One of the biggest public transportation networks in the country is run by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). There are 765,566 rides on the CTA on a workday on average. In addition to serving the City of Chicago, the CTA is a regional transit system that serves 35 suburbs. In the six-county Chicago metropolitan area, the CTA offers direct service or connections to Metra and Pace for 81% of public transportation journeys.
With 1,868 buses, CTA covers 1,514 route miles on 127 routes. Buses service 10,633 bus stops and conduct roughly 15,943 trips daily. The CTA’s 1,480 rail carriages run 224.1 miles of track over eight lines on the rapid transit system. CTA trains service 145 stops and make over 1,888 trips daily.
Establishment
State law established the Chicago Transit Authority, an independent governmental organization. After acquiring the assets of the Chicago Surface Lines and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, CTA started operations on October 1, 1947. After acquiring the Chicago Motor Coach system on October 1, 1952, CTA took over as the city’s primary transportation operator.
Control and supervision
The Chicago Transit Board is the CTA’s governing body. The chairman is Lester L. Barclay. The Governor of Illinois appoints three of the board’s seven members, while the Mayor of Chicago appoints four. The Governor, the City Council of Chicago, and the Mayor must approve the appointments made by the Mayor; the Governor, the Mayor, and the Illinois State.
The Regional Transportation Authority provides additional money for CTA’s running expenses. In addition, CTA earns revenue from non-farebox and farebox collections.
In order to supervise local transportation providers in the Chicago metropolitan area’s six counties, the RTA was founded in 1974. According to Illinois state law, the three RTA service boards, the suburban bus system, Pace, and the suburban rail system, Metra—must recover from farebox and other system revenues at least half of their combined operating costs.
Advantages of CTA Bus tracker
The drivers and passengers you transport are the lifeblood of your company. You would as well not exist without them. Because of this, it’s critical to always use a real-time bus tracker to guarantee their safety.
This technology, which is powered by the GPS (global positioning system), makes it easier to trace the whereabouts of your fleet and ascertain whether the buses are running on schedule and only on the designated routes.
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Make sure fleet management and commuting are worry-free
The bottom line of a business may suffer from a lack of information. Additionally, it keeps management from seeing areas for improvement and potential for systemic issues. By providing fleet managers and owners with important information and insights, a real-time bus tracker can assist in resolving those issues.
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Safety
Every day, even fleet managers and owners get a lot of data, therefore it’s critical that they protect it. Additionally, they must ensure that hackers cannot access the tracker. High-quality security features and safe real-time data processing are guaranteed by a reliable bus locator, providing comprehensive protection.
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Simple to employ
It shouldn’t be difficult to set up and operate an automatic car location system. You might not want to use it with your workers if not. Good GPS trackers are simple to use and intuitive. GPS data is simple to read and comprehend, allowing for instantaneous, well-informed decision-making.
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Adaptable
A real-time bus tracker of superior quality can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the fleet. Through a centralized mobile data terminal, it can be connected to on-board devices to facilitate smooth connection with the central management, bus station, or terminal information systems. Certain platforms can also be set up to interact with passenger devices and smartphone apps.
An advanced bus locator must have a central mobile data terminal because it allows for a number of features, including fare collection, voice announcements, automated passenger counting, next stop requests, bus route management, on-board bus map locations, and real-time arrival and departure updates.
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Improved client support
Fleet managers and operators can identify possible issues and ongoing issues quickly by using easily accessible real-time location data. In this manner, the effects of these issues can be avoided or at the very least reduced. If the GPS indicates problems with a particular route, fleet managers can use the bus locator to make schedule and route adjustments.
Chicago acquires real-time information to enhance transit provision
Much of the CTA’s data on transit vehicle capacity was lacking, unavailable in real time, or based on historical averages that would not accurately reflect current conditions, particularly in light of evolving public health requirements. This is the situation for many transit agencies.
The CTA lacked insight into when and where to modify service to guarantee efficiency and dependability, proper social distancing, and lower wait times in the absence of precise real-time occupancy statistics and demand estimates.
The CTA went to City Tech Collaborative, a Chicago-based urban solutions accelerator, which led a passenger-counting pilot project to assess vehicle occupancy in real time. The CTA wanted to make the most of its current data and gather new data using cutting-edge technology.
One of the busiest bus routes in the CTA, 79th Street, was the site of the pilot project, which tested ten different passenger-counting methods from March to August.
The pilot performed multiple roles:
- Demand gathering and data utilization from current bus video assets
- Using CTA operations support technologies for data management
- Using predictive models and analytics to control demand in a proactive manner
Utilizing video analytics, onboard cameras, and routers to give real-time insights about occupancy across numerous vehicles, City Tech and a network of partners built on the CTA’s current measures and passenger-counting technologies to maintain bus and train service on time, efficiently, and safely.
Streamlining technology in transportation agencies
The CTA will soon release a study that will demonstrate how this model has enormous promise for both resolving present issues with fundamental societal functions and laying the groundwork for future operations that put the greater good first.
Transit agencies have progressively introduced various apps and technology to their fleets of vehicles throughout time:
- Backhaul for fare collection and payment terminal
- Automated vehicle location and computer-aided dispatch (CAD/AVL)
- Fast internet access for passengers
- counters for passengers
- closed-circuit television
- Remote fuel consumption and engine diagnostics
- Telematics systems for vehicles, which provide data on speed and idle time
- Digital advertising, signage, and maps
