“I dare say we know our system better than most people who criticize us,” said CTA President Dorval Carter Jr., who rode the system only 58 times last year.
Since data showing his 2022 riding habits was made public, Carter had eight months left in 2023 to improve how frequently he rode the system in 2022 (23 times). He did not meaningfully or consistently increase that figure in 2023.
Fifty-eight times in 2023 is barely more than once per week. Looking more closely, 52%, or 30, of those trips came in June and July, with 34% (20) being taken in July alone, according to ridership data I received from a Freedom of Information Act request.
Multiple attempts to get a day-by-day breakdown were made by the public access counselor (PAC), an attorney in the Illinois attorney general’s office. The CTA did not respond to either party.
Speaking about last year’s ridership, a former CTA spokesperson said, “Some of the time, CTA employees do not tap their ID cards on the card readers, as field personnel recognize them and open gates on their behalf or let them on a bus. Or, staff enter facilities through work entrances.”
The CTA indicated it may respond to a request for comment but ultimately did not provide a response when asked about Carter’s ridership last year.
In light of the scrutiny Carter received last year, it would be reasonable to expect that he would have made an intentional effort to document his rides in 2023 using his work card.
Carter’s public statements conflict with his actual use, which is almost 90% less than a hypothetical two-way weekday commuter who took no additional trips.
The lack of trips taken by members of CTA leadership doesn’t end with Carter. The CTA’s chief operating officer, Veronica Alanis, rode the system 50 times. Jeremy Fine, the agency’s chief financial officer, rode it 34 times, and Jairo DeJesus Naranjo, vice president of bus operations, rode 56 times. Some employees rode at levels that reflect expected ridership levels, such as Jeannie Alexander, vice president of rail operations, who rode the system 141 times, and Chief Transit Officer Donald Bonds, who rode 517 times.
Several members of Chicago’s Transit Board, the seven individuals responsible for its oversight, do not ride the system regularly either. Only one member managed to ride the system more than Carter. Chairman Lester Barclay rode the system 64 times last year. No transaction data could be found in 2022 or 2023 for the Rev. Bernard Jakes. Rosa Ortiz rode eight times in 2023. And Johnny Miller, a former director, rode only once.
As explained by Clemson University professor Eric A. Morris, there are two major constituencies for mass transit: wealthier workers who commute to their jobs in cities and the poor. Unlike the “choice riders,” who could drive, if necessary, low-income “captive” riders often have no other option.
In a 2015 interview with the Tribune, Carter said, “The people who have to ride CTA will ride CTA. The choice riders are the ones you really covet.” Rather than investing in across-the-board improvements, Carter is adding service where critics (and choice riders) are the loudest at the expense of West Side communities, which already suffer lengthy delays as long spans of their track remain under “slow zones.“
Frustrated commuters frequently document their poor experiences taking transit, some of which are devastating to read. “I’m so sick of feeling stranded in my own city,” said Alessandra, a weekday commuter.
When I ride the system as a commuter, it inspires me to continue advocating for a better CTA because of the people I see and meet. Whether it’s the pastor running late to his congregation on the No. 95 or the teen parents squeezing onto a packed No. 78 to get their newborn to a pediatrician appointment, or someone trying to get to work on time, we need to do better for them.
Carter’s lack of even a simple commitment to increase his ridership to twice weekly while continuing to base management decisions on low personal experience signals an ivory tower syndrome, a term used to describe leaders disconnected from customers’ day-to-day challenges.
It should be easy for Carter to increase his ridership number. Carter is the leader of a transit system with a $2 billion operating budget that hundreds of thousands of people rely upon as their primary mode of transportation. As a public servant tasked with making the CTA reliable, efficient and adequately staffed, it should be expected that he is one of the top riders. Choosing to take an alternate method when the system you oversee is easily accessible to you is unacceptable behavior for a transit leader.
Leaders of two other major transit operations rode their system at higher levels in 12 months. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s general manager, Randy Clarke, rode his system 611 times — making him one of the WMATA’s top 1% of riders — and the CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Janno Lieber, rode his system 600 times, according to an agency spokesperson. Both leaders averaged 13-plus taps per workweek. Carter managed to tap his card more than 13 times in an entire month only once between 2022 and 2023.
“I will be a regular CTA commuter,” Carter said in 2015. Nine years later, that promise still isn’t true.
Nik Hunder is a public transit advocate and environmental policy analyst in Chicago.
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