CTA Has Highest Ridership Increase In 20 Years
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 13, 2012 4:40PM
The Chicago Transit Authority is the public transit system Chicagoans love to hate. It's also the only public transit system in town. CTA today announced it provided 531,960,253 rides in 2011. That's a 3 percent increase over 2010 and its highest ridership increase in 20 years. CTA President Forrest Claypool said in a statement, "The growth in 2011 ridership shows that the CTA is an increasingly integral part people’s daily lives and emphasizes that there is a real and growing demand for public transit in the city and the suburbs."
Claypool cited high gas prices and the agency's investment in infrastructure programs, such as the train station repair initiative announced last year, as reasons for the ridership increase. Chicago's ridership increases were in line with a new study released by the American Public Transportation Association that showed Americans took 10.4 billion rides on public transit in 2011, the second-highest number recorded since 1957.
APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy also cited higher gas prices for the increase, along with a recovering economy and a larger number of applications allowing users of public transit to track bus and train arrivals in real time. Melaniphy said, “The exponential growth of apps to track bus and rail arrival times is demystifying the ridership experience and attracting new customers to public transportation. More and more people are now able to find out when the next bus and train will arrive through public transit apps. This is making public transportation more attractive.”
“There should be no doubt Americans need and want public transportation,” said Melaniphy. “Congress needs to pass a well funded, multimodal, multi-year transportation bill that will help meet current and growing demand.”