By Oscar Hidalgo
@redlineproject
AI disclosure: Summarize Wise, DALL-E, Notebook LM were used to create multimedia and a summary for this story.
Summary: Chicago’s CTA struggles with delays, safety concerns, and aging infrastructure, worsened by underfunding and staffing shortages. Riders rely on it despite frustrations, especially in underserved areas. Experts urge increased investment, better leadership, and clearer communication to restore trust and improve service, making transit safer and more reliable for all.
Isaac Zamarripa, an Illinois state employee, rides the CTA Blue Line daily and has watched the system become more unpredictable for his commute from Belmont Avenue and Clark Street.
For him, the CTA reliability depends on whether the train tracker boards at the stations match reality.
“It’s reliable because there’s the time on the screen,” he said. “It’s punctual most days.”
But he added that there are moments when the system fails, sometimes dramatically. A recent incident left him 30 minutes late to work.
“There was a delay on the blue line because someone was trying to kill themself,” he said. “Everything stopped, and I couldn’t get to work on time.”
For many Chicagoans, the Chicago Transit Authority is the top priority for commuting around the city. Students use it to get to class, employees depend on it to reach their jobs, and families rely on it to transport their groceries, attend doctor appointments, and more.
According to CTA data, the service averages 953,787 weekday rides and operates the nation’s second-largest public transportation system.” However in recent years, delays and safety concerns have transformed how Chicagoans are down in public confidence and feel about their public transit system.
Dr. Kate Lowe, a transportation planning scholar at the University of Illinois Chicago, examines how varied stakeholders and transportation policies interact across different levels of government and how this impacts transportation investments and racial inequities.
Lowe was asked why Chicago continues to experience ongoing CTA delays.
“To provide high-quality transit service, you need funding”, she said. “There’s a whole lot of research showing public transit in the U.S. just doesn’t have enough investment.”
She pointed to slow zones on the Blue Line as an example of underfunded structure.
“On the West Side, the rails are in such bad condition that the Blue line has to go slow,” she said, “The way to fix it is to invest, but that takes money.”
Another major factor is the workforce shortage that deepened during and after the pandemic.
“That workforce shortage meant we didn’t have enough operators to run all the routes,” she said. “It has improved, but more investment would let us increase frequency, fix old tracks and improve service”.
How reliability and safety shifted after the pandemic
The reliability issue and safety issues for riders today started during the peak of the pandemic, when staffing shortages caused general canceled runs and inconsistent schedules.
“Reliability really suffered from not having enough staff,” Lowe said. “You see canceled trains or long gaps between services.”
She said safety concerns also begin after the pandemic, not because CTA changed dramatically, but because the system mirrors what’s happening across Chicago.
“There’s been a lot of concern around safety,” she said. “But safety on CTA is going to reflect what’s going on in Chicago more broadly.”
Homelessness, mental health crises and social service gaps all show up inside public transportation because it’s open, and public space in the city.
Attack on the Blue Line
According to the New York Times, a 26-year-old woman was recent set on fire aboard a Blue Line in Downtown Chicago, an event that federal prosecutors have charged as a terrorist attack. The woman remains in critical condition, and the incident has renewed public scrutiny over how effectively CTA can protect riders.
Delays and Safety Concerns Impact Riders
Workers with hourly jobs, students with tight schedules and low-income residents who depend on public transportation have the most to lose when trains break down or feel unsafe. Lowe has documented this first-hand.
“Some people stop taking the CTA”, she said. “I’ve interviewed riders who don’t feel safe, so they end up spending a lot of money on ride hail just to avoid the experience.”
Most people simply skip trips, miss work or live with constant anxiety about whether the CTA will get them where they need to go.
“It’s stressful to be apprehensive about your safety,” Lowe said.
The federal government notified the CTA in December that it risked losing federal funding if it didn’t do more to prevent violence on the CTA trains, buses and properties.
Neighborhood differences tied to decades of inequity
Although Lowe hasn’t analyzed neighborhood statistics, she said transit outcomes reflect border patterns.
“The CTA is embedded in the city, so it’s going to reflect complicated dynamics and decades of underinvestment in black and brown communities that all interact,” she said. “Areas like the South and West sides, which rely extensively on the CTA, are hit hardest by issues like slow zones and unreliable frequencies.”
When asked about safety changes in the last couple of years, Zamarripa said he has noticed a different kind of presence on the system.
“More K-9 units and more police at certain stops,” he said.
He said riders often take safety into their own hands by checking the app or adjusting travel times, especially in winter when crowded stations and homelessness increase tensions.
“The weather makes it harder because of the homelessness,” he said. “People get on to stay warm.”
However, he said that despite safety concerns, his trust in transit hasn’t collapsed.
Where communication falls short
One of Zamarripa’s biggest frustrations isn’t the delays themselves, it’s the lack of communication when they happen.
“No, they don’t communicate well,” he said. “You have to check the app yourself all the time, and they don’t tell you anything at the station.”
Lowe said improving communication would be one of the easiest fixes the CTA could perform.
“Riders need to know what’s happening and why,” she said. “Visibility and communication are critical.”
When asked if current city or state funding is enough to maintain reliable service, Lowe was clear.
“You may have heard there was this risk of devastating cuts,” she said, “Illinois passed an important funding package, but according, CMAP or Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning said they needed $2 billion.”
She indicated that of the new money, much is dedicated to capital projects not operation.
“Only about $1.2 billion is for operations,” she said. “It’s substantially improved, but there’s room for even more investment.”
Read more: Funding secured, future uncertain for the CTA
She added that CTA transit investment benefits “the whole environment and the whole economy, It’s for all of Chicagoland.”
Lowe also indicated the role of leadership, especially at the city level.
“I think the leadership by Mayor Brandon Johnson is really important,” she said. “One thing the city could do is improve streets to speed up buses, give them bus lanes, and give them transit signal priority.”
Even with ongoing delays and concerns of safety, Zamarripa isn’t planning to leave public transportation.
“No, because I prefer the affordability,” he said. “I’m not a fan of the new price increase in 2026, but it still saves money.” over just practicality, the CTA gives him peace of mind, I don’t have to worry about my car getting hit, parking, gas, and it saves me money”, he said.
Despite the ongoing challenges of delays and concerns of safety, both Lowe and Zamarripa agree the CTA can improve with the right investment, strong leadership and better communication.
“Improving the CTA improves Chicago,” Lowe said. “Reliable transit strengthens every neighborhood.”