Editorial: CTA, get back on X

As a Chicago commuter, there’s nothing worse than standing on a cold, blustery platform, staring down the track and seeing no sign of headlights. The wait is brutal and blistering, and while it builds the strength of character for which the residents of our great city are so famed, it’s also completely unnecessary. When it comes to transit, riders deserve as much communication as possible. That’s why the Chicago Transit Authority’s petulant decision to exit X (formerly Twitter) is especially galling, because it runs counter to the service it owes Chicagoans.

“This social media platform no longer provides the value it once did for us to effectively reach and communicate with our riders,” CTA spokesperson Maddie Kilgannon said earlier this month.

That statement makes very little sense given that the CTA had 287,000 followers on X, meaning the transit agency was reaching a massive swath of its ridership on the platform. And the move feels politically motivated when the agency has chosen to remain on social media platforms such as BlueSky, Threads and Facebook. The CTA should not be taking political sides. It’s a transit agency, for heaven’s sake.

In the absence of paid officials providing updates on X, a handful of independent Chicagoans have been filling in. A new account called CTA Alerts (@AlertsCTA) cropped up soon after the CTA signed off of X, created by a local software engineer who writes of CTA’s X decision that “They shouldn’t have shut it down. #FireDorvalCarter” The page’s operator told Block Club Chicago that the system costs him 5 cents a month to operate.

CTA’s exit from X follows other, more serious episodes of lousy leadership. Unfortunately, this is nothing new, and Gov. JB Pritzker has acknowledged publicly that fixing CTA’s problems will require “some new leadership and additional leadership.”

And for regular Chicagoans just trying to get to work, CTA’s recommendation that riders sign up for custom alerts or use the app simply won’t always get the job done. While the Ventra app has improved its tracking, there are still times when the software fails to alert riders of major outages and disruptions.

State Rep. Kam Bucker, D-Chicago, said it best in a Jan. 2 post on X. He noted that Philadelphia “just launched ‘System Status’ for real-time updates & revamped its app for easy trip planning & even lets riders report issues to transit police instantly & still they remain on social media. (Because that’s where the people are). Meanwhile, the CTA ditches X for an outdated, clunky website with none of this functionality. Philly innovates, Chicago regresses. Riders deserve better.”

They sure do. So let’s keep this simple: CTA, get back on X.

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