CTA announces spring cleaning for rail and bus stations

The Chicago Transit Authority on Monday announced the rail stations and bus turnarounds that will receive repairs and improvements this spring, but transit advocates are raising concerns that the program doesn’t go far enough.

These renovations are part of the CTA’s Refresh & Renew program. The CTA will focus focus on 13 rail stations and three bus turnarounds through the end of May. These changes include painting and power-washing at all locations, as well as lighting upgrades, improved platform amenities and removal of outdated fixtures and equipment.

The agency will spend about $6.5 million repairing and improving transit stations through the end of November.

“Our riders deserve clean, comfortable stations and the Refresh & Renew program is just one way we work to keep our facilities looking up to date throughout the system,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. said in a statement.

Since 2019, the Refresh & Renew program has tackled different stations each year, rotating through the system’s 145 rail stations and investing millions in repairs and renovations. Stops near Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate fields, which see heavy traffic in the spring, are cleaned and improved each year, CTA spokesperson Maddie Kilgannon said.

“As you’re getting out of the winter into the spring, to have that refreshed station ... it just makes you feel better about your commute,” Kilgannon said. “It reminds you there are people who are working on this system every day, working to keep it functioning and clean.”

Though he appreciated the Refresh & Renew improvements, Better Streets Chicago co-founder Kyle Lucas said he wished the CTA could opt for more preventive measures.

“There’s nothing bad about them doing these improvements. But I think that there’s just a lot of resistance within CTA to be more proactive about a lot of the causes of some of these problems,” Lucas said. “While I’m happy to see this, I’m still skeptical about CTA’s commitment to really enacting some of the transformative change that the system needs.”

Better Streets Chicago advocates for better transit, biking and walking infrastructure.

Lucas pointed to opening more public restrooms to combat public urination at stations as a solution. Though it would benefit every passenger to not step through urine, he said, this would have particular implications for disabled passengers. For them, he said, “it goes beyond just comfort or unpleasantness.”

“It can be a real sanitary issue, in particular, when you think about elevators. A lot of people with disabilities need to go to elevators, and for manual wheelchair users, that’s really unsafe and unsanitary for them to roll through those sorts of conditions,” Lucas said. “That’s something that we think a lot about when it comes to cleanliness. It’s a lot more than just the visual appeal of a patient, but it has a lot of broader implications.”

Nina Banks, 60, is a lifelong Chicago resident who lives in South Shore. Public transit is her main form of transportation, and she regularly takes the Red Line. She said southern Red Line stops, particularly 79th Street, are “filthy.”

“In parts of my community, I don’t think the stations are being kept up really well. There’s lots of trash around stations, on the platforms,” Banks said.

That being said, Banks believes Refresh & Renew will at least improve the aesthetics of her commute — she just hopes it won’t lead to closures or delays.

“I’ve been taking the CTA my whole life, I’m a native Chicagoan, and it’s up and down sometimes, but I have seen it improve a little bit.”

Stations that will receive improvements during the summer and fall will be announced at a later date, the CTA said in a statement.

These CTA stations will receive improvements this spring:

• Red Line: Sox-35th, Addison, Thorndale, Granville, Howard
• Blue Line: Chicago
• Green Line: 35th-Bronzeville-IIT, Ashland, Conservatory, King Drive
• Brown Line: Armitage
• Orange Line: Pulaski, Ashland
• Bus Turnarounds: 95th/Ashland, Milwaukee/Imlay, Addison/Pontiac

Editor’s note: The CTA will spend about $6.5 million repairing and improving transit stations through the end of November. The budget for the spring work was misstated in an earlier version of this article.