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Each fully-loaded, eight-car CTA train replaces more than 600 cars on regional roadways.

Sustainable Transportation

The CTA plays an important role in reducing vehicle emissions in the Chicago region by replacing automobile trips, reducing traffic congestion and enabling compact development. By providing high-quality transit service, we strive to make regional transportation patterns more sustainable.

On this page...

• Transit Ridership
• Emissions Reduction
• Climate Policy

Transit Ridership

• In 2010, CTA provided roughly 517 million rides on buses and trains.
• 2008 marked the highest CTA ridership level since 1992, and the highest single-year ridership gain in 34 years.
• CTA ridership has increased in 10 of the last 13 years:
  
  
  
  

  Year	Ridership totals (number of trips taken)
  1997	439,873,752
  1998	445,313,180
  1999	466,735,403
  2000	479,586,574
  2001	484,820,946
  2002	485,225,048
  2003	474,742,925
  2004	474,950,961
  2005	492,405,118
  2006	494,803,223
  2007	499,544,308
  2008	526,336,470
  2009	521,241,836
  2010	516,873,057

 Emissions Reduction

• The CTA replaces the equivalent of about 400,000 vehicles on regional roads each weekday. A full eight-car CTA train replaces more than 600 cars, and a full 60-foot articulated CTA bus replaces more than 70 cars.

• Switching from driving to public transit can reduce an individual's carbon emissions by about 4,800 pounds per year.  Household savings can be estimated using the American Public Transit Association's Carbon Savings Calculator.

• Carbon dioxide emissions in the Chicago region are lowest in areas where transit service has supported higher-density development, resulting in fewer, shorter and more efficient motorized trips.

 Climate Policy

• The CTA serves as a key partner in the Chicago Climate Action Plan by reducing energy use and carbon emissions from Chicago-area transportation.

• The CTA has contributed to the Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group to promote public transit as a strategy to reduce carbon emissions in Illinois and the Midwest region.

• The CTA is also represented on the American Public Transportation Association's Climate Change Working Group, which advocates a prominent role for public transit in emerging federal climate policy.