The Chicago Transit Authority gave itself a mixed first-quarter report card yesterday, releasing new performance metrics that show the agency fell short of its goals for reducing rail delays but had a greater percentage of its buses up and running.

The disclosure marks the first time in a year that the CTA has made its performance-related data public.

As the Chi-Town Daily News reported April 25, agency officials have repeatedly denied requests for specific information on how the agency was measuring up.

Terry Levine, the CTA's Freedom of Information officer, said the agency withheld the data while it was "reassessing the type of performance indicators to measure and how the data is collected and evaluated."

However, a new legislative mandate aimed at increasing transparency in all Illinois public transit agencies called for the release of the metrics by the end of June.

State Rep. Julie Hamos, (D-Evanston), chair of the House Mass Transit Committee and sponsor of HB656, which ordered the disclosure, told the Chi-Town Daily News last month that she felt it was crucial for the agency to be more accountable to the public, especially given the agency's financial troubles and recent state bailout.

"We weren't just going to give the transit system a blank check. We wanted to see their performance indicator statistics," she said.

CTA President Ron Huberman, who presented the new performance metrics at the Chicago Transit Board meeting Wednesday, said he was "very excited" to share the information, which he said was the result of a continuing effort to define "indicators of service reliability that are both relevant to customer experience and useful to CTA operations."

The new tracking system, which Huberman admitted "took a while to evolve," measure agency performance in six core service areas. They include data related to ridership, on-time performance, efficiency, safety, cleanliness and customer service.

The numbers show the agency meeting its goals for the month of March in total ridership (41.7 million), the percentage of its bus fleet up and running (87 percent), and average days between railcar cleaning (11).

The agency fell short in the number of rail delays of 10 minutes or more (83), the number of miles driven between bus breakdowns (4,475) and the average number of days between detailed bus cleaning.

Many performance measures previously shared with the public are absent from the new data, including wait assessments, the number of security complaints, behavioral complaints and accidents, and wheelchair lift malfunctions.

However, other information has been added, including the percentage of slow-zone mileage along the El, bus "bunching" intervals and the average amount of time a caller is put on hold when dialing the customer service hotline. 

The data shows that the average call wait-time has been significantly reduced since January, from 7 minutes and 39 seconds on average, to 2 minutes and 41 seconds. The agency's goal was set at 2 minutes.

The way the information is presented has also changed, with a user-friendly, color-coded chart revealing how close the agency is to meeting its goals.

"We will continue to work with departments to identify measurements that will drive results and not just data," says Huberman. "I expect these measures will evolve as we further refine and learn from this process."

As part of that, he said, if the agency consistently meets a specific target, they will raise the bar, in an effort to continually advance performance.

They will also consider adding currently undisclosed information and new agency initiatives. For example, April figures, which have not yet been released, will track a new system for handling customer complaints that requires department managers to respond within three days and resolve issues within two weeks.

Performance data for the first three months can be found on the CTA website. Updates are to be posted monthly.

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