Case Studies / Telecom & Technology Management

Chicago Transit Authority’s 3-Year Integrated Business Plan for the Command Center Technology Assessment

Transportation Industry

Scope

• The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operates the nation’s second largest public transportation system, spanning the City of Chicago as well as 40 surrounding suburbs. On an average weekday, approximately 1.6 million rides are taken on the bus and rail systems.
• The Control Center monitors the rail and bus systems for events that may negatively impact the schedules, safety or efficiency of the transit systems. Due to outdated underlying technologies, the environment was not able to proactively identify and respond to events across the systems for efficient operations.
• CTA’s leadership team recognized an integrated multi-year plan and roadmap for migrating the existing environment to the desired Future State was necessary to ensure that the systems operated as efficiently and safely as possible.

Results

• Northridge provided:
  • A six-month project plan.
  • A detailed Future State plan incorporating the process and technology recommendations for the Control Center, Bus System and Rail System.
  • An integrated three-year implementation plan including timelines and costs.
  • Executive communications support.
• Northridge identified key steps in achieving increased customer satisfaction upon implementation of recommendations.