CTA Lags in Emission Reduction OP-ED

Is the CTA Charging Forward or falling behind? While the CTA led the way in 2014 by introducing the first electric bus in revenue service and later committing to a zero-emission fleet by 2040, we now lag behind other major cities in actually convert ing to a zero-emission fleet.

Austin and Seattle already committed to not purchasing new diesel buses. Beginning in 2023, the Maryland Transit Admin istration prohibits by law any new contracts to procure nonzero-emission buses.

Los Angeles is aggressively electrifying their fleet, with the Metro G line already fully electric and another 150 electric buses coming in 2024, followed by 450 additional electric buses each year from 2027 until their entire fleet is electric by 2030.

New York’s 2020-2024 Capital Program includes $1.1 billion for 500 electric buses with 470 buses hitting the streets between 2025 and 2026. Five of their bus divisions are being equipped with state-of-the-art charging stations at multiple locations. Even Chicago’s suburban transit agency, Pace, contracted for 20 new electric buses in 2023 for a fleet less than half the size of CTA. Where is Chicago?

The Bipartisan Infrastructure law provides S1.6 billion to help transit systems across the country convert to low or zeroemissions fleets. Yet, the CTA only secured $29 million of these funds. Rather than going electric now, the CTA plans to pur chase 500 new diesel buses through 2026. This plan to replace close to 30% of CTA’s 2022 fleet of 1,874 buses with loweremission diesel buses misses the opportunity to really charge forward and go zero-emissions.

According to recent documents, the CTA is planning on charging forward by relying on diesel, including these new buses and overhauling up to 880 of its existing diesel buses. The FY23 Five Year plan mentions replacing 208 of its articulated buses with e-buses, with no other detail on how many buses and what years these electric buses will be procured.

This replacement plan is not found in any other CTA docu ments and has an unspecified time frame. In the CTA Bus Fleet Management Plan submitted to the Federal Transit Authority, CTA states that between 2023-2026, the CTA will have 140 articulated, 60-foot electric buses and 57, 40-foot standard, electric buses. Even with these “updated’ numbers, Chicago continues to lag behind other major cities.

While the new diesel buses, with all the health risks of diesel, are better than their toxic predecessors, diesel will continue to pollute our city until 2034 or later. Older diesel buses emit the equivalent greenhouse gases of 30 cars. The 500 diesel buses from their fleet will continue to spew approximately 30,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. That’s a lot of green house gases.

The CTA proudly highlights the sustainability of its exist ing diesel bus fleet operations to limit car congestion, but hides what it is doing, or not doing, to reduce its fleet's own damag ing impact on global warming. The CTA claims its slow uptake on purchasing bus orders is due to manufacturing capacity, but clearly this is not slowing down other cities. It seems the CTA is letting other cities charge forward while Chicago is falling behind.

Karen Daiter is an at-large leader and co-chair of the Tree Team for the Climate Reality Project, Chicago Metro Chapter. The Climate Reality Project is former VP Al Gore’s worldwide organization to com bat climate change. The Chicago Metro focuses on replacing fossil fuels with renewables and supporting natural solutions that absorb carbon dioxide. Its projects include electrification of transportation, preservation of trees, promotion of solar energy and climate action plans at city, state and federal levels.