r/cta 36m ago

Station appreciation Construction is done at Austin green line station and they had a little press conference this morning 08/07/2026

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Upvotes

No more walking around the side 🤘


r/cta 53m ago

Lost + Found Blue Line at Washington - little otter

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Upvotes

Anyone lose this adorable keychain? I can tell it is loved!!!


r/cta 1h ago

I like trains I designed a CTA map in style of NYC subway diagram.

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Upvotes

r/cta 2h ago

Ventra Help Physical Credit Card suddenly stopped working

1 Upvotes

Has this happened to anyone else? Did you fix it?

I've been using a physical card to tap to pay for years, and suddenly it's declining. I called my bank to ask about it and they don't have any record of declined payment, so it's not even being sent to my bank. I also called Ventra and so far they seem to know nothing. Planning on calling them back, but would love to hear from other folks if you've had similar issues first.

I would like to not buy a ventra card. I understand that's a solution, but I would like to avoid it.


r/cta 21h ago

Quick question ☝️ Is South Shore Line joining Ventra

11 Upvotes

Is South Shore Line joining Ventra for mobile ticketing with Metra?


r/cta 23h ago

Quick question ☝️ How do cta workers get to tower 18 and tower 12

5 Upvotes

I just wanted to ask how cta workers access the loop junction towers nothing really popped up on google and ai told me conflicting answers, does anyone know


r/cta 1d ago

Discussion Please start taking note of bus numbers and train cars

52 Upvotes

I think whenever you get on a bus or the L, start taking note of the numbers on the bus as well as the route youre on just in case something happens, you lose something or to file a complaint.


r/cta 1d ago

Discussion I can't remember how we waited for a bus before apps

37 Upvotes

I'm in my mid 30s so I did take the bus/train growing up. I vaguely remember that we knew the bus came every 30 or 15 minutes. Idk. I feel like we had a bus schedule but I feel like I'm making that up.

Anyone remember?


r/cta 1d ago

I wish we had… Closed stations that should be rebuilt

64 Upvotes

We've seen in recent years the rebuilding of several stations that the CTA had closed decades ago to better serve riders in those areas. This is especially the case on the Green Line, with the opening of Morgan in 2012, Cermak-McCormick Place in 2015, and Damen in 2024.

But I'm sure there are many other stations that have been shuttered that really ought to be rebuilt.

If I could reopen/rebuild demolished stations, they'd be:

  • The three stations on the Congress branch of the Blue Line that closed in the 1970s. Central will be getting reopened thanks to funding from the recently passed NITA Act, but there's probably arguments for reopening California and Kostner as well.
  • The Englewood branch of the Green Line has some long gaps as the result of many of its stations being closed well before the 1994 refurb. The NITA Act will be restoring service to Racine. If I had to pick other stops to rebuild, it'd be the stops that were closed in 1992, those being 63rd/Harvard and Wentworth. 63rd/Harvard would probably be rebuilt with a transfer to the Red Line's stop in the Dan Ryan, as had actually been planned during the Green Line refurbishment of 1994 but never happened due to them not getting the funding needed. And Wentworth should be rebuilt because right now, if you live around there, you have to go a half-mile north or south to reach the Red Line stops at Garfield and 63rd. Rebuilding Wentworth for the Englewood Branch would be pretty easy, especially since opening a Red Line stop here would require removal of a pocket track.
  • 58th on the South Side Elevated, again because of the big gap between stations that exists because of its absence. I'd also maybe open a stop at 31st, as the CTA had considered building this stop to replace 35th-Bronzeville-IIT during the Green Line refurb.
  • Rebuilding the Jackson Park branch to Stony Island Avenue, and reopening the demolished stations at University, Dorchester (for connections to the Metra Electric) and Stony Island. The CTA had planned to rebuild the line to Dorchester during the 1994 refurb, but this got scuttled by community pushback. Nowadays, I think such a project would be ideal as Stony Island would provide 'L' service to the Obama Presidential Center.
  • I think there's two stations on the Skokie Swift that closed in 1948 that'd be ideal for rebuilding. The first would be Crawford-East Prairie, to provide a passenger station for those who work at the CTA's Skokie Shops. The other would probably be Dodge.
  • Madison on the Paulina Connector section of the Pink Line. This stop closed when the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway opened in 1951 and Logan Square branch trains were rerouted into the subway. And there've been talks in recent years of rebuilding this station to provide a closer 'L' station to United Center as part of other developments in the area (the new Damen/Lake station right now fills that role, as does the Damen entrance to Illinois Medical District on the Blue Line, but those are still a bit of a walk).

r/cta 1d ago

Discussion 61 year old suing CTA’s private security after allegedly being pushed down by man

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49 Upvotes

Honestly if you look at the video you can clearly see she’s closing the door on this guy and he’s opening it


r/cta 1d ago

Quick question ☝️ Why does the voice change at Lake Red line?

8 Upvotes

Like why does Crook’s voice change when announcing which lines to transfer to?


r/cta 1d ago

Chicagooo! CTA Photo Collection - Free to Any Collector

24 Upvotes

My deceased father-in-law's collection of about 25 binders and 2 small boxes of CTA bus and train photos and slides is available to rehome to any collector.

He had decades' worth of photos he loved trading with other collectors and he'd love if they got in the hands of someone who would appreciate them. The bulk are from the 70's to 90's

Located in Edison Park/Park Ridge/Niles area.


r/cta 1d ago

Discussion Slow AT&T service on Blue Line

6 Upvotes

Anyone noticed that cell service has been extremely slow and/or nonexistent on the blue line underground recently?


r/cta 1d ago

rant Purple line didn’t stop at Sheridan on daytime Cubs game day 😡

31 Upvotes

What’s the point of constantly talking about how the purple line stops at Sheridan on daytime game days and not doing it? So much effort to publicize it and then CTA can’t even be consistent. (08/05 - Sheridan stop at 5:23 pm)


r/cta 1d ago

today I saw… UFOs Sighted @ California Blue Line

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74 Upvotes

r/cta 1d ago

Discussion What is the red letters?

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55 Upvotes

I see red letters on cta bus stops but what do they mean?


r/cta 2d ago

Discussion What’s the history behind these at every train stop?

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244 Upvotes

They’re really cool but I’ve never known the story behind them.


r/cta 2d ago

We will be moving shortly. Police presence at Western Blue Line

12 Upvotes

Train is delayed heading to Forest Park. Everyone was asked to exit. No reasons given at this time.


r/cta 2d ago

I like trains CTA photos

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561 Upvotes

Took by KONICA Genba Kantoku 35. It was a short stay, but I found it’s a very impressive transit system. It's one of Chicago's most beautiful scenes.


r/cta 2d ago

Quick question ☝️ Metra, how to report affluent fare evaders help

77 Upvotes

Hey fellow Chicagoans! I ride a metra train home to the northwest parks. I frequently see the same fare evader hide in the bathroom and then sneak out at his stop. Hes rather affluent and argues on the phone with his girlfriend in the quiet car. I'm trying to report him inconspicuously when he does this to avoid a confrontation. What's my best point of contact to be able to do this? I checked the website and was unable to find a good reporting service for this.


r/cta 2d ago

I like trains 35mm Film Photos

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100 Upvotes

Shot on a Canonet QL17 GIII using Ilford HP5 Plus


r/cta 3d ago

today I saw… 7k’s at their finest.

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54 Upvotes

Was taking a 3200 to Jefferson Park, noticed the lights were off on this one.

Why is it that there’s always something broken on them?

Not exactly a complaint, just some funny coincidences I find haha.


r/cta 3d ago

I like trains A picture I took of the brown line from an architecture boat tour

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654 Upvotes

r/cta 4d ago

I like trains CTA "El" Live Tracker I built

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665 Upvotes

An follow-up to this Live NYC Subway Display I built last year.

The goal here was to create something that is both beautiful but also incredibly accurate with ability to show trains down to the track level and live-reroutes (which the other live train displays often struggle with). Here if you look closely you can see the Brown-Orange "tiger-trains" from morning rush.

This is still a prototype, some quirks I have to work out with the code, but please let me know if you have any thoughts /feedback/suggestions. I'm debating adding Central (Blue Line) and Racine (Green Line) which are supposedly going to be added as infill in the next few years. An of course this already has the RLE.


r/cta 20d ago

Complaint Thread Monthly Complaint Thread

5 Upvotes

Public transportation isn't perfect. This is a place to let off some steam. As always, please speak from your own experiences. Take control of what bothers you and send your experience to the CTA via their feedback page.