Chicago Transit Authority Announces Campaign to Fight Grime

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) recently announced a new in-system ad campaign designed to highlight the agency’s efforts to better clean and maintain its train lines, in an effort to improve public confidence and boost ridership.

The “Goodbye Grime” campaign is part of the CTA’s 2023 Refresh & Renew program, which will devote US$6.5 million in repairs and improvements to the public transit system, with plans to power wash 145 stations each month, upgrade 29 stations, and complete an exterior wash of the entire rail fleet.

The CTA has also increased its janitorial staff, having added 50 rail janitors to its 2023 budget, for a total of 246 positions. Each CTA worker is assigned to maintain at least two stations every day. According to the article, the cleaners hop on and off trains throughout the day to offer a quick cleaning of spills, but removing trash and cleanup of smaller spills is left to the train operator to perform at the end of a trip.

More than 1,400 rail cars and 1,800 buses service thousands of people in Chicago daily, the Sun-Time reports. A survey taken by Chicago radio station WBEZ in November 2022 found cleanliness and sanitation ranked third on the list of commuters’ concerns. More than 40 riders surveyed complained specifically of urine or feces.

“I have been riding the CTA trains for most of my adult life, even during the pandemic since I am an essential worker, so it makes me very sad to see the conditions on the train now,” Mary Ann Schmelze, a nurse who frequently rides CTA trains, told WBEZ.

Another rider, Adèle-Marie Buis, told the Sun-Times, “I think understanding the riders’ cleanliness concerns and addressing them directly would go a long way.”