Bus rapid transit a possibility in Chicago but still a long way off, transit officials say

Chicago is famous for its elevated trains, but its buses may be more valuable to its residents.

About 96% of residents live within a half-mile of a bus stop, versus around a third who live as close to an L stop, according to the Chicago Transit Authority.

Some City Council members recognize this and are trying to speed up bus travel. Seventeen signed a letter urging Mayor Brandon Johnson to push for dedicated bus lanes on Western Avenue.

But transit officials on Monday pumped the brakes on expectations of seeing true "bus rapid transit" anytime soon.

Instead, officials with the CTA and the Chicago Department of Transportation told the Committee on Pedestrian and Public Safety they are also exploring smaller efforts to improve bus travel, such as traffic signals that wait for buses to pass and ways for buses to skip ahead of traffic.

This is a "dual-track" mindset that the CTA has recently taken up to try to improve bus travel as the agency waits for longer-term federal funding for bigger projects, said Molly Poppe, CTA's chief of planning and innovation.

That's important because federal funding for bus rapid transit, or BRT, called Small Starts, could take six to seven years, said Cara Bader, CTA's vice president of strategy and information.

Bus rapid transit has seen a resurgence of support since the proposed Ashland Avenue BRT was shot down in 2015. That proposal put bus stations in the center median, with dedicated bus lanes running the entire length of Ashland. Advocates said a BRT system can be as fast as train service.

Committee chair Ald. Daniel LaSpata (1st) said Monday that bus rapid transit is still relevant because commuters no longer only travel to downtown, where L lines head.

But dreams of seeing bus rapid transit in Chicago are still a long way off.

The closest thing Chicago has seen to BRT is the Jeffery Jump and Loop Link projects, which saw dedicated bus lanes painted in red downtown that sped up bus times by about 12%. The city has also installed bus-only lanes on Chicago Avenue and "pinch points" at some of the city's most congested intersections. Bus priority lanes along parts of Western Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood sped up travel by 21%, Bader said.

The push for more dedicated bus lanes comes at a critical juncture for advocates, who just last week registered a blow when the Illinois Department of Transportation included no substantial bus lanes in its redesign for North DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

The CTA is studying what improvements can be made to five of the city's major thoroughfares in its Better Streets for Buses project, which began last year. The CTA is studying potential bus improvements on Western, Pulaski Road, Fullerton Avenue, 55th Street/Garfield Boulevard and Cottage Grove Avenue. It's considering how it could implement BRT and other improvements.

One improvement is traffic signal priority, a technology that delays a green light from turning red if it senses a CTA bus nearby is running late. The city has installed this at 130 intersections, and plans to install 49 more in 2025, said Vig Krishnamurthy, managing deputy commissioner at CDOT. He said this could easily be expanded to 500 intersections if effective.

Queue jumping is another option the CTA is looking at. It would allow buses to get a head start at green lights, bypassing lines of traffic from the lane closest to the curb.