Using new, dedicated cameras at stations from Logan Square to Chicago, the live video feed will be available via the CTA website (transitchicago.com/blue-line-video/) during each weekday morning’s rush period, from 7-10 am. The live video feed provides customers with real-time information on platform crowding conditions and how CTA service is supporting the morning commute – helping customers make decisions on when is the best time to ride.
“Through our Meeting the Moment action plan, we’ve been working to provide more consistent and reliable bus and rail service as well as expand and improve trip planning and communication tools for customers,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “These new live streams are part of CTA’s larger efforts to provide tools to help CTA customers plan and manage their commutes.”
The live feed will show images providing general platform conditions at the following six stations: Logan Square, California, Western, Damen, Division and Chicago.
The new live stream is just one of several steps the CTA has taken recently to improve service and provide customers with better information on their commute, during one of the busiest times of the day on the Blue Line O’Hare branch, one of the CTA’s busiest lines. Since last month, the CTA has had a strong focus on the AM rush period along this stretch of the Blue Line, including:
- Adding extra trains to the Blue Line, deploying them from Jefferson Park when there have been larger gaps between trains. Two extra trains are added each morning.
- Assigning more personnel to closely monitor rush-hour service—allowing staff to respond more quickly to unplanned service issues
- Making frequent platform announcements to let customers waiting on platforms know real-time system status, the location of next trains, and when extra trains have been deployed.
The real-time video feed also builds on the existing CTA ridership dashboards that provide average weekday or weekend ridership trends for every CTA rail station and bus route for each hour of service to help customers plan their trips to avoid crowds.
Unprecedented, industrywide workforce shortages have hampered CTA’s ability to provide all its scheduled service. In response, the CTA has undertaken aggressive recruitment, hiring and retention efforts that have attracted hundreds of new applicants over the last few months.
CTA also continues to pursue broader strategies to improve service, including optimizing schedules, adjusting train deployments, and reworking track work schedules. These efforts have led to measurable service improvements—as documented in CTA’s monthly “Meeting the Moment” scorecards—but more work still needs to be done. CTA closely monitors how these strategies are impacting service and continues to make changes to improve service.
For more information about what the CTA is doing to improve service and the customer experience, please visit: transitchicago.com/meetingthemoment.
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