CTA officials cite cold weather and event patterns for February ridership dip, outline marketing and service actions
Loading...
Summary
CTA Chief Financial Officer Tom McCone reported fare-and-pass revenue for February fell short of budget and last year due to lower ridership; staff and board members discussed weather, event calendars and targeted marketing to regain riders, plus added Blue Line service and fuel hedging.
Tom McCone, the Chicago Transit Authority's chief financial officer, told the board on April 9 that system-generated fare-and-pass revenue in February was below budget and below last year, and that the shortfall was driven by lower ridership that month.
"Fare and pass were down relative to budget and down to last year as well. That was driven by a little bit lower ridership than we anticipated in the month of February," McCone said, adding that non-fare revenues such as investment income helped offset the shortfall.
Why it matters: The revenue shortfall contributes to monthly variances against budget and factors into year-to-date financial planning. McCone said total system-generated revenue for the year remained positive to budget after accounting for non-fare income and other offsets.
Board discussion focused on causes and responses. Molly Papi, chief planning and innovation officer, told the board: "We do think it is primarily driven by weather. We did have 2 particularly, particular weeks of very cold weather in February." Papi added that limited-use tickets sold at rail stations (one-day passes typically used for events) declined in cold weather and that targeted marketing for events helped recover ridership for those occasions. She noted Saint Patrick's Day ridership was substantially higher than in 2019: "our Saint Patrick's Day ridership was actually 10% or 30,000 rides above where we were in 2019."
Board members pressed for a broader communications strategy. Director Raquijo said the agency should not "discount the role of the weather" but also asked whether CTA's marketing and engagement strategies are sufficient to re-engage riders who have not returned since the pandemic. Papi described targeted digital campaigns around events and construction disruptions (the Kennedy reconstruction), and said CTA plans a longer-term marketing effort to connect riders to improvements such as the frequent network and service changes.
Operational responses noted during the meeting: staff said they have locked in a favorable diesel forward purchase (70% of anticipated 2026 volume purchased) and will add extra Blue Line service on the O'Hare branch beginning April 20 to handle Kennedy construction impacts and park-and-ride marketing. McCone also listed budget impacts: materials use declined because of newer vehicles (lower parts usage), and fuel positive-to-budget results stemmed from hedging at better prices.
What remains unresolved: Board members asked for more explicit messaging to reassure occasional and former riders about cleanliness, frequency and security improvements. Staff committed to continuing targeted event marketing and developing a consistent, agency-wide communications plan to encourage occasional event riders to ride more frequently.
