New CTA train schedules that include changes to planned wait times are set to take effect this weekend, as riders have faced unpredictable service and the agency is contending with a shortage of operators.
The changes include in some cases slight increases to the scheduled time between train runs, depending on the line and the time of day. CTA officials said the changes are also expected to help make service run more closely to the schedule, and partly address the issue of so-called ghost trains, which show up on trackers but fail to arrive in real life.
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But they will not entirely solve the CTA’s service and tracker challenges.
The CTA has failed to run many of its scheduled trains during much of the pandemic, often leading to long wait times between trains and complaints from commuters, even as the agency looks to draw back riders from pandemic lows. The problem, also an issue for bus service, has led to complaints of ghost trains and buses on trackers, which rely on both real-time and scheduled service and sometimes show scheduled buses and trains that are not, in reality, running.
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CTA President Dorval Carter has said the issue is largely due to a staff shortage. Job vacancies and unexpected absences when employees call out sick or take a day off mean there aren’t always enough operators to staff every bus or train run.
The agency is down about 650 bus drivers and about 100 train operators from 2019 levels, according to the CTA.
Beginning Sunday, trains will operate with new scheduled wait times between runs, a move previously announced as part of a broad plan to address challenges. The goal is to match schedules to the number of operators available and allow more of the scheduled trains to run, making wait times more consistent and trackers more accurate, CTA chief innovation officer Molly Poppe said.
For riders, exact changes to scheduled wait times will depend on the line and the time of day, but should be no more than a few minutes, CTA spokesman Brian Steele said. They will not include changes to each line’s hours of operation.
In one example, Blue Line trains during morning rush hour will be scheduled to run every five to 10 minutes, instead of four to 10 minutes, Poppe said. Midday trains on the blue line will also be scheduled to run every five to 10 minutes, instead of every six to seven-and-a-half minutes, and evening rush hour trains will be scheduled every five to seven-and-a-half minutes, instead of four to seven-and-a-half minutes.
There are no changes to evening and late-night schedules on the Blue Line.
“The average customers are not going to see a discernible change in the headways, or wait times, that they are currently experiencing,” Steele said. “What they will see is more consistent, reliable headways. So instead of waiting five minutes one moment and 20 minutes for the next train, it will be smoothed out.”
The schedule changes are taking effect now partly because the twice-yearly process by which operators pick the runs they want recently finished, Poppe said.
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But they are unlikely to entirely solve the service and tracker challenge, Steele acknowledged. The CTA continues to face a staff shortage, and many operators calling out sick at one time could still limit the amount of service the agency runs, he said.
Poppe said trackers continue to rely partly on scheduled service, rather than solely real-time data, because real-time tracking fails to take into account the time it takes for a bus to stop and load passengers. Relying solely on real-time data would make estimated arrival times inaccurate, and would make advance trip planning through apps like Google Maps impossible, she said.
Even with the schedules, the agency is continuing to update the trackers. The CTA recently unveiled a redesigned bus tracker website, and further upgrades to the trackers are expected through the rest of this year and into 2023.
“This schedule change is an improvement, but there is more work to do,” Steele said.
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
