CHICAGO – Eleven CTA bus routes will see more scheduled service across the region beginning Sunday.
The move comes as the CTA continues to add more bus drivers with the goal of providing more frequent and improved bus service.
“With this latest change, we’ve improved service on 59 bus routes this year—bringing our bus system back to 98% of pre-pandemic scheduled service levels,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “The CTA is committed to continuing to work to make our bus service more frequent and reliable, building on our significant recruitment and hiring successes, and we are still on track to fully restore pre-pandemic scheduled bus service by the end of 2024.”
The CTA said the following routes will see weekday increases in service:
- #21 Cermak
- #22 Clark
- #24 Wentworth
- #53A South Pulaski
- #62 Archer
- #77 Belmont
- #87 87th
- #94 California
- #146 Inner Lake Shore/Michigan Express
- #152 Addison* (The #152 Addison will also receive a service increase on Saturdays.)
- #156 LaSalle
Officials added the CTA has seen an increase in riders on routes that have received additional service throughout the year. In fact, ridership on routes that received additional service in March went up 21% year-over-year during June and July; ridership on routes granted additional service in June was up 18% year-over-year during June and July.
The CTA said ridership on routes that did not receive service adjustments this year have also seen 12% higher ridership year-over-year during the same period.
The CTA also hopes to improve scheduled rail service this fall as new train operators are added once they complete training. Rail services will be added across all lines on both peak and off-peak hours.