Chicago Transit Authority bus services

History

Streetcar services

Main article: Cable cars in Chicago, Chicago Surface Lines

The first street railway service began in 1859 along State Street. At the time, the service was operated using horsecars. Within the next few decades, additional horsecar services, which were operated by multiple companies, entered operation. Throughout the 1880s, these lines were converted to cable cars. Between the 1890s and the 1900s, cable cars were replaced with electric streetcars.

In 1914, the streetcar companies operating in Chicago were consolidated into the Chicago Surface Lines. In 1947, the consolidated company was acquired by the newly created Chicago Transit Authority.

Within the next decade after the acquisition, the CTA oversaw the removal of streetcar lines in favor of motor buses. On June 21, 1958, the last streetcar service, the Clark-Wentworth route, was removed.

Trolleybus services

In 1953, the CTA placed an order for Flxible buses after the latter's absorption of the Fageol Twin Coach Company.

Until 1973, CTA's fleet included a large number of electric trolley buses – or "trolley coaches", as they were commonly known at the time. In the 1950s, the fleet of around 700 trolley coaches was the largest such fleet in the U.S., and represented about one-quarter of CTA's total number of surface-transit vehicles (motor bus, trolley bus and, until 1958, streetcar).

Possibly influenced by the 1967 Chicago blizzard, during which CTA trolley buses were unable to maneuver around abandoned automobiles without dewiring, CTA decided to discontinue trolley bus service. Trolley bus service was phased out in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and trolley buses ran for the last time on March 25, 1973.

Motor bus services

CTA buses were known as the "green limousine" or the "big green" — buses were one or more shades of green from the CTA's establishment until the end of the 1980s. With the delivery of the TMC RTS buses in 1991, a more patriotic color scheme was adopted, and the green scheme was fully phased out by 1996. A notable color scheme was the "Bicentennial" of about 1974 to 1976.

CTA bought very few buses between the mid-1970s and the end of the 1980s. During this time, purchases were only made in 1979 (20 MAN/AM General SG 220 articulated buses), 1982-83 (200 Flyer D901 buses and 125 additional MAN articulateds), and 1985 (362 MAN Americana standard-length buses). Another aspect of this period was that with the exception of the 1979 and 1983 MAN orders, none of those buses had air-conditioning, a budget saving move by the CTA. The 1972-76 fleet of GM "New Look" buses, 1870 total, which were originally air-conditioned (although there were problems with the air-conditioning systems, eventually being disabled and sliding windows installed in the buses), composed the majority of vehicles in service into the early 1990s.

In 1995, the CTA placed an experimental order of their first 65 low floor transit buses from New Flyer Industries, the D40LF. Also, that same year, the CTA received its last order of high floor buses from Flxible Corporation, shortly before the manufacturer folded. In 1998, the CTA placed an order for 484 new low floor transit buses from Canadian bus-building firm Nova Bus. This executed move billed the CTA as Nova's American launch customer for the latter's signature product, the LFS series. This was also done to meet the "Buy American" requirements for buses in the United States transit bus market, since General Motors ceased bus production and Flxible went out of business. Lastly, these buses replaced the ones that were built in 1983 and 1985 due to their age as well as their lack of air conditioning and ADA compliance.

In the 2010s, bus projects that sought to implement some features of bus rapid transit were conducted. The Jeffery Jump opened in November 2012, and the Loop Link opened in December 2015.

Fleet

Today, CTA's fleet is mostly dominated by the New Flyer D40LF which replaced buses that were built in 1991 and 1995. In 2014, CTA ordered 400 new buses from Nova. The number increased to 425 after it exercised an option. The CTA exercised another option for an additional twenty-five buses, from Nova Bus. Nova Bus delivered an additional 600 new buses which replaced the remainder of the older Nova buses that were delivered between 2000 and 2002, in addition to starting the retirement of New Flyer D40LF buses delivered between 2006 and 2009.

In 2014, the CTA received their first electric buses from New Flyer, making the CTA the first major U.S. transit agency to use the new wave of electric buses as part of a regular service.

Active fleet

Notes:

• Source: Chicago Transit Authority Presentation on Alternative Fuels, April 20th, 2009, p. 4 (accessed 1 July 2009), unless otherwise indicated.
• Some individual numbers may no longer be in service.
• See Chicago Transit and Railfan for historic rosters.

Bus garages

• Forest Glen Garage, 5419 W. Armstrong Avenue, (Elston/Bryn Mawr)
• North Park Garage, 3112 W. Foster Avenue, (Foster/Albany)
• Chicago Garage, 642 N. Pulaski Road, (Chicago/Pulaski)
• Kedzie Garage, 358 S. Kedzie Avenue, (Van Buren/Kedzie)
• 74th Garage, 1815 W. 74th Street, (74th/Wood)
• 77th Garage, 210 W. 79th Street, (79th/Wentworth)
• 103rd Garage, 1702 E. 103rd Street, (103rd/Stony Island)

Current routes

Former routes

References

General references

References

1. (2025-05-15). "CTA Facts at a Glance".
2. (1 June 2016). "Ask Geoffrey: A Look Back at Chicago's Streetcar Era". WTTW News.
3. "1914—Chicago Surface Lines".
4. [[Mac Sebree. Sebree, Mac]]; and Ward, Paul (1974). ''The Trolley Coach in North America'', pp. 49–60. Los Angeles: [[Interurban Press. Interurbans]]. LCCN 74-20367.
5. Murray, Alan (2000). ''World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia'', p. 79. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. {{ISBN. 0-904235-18-1.
6. "Wayback Machine".
7. (17 August 2011). "Plan paves way for bus rapid transit system". Chicago Tribune.
8. "Bus Rapid Transit".
9. (12 November 2012). "Jeffery Jump, J14, offers express bus service to downtown area". ABC7 Chicago.
10. (14 November 2012). "The Jeffery Jump". Chicago Defender.
11. (9 January 2016). "Chicago's Loop Link not exactly rapid, but a step in right direction". Chicago Tribune.
12. (21 December 2015). "Loop Link launches downtown, faster bus service expected". FOX 32 Chicago.
13. (October 29, 2014). "CTA testing 2 all-electric buses". [[Chicago Tribune]].
14. (January 22, 2025). "Annual Ridership Report Calendar Year 2024". [[Chicago Transit Authority]].
15. Kristopans, Andre. (May 2019). "#13 – SOUTHWEST SKOKIE – Bus Route History".
16. "Chicago Transit Board Moves on Experimental Bus Routes".