Scorecard Will Track Chicago Transit Recovery

A new scorecard from the Chicago Transit Authority seeks to provide more effective communication to the public about the agency’s progress in achieving the COVID recovery goals set by the Meeting the Moment action plan. As John Greenfield explains in Streetsblog Chicago, “Released in August, the document set targets for providing reliable service, reducing crime, better cleaning protocols, rolling out new amenities, better customer engagement, and more complete staffing.”

The scorecard includes the percentage of service delivered, the percentage of gaps over 15 minutes and double the scheduled interval, as well as progress in hiring, progress in the installation of tactile bus stops to assist riders with visual impairments, station upgrades, and citations issued.

“The scorecard also includes a bus and rail ridership graph. While the system recently reached a new pandemic-era high of an average of about 900,000 trips per weekday, that’s only 64 percent of the pre-COVID norm of 1.4 million rides per weekday.” According to Greenfield, “The CTA has a long way to go in order to rebuild ridership to pre-pandemic levels, which will require restoring rider trust that transit commutes will be safe, predictable, efficient, and sanitary.” The scorecard is one way to boost the agency’s accountability and transparency.