Back on the Bus: Speeding Up Chicago’s Buses

NEW! See Chicago's first-ever Bus Friendly Streets Report Cards for all 50 wards and eight high-ridership routes.

A healthy and growing bus system is critical to building a more sustainable transportation network in Chicago. Back on the Bus identifies ways that elected officials and transit agency leaders can improve bus service and reverse the trend of Chicagoans abandoning public transit for less efficient transportation options.

Read the executive summary and full report.

While CTA rail ridership has generally grown over the last several years, bus ridership has declined rapidly. From 2015 to 2016, bus ridership in Chicago fell by more than 15 million rides (5.8%), continuing a recent trend of fewer Chicagoans riding the bus. Since 2012, bus ridership has declined in Chicago by more than 17 percent, and it’s dropped by more than 21 percent since pre-recession levels in 2008. 

Fewer Chicagoans riding the bus means more driving and more cars on our already congested streets. The city’s hub-and-spoke rail system continues to be a good option for people who live and work along the lines and in the Loop, but many neighborhoods lack access to it. 

Lower quality bus service has major equity impacts. A disproportionate number of bus riders live in low-income communities or work in places that lack access to the rail transit system. Substandard bus service hurts these Chicagoans the most while discouraging higher-income residents otherwise inclined to ride transit from riding the bus more frequently.

Without more investment in bus service, Chicago risks more people abandoning transit for transportation options that are more expensive and less efficient, healthy, and green.  

Service Upgrades

The report advocates for long overdue bus service upgrades that will improve the speed and reliability of bus service and help retain and attract riders, including:

1. Dedicated bus lanes: Give crowded buses priority on more city streets with dedicated bus lanes;
2. Traffic signal improvements: Move buses more smoothly through busy intersections by changing signal timing or using technology that gives buses an extended green light; and
3. Faster boarding: Make it easier for riders to pay their fare before boarding and allow riders to enter the bus through the front and rear doors by tapping their transit card.

Chicago trails its peer cities in implementation of each of these improvements. For example, the city has only 4.1 miles of dedicated bus lanes, far less than San Francisco (27 miles), Seattle (34.8 miles), Los Angeles (35.4 miles), Miami (39.8 miles), and New York City (82.8 miles).

Policy Recommendations

The report includes recommendations for policies that support bus ridership growth citywide:

1. Create a plan for Transit Priority Streets with 50 miles of new bus lanes
2. Create effective ways to enforce bus-only lanes
3. Incentivize purchase of multi-day passes
4. Establish a new local dedicated revenue stream to fund transit improvements and expansion
5. Push for more data sharing and analysis of ride-hailing trips

Back on the Bus Coalition

The recommendations in the report are endorsed by a coalition of community based organizations and non-profit experts. Active Trans’ partners in the Back on the Bus Coalition include: Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation, Illinois PIRG, Metropolitan Planning Council, Midwest High Speed Rail Association, Shared Use Mobility Center, and Six Corners Association. 

Active Trans also consulted experts from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), and the private sector. CTA, CDOT, and other city agencies do not necessarily endorse all of the specific service upgrades and policy actions proposed in the report.

Next Steps

Active Trans will work with community partners throughout the city to advocate for implementation of the upgrades and policy recommendations outlined in the report. Working with our partners in the Back on the Bus Coalition, we will continue to meet with elected officials at every level of government to build political will for more investment, innovation, and policy changes on behalf of local bus service.

Contact Government Relations Director Kyle Whitehead if your organization is interested in joining the Back on the Bus Coalition and join our advocacy supporter list to get updates on the campaign.

This work is funded by TransitCenter, a national foundation dedicated to urban mobility that’s working with organizations in cities across the country to improve bus service, including the Bus Turnaround Coalition in New York City.

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Blog series on policy recommendations featured in the Back on the Bus report:

Incentivize purchase of multi-day passes

Ride-hailing data transparency long overdue

Create 50 new miles of dedicated bus lanes

Establish a local dedicated revenue stream to fund transit

Create more effective ways to enforce bus lanes

Raising ride-hailing fee to fund public transit makes sense

Ride hailing is increasing congestion

Prepaid bus boarding program expands

Why Uber won't replace public transit

Dedicated bus lanes in Cleveland: a major success

Los Angeles ‘signals’ the way to better bus service

Prepaid, all-door boarding is working in San Francisco

Take our survey — help improve Chicago’s bus service

Active Trans Wins $150K Grant to Help Accelerate Slow Chicago Bus Service

Chicago’s first BRT to speed up east-west travel in Loop

CTA plans to remove local bus stops on Ashland, Western

Restoring express bus should lead to building BRT on Ashland

Rapid transit on Ashland is critical to our Transit Future

BRT blog series on projects from across the U.S.

Diverse crowds flock to San Bernardino’s BRT line

Kansas City builds on BRT’s legacy of success

LA's great BRT success story

Early BRT adoption leads to expansion in Eugene, Oregon

Gary sees Bus Rapid Transit as development tool

Grand Rapids invests in first BRT in Michigan

San Francisco gets first BRT project off the ground

Study finds BRT leads to economic development

NYC's Select Bus Service leads way to BRT

BRT can be successful in the USA: Cleveland

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