Plan addresses five key areas of the rider experience: making service more reliable and consistent; enhancing system security; upgrading customer communication technologies; improving the overall experience at facilities, and further investing in transit employees
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. today announced a new action plan that will guide the CTA’s ongoing efforts to address the Agency’s most pressing challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“Meeting the Moment: Transforming CTA’s Post-Pandemic Future” Action Plan is a multifaceted investment plan that focuses on responding to customers’ concerns and strengthening the foundations of the rider experience – reliable service, safe rides, clean facilities, modern amenities, dynamic customer engagement tools, and a strong CTA workforce.
“I am confident this action plan is exactly what CTA needs to address our customers’ immediate concerns while proactively meeting our transit future.” said Carter, who announced the plan during his speech at the City Club of Chicago. “At the core of this action plan are our customers; we are investing in and appreciating our current customers, while taking meaningful steps toward welcoming more customers back.”
Like every public transit agency in the country, the CTA continues to face a myriad of ongoing challenges—most significantly the impacts of a bus and train operator workforce shortage. The combination of unplanned absences due to illness (COVID infections, caring for family members, quarantining) as well as the “Great Resignation,” has left CTA with not enough manpower to reliably deliver our scheduled service. CTA is also impacted by socio-economic conditions of the region, including recent, prominent instances of crime and unruly behavior occurring on CTA.
“Meeting the Moment” aims to address these many current challenges in the near-term, while also mapping a plan for long-term stability and transit transformation in the future. The customer-focused action plan is grounded in five key pillars:
- Deliver reliable and consistent service;
- Enhance safety and security for riders;
- Improve the customer experience at CTA facilities;
- Upgrade digital tools to improve rider communication; and
- Invest in employees
Within each pillar, the Agency will invest in and launch multiple near-term strategic investments, initiatives and tools designed to reinforce the CTA rider experience. CTA will announce new service initiatives, safety strategies, customer tools, facility and vehicle investments, and employee hiring and retention investments from this Action Plan in the coming weeks and months.
To learn more about the Action Plan and stay up to speed on everything CTA is doing in relation to the Action Plan, visit: transitchicago.com/coronavirus/services/
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