Regional Transit Peer Reviews Show System Ranks Well

March 16, 2017

The RTA has released two peer performance measure reports, the 2015 Regional Peer Review and the 2015 Sub-Regional Peer Review that focus on how the Chicago transit operators perform in comparison to their peers.  The Regional Peer Review looks at the primary transit agencies that serve the ten largest US metropolitan areas, of which Chicago is the third largest.  The Sub-Regional Peer Review looks at each service mode separately, comparing the Chicago mode’s performance to five comparable peers.  The reports are based on data submitted by the Service Boards to the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database (NTD).

Overall, the Chicago region is a strong performer, ranking in the top half for 14 out of 16 performance measures and in the top three out of eight of them; Chicago did not rank in the bottom three for any of the measures contained within the report.  The Chicago region performed particularly well for having the lowest operating cost per passenger mile and for the highest number of miles between major mechanical failures, measures of cost effectiveness and reliability.  On a sub-regional level, the Chicago operators continue to show strong performance in measures of service efficiency and effectiveness, while capital funding continues to present a major challenge to the Chicago region, which expends about 60% less than what New York does per area resident for infrastructure projects.

Current and past performance reports can be found on the RTA website at:  http://www.rtachicago.com/index.php/plans-programs/performance-measures/regional-sub-regional-reports.html