it consists of four parts: 1) 85 percent of the amount of one percent from Chicago sales tax revenue; 2) 85 percent of the amount of one percent from Suburban Cook County sales tax revenue; 3) 100 percent of the discretionary operating funding from the RTA, i.e. the amount of Public Transportation Funds (PTF) 25 percent sales tax match less the amount allocated to Job Access Program by the RTA; and 4) 48 percent of the net balance of sales tax and PTF for Service Boards. 

Revenue Bond: A certificate of debt issued by an organization in order to raise revenue. It guarantees payment of the original investment plus interest by a specified date. Debt service payment is secured by a specific revenue source. 

Revenue Equipment: Includes vehicles that carry fare-paying passengers and equipment used for the collection of fares. 

Ride: A trip taken by passengers on the bus or rail system. 

Ridership (Unlinked Passenger Trips): Each passenger counted each time that person boards a vehicle. 

Right-of-Way: A strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way. 

Rolling Stock: Public transportation vehicles, including rail cars and buses. 

Run: Rail or bus operator's assigned period(s) of work on a given day. 

SAFETEA-LU: Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). It is a federal transit and highway bill signed into act on August 10, 2005, authorizing $286.4 billion nationwide through 2009, including $52.6 billion for transit. A reauthorization of the federal transit and highway program is pending congressional action. 

Scheduled Transit Operations (STO): The scheduled transit operations classification includes bus operators, motormen, conductors and customer assistants. 

Senate Bill (SB) 572: Illinois Senate Bill that provides a stable funding source for the future needs of the transit agencies of Northeastern Illinois. The bill includes a sales tax increase of 0.25 percent sales tax in the six-county Chicagoland. The CTA would receive 48 percent of this new sales tax revenue. The bill also includes a one percent increase in the real estate transfer tax for the City of Chicago; 30 percent of these funds will be directed to the CTA. The state would also provide a 25 percent match on new revenues by the year 2010. Senate Bill (SB) 1977 Illinois Senate Bill that stipulates that the CTA must make annual contributions to the CTA Pension Fund to achieve a 90 percent funded ratio by the end of 2058 beginning January 1, 2009. Service Board CTA, Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus system, as 
referred to by the Regional Transportation Authority Act. 

Sheriffs Work Alternative Program (SWAP): A program where drunk drivers and other low-level offenders are required to provide a variety of community services for municipalities throughout Cook County. 

Slow Zone: Sections of track where trains must reduce speed in order to safely operate rail service. 

State Assistance: The supplemental funding provided by the RTA Act in the forms of additional state and financial assistance to the RTA in connection with its issuance of Strategic Capital Improvement Program (SCIP) bonds. It equals the debt service amounts paid to the bondholders of the SCI bonds plus any debt service savings from the issuance of refunding or advanced refunding SCIP bonds, less the amount of interest earned on the bonds proceeds. 

State of Good Repair: An asset or system is in a state of good repair when no backlog of capital needs exists  hence all asset life cycle investment needs (e.g., preventative maintenance and rehabilitation) have been addressed and no capital asset exceeds its useful life. Therefore, the first priority for a transit system is to maintain infrastructure and equipment, making regular repairs where needed and retiring equipment from service at the end of its life-cycle. 

State of Illinois Public Transportation Fund (PTF): As authorized by the RTA Act, the Illinois State Treasurer transfers from the State General Revenue Fund an amount equal to 25 percent of RTA sales tax collections (or gasoline or parking taxes, if imposed by the RTA). The Treasurer transfers this amount to a special fund, called the Public Transportation Fund (PTF), and then remits it to the RTA on a monthly basis. The RTA uses these funds at its discretion to fund the service board needs, RTA operations, debt service and capital investment. 

State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP): The FY 2006-2009 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) is a four-year program of highway and transit projects developed to fulfill the requirements set forth in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and its successor the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21) and in the Safe Accountable Flexible & Efficient Transportation Equity Act  Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The FY 2006-2009 STIP totals $15.66 billion with $7.1 billion for highway improvements and $8.56 billion for transit capital improvements and operating 
assistance. 

Stimulus Funds: Also referred as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

Suburban Community Mobility Fund: Outlined by the RTA Act, grants and appropriations from the state, which the RTA distributes to the Suburban Bus Board for operating transit services, other than traditional fixed-route services, that enhance suburban mobility, including, but not limited to, demand-responsive transit services, ride sharing, van pooling, service coordination, centralized dispatching and call taking, reverse commuting, service restructuring and bus rapid transit. 

System Generated Revenue: Revenue generated internally by the CTA. Includes fare revenue, advertising, investment income, income from local governments by 
provision of the Regional Transportation Authority Act, and subsidies for reduced fare riders per 1989 legislation. 

TEA21: Transportation Equity Act  21st Century, a federal transportation package that reauthorized the Federal Transit Program for the eight years from 1998 through 2005. Grants can pay up to 80 percent of a capital project, with the remaining 20 percent funded from local sources. 

Ten-Year Swap Rate: The rate paid by a fixed rate payer on an interest swap with maturity of ten years. 

Ten-Year Swap Spread: The gap between the rate to exchange floating for fixed interest payments and Treasury yield for ten years. By taking into account the investments that contain credit risk, as well as the ones that are often viewed as risk-free, swap spread indicates investors expectation of the market. 

Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP): A six-year financial program that describes the schedule for obligating federal funds to state and local projects. The TIP contains funding information for all modes of transportation, including highways and high-occupancy vehicles, as well as transit capital and operating costs. 

Top Operator Rate: The top hourly rate paid to CTA bus and rail operators, based on employee seniority within the job, as specified by the union contract. 

Trip: A one-way bus trip or a one-way train trip from origin to destination terminal. 

Traffic Signal Prioritization: Operational strategy where communication between a transit bus and a traffic signal alters the timing of the traffic signal to give priority 
to the transit vehicle. 

Unlinked Passenger Trip: An unlinked passenger trip is a single boarding of any transit vehicle. Thus, unlinked passenger trips for any transit system are the number 
of passengers boarding public transportation vehicles. A passenger is counted each time he/she boards a vehicle, even if the boarding is part of the same journey from origin to destination. 

Vehicle Revenue Hours: The hours that vehicles travel while in revenue service. Vehicle revenue hours include recovery time but exclude travel to and from storage facilities. 

Vehicle Revenue Miles: Miles that vehicles travel while in revenue service. Vehicle revenue miles exclude travel to and from storage facilities. 