The problem-plagued Chicago Transit Authority desperately needs a change in leadership — and at this point, that should be starting at the top with its boss, agency president Dorval Carter.
A $2 billion-a-year public transit agency that seems to clean and run its trains and buses on a whim rather than dependable schedules, and whose riders openly fear being robbed, beaten or worse, is a failure.
And with most failures, the buck stops with who’s in charge. Everyone knows this, from the riders who are routinely left ghosted and stranded by CTA, all the way up to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who last week said “new leadership” is needed at CTA.
Everyone agrees, it seems, except Mayor Brandon Johnson, who so far has resisted the idea of replacing Carter despite the overwhelming hue and cry from aldermen, CTA riders, transit advocates and now the governor to do so.
But with the CTA, Metra and Pace together facing a $730 million shortfall once federal COVID-19 funding runs out in 2026, a Carter-run CTA is a potential liability to the city’s efforts to seek state funding to shore up the agency’s finances.
It’s time for Johnson to make a move and restore broad public faith in the region’s transit future.
‘Changes are going to have to take place’
Pritzker’s words last week were pretty clear: “I think that there needs to be an evolution of leadership in order for us to get where we need to go with CTA.”
The governor later said: “Changes are going to have to take place, there’s no doubt, at the CTA, and I think that’s going to take some new leadership and additional leadership.”
Given the agency’s structure and lines of accountability, Pritzker and Johnson absolutely need to work together on CTA’s future. Here’s why: As governor, Pritzker controls three of seven appointments to the CTA board; those appointments are subject to the approval of the mayor and the state Senate. The mayor controls four appointments — and thus, the fate of the agency’s leadership — and mayoral appointments are subject to approval by the governor and Chicago City Council.
So Johnson ought to be promising to work together to bring change for the better, instead of taking needless jabs at Pritzker.
“It’s my job to determine the leadership at the CTA,” Johnson said regarding Pritzker’s comments. “If people want to be mayor, they should run for it.”
That sounds like Pritzker is a disinterested party opining about the CTA, instead of someone with a real stake in what happens here. The governor not only has the power to appoint three of the agency’s seven board members, he can make or break any request to Springfield for state funding and can help pave the way for any additional federal money that might be had.
Johnson did add that his administration continues “to evaluate all of our leaders, and Dorval Carter’s no exception there.”
But sniping at the governor doesn’t help solve any of the CTA’s problems.
A matter of equity
Johnson has talked often about the need for racial and societal equity. But it does the city a great disservice if he only stands by while the CTA, despite making some post-pandemic headway in 2023 on ridership, declines.
Improving public transit and making it cleaner, safer and more reliable helps Chicagoans in every corner of the city, especially working-class folks who might not have cars and thus rely heavily on public transit to access jobs, health care, shopping and other daily activities.
Last week, Johnson said he has “a full vision for transportation” in the mayoral transition team report that was created before he took office. The report said Johnson’s administration would “stabilize [the] service delivery and reliability of the CTA.”
But a year later, that vision is far from being realized. Chicago needs solutions, not failure.
And one solution should be easing Carter out of his $376,000 a year post. We can imagine it’s not a wholly easy choice for Johnson, given Carter had the ability and relationships to get the feds willing to pay $2 billion for the planned $3.6 billion Red Line extension project.
But what good is the extension if it winds up being a very expensive addition to a badly run transit system?
Carter has held the job since 2015 and has served under three mayors. It’s time to make a change, with a new captain who can right the ship and steer it toward success.
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