Please click here to view the RTA Press Release for the Chicago Regional Green Transit Plan.
Please click here to view the RTA Green Transit Plan
The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and several of their transportation partners (Metra, Chicago Transit Authority, Pace, Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning) have released the Chicago Regional Green Transit Plan that quantifies the environmental benefits of the region’s public transit system and will serve as the roadmap for how transit can help the Chicago region become more sustainable.
Crafted by the agencies listed above, the Chicago Regional Green Transit Plan highlights the RTA system’s ability to become greener and more fuel efficient. The plan also shows that the Chicago region’s transit system saves more than 6.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year, which is the equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the road each year. Without transit, the region’s drivers would have consumed 750 million more gallons of gasoline and driven 32 million more miles each year, requiring over 30 additional highway lanes. In addition, the region’s public transit system produces 1.2 million metric tons of carbon annually, which accounts for only 3% of transportation emissions, or less than 1% of overall regional emissions.
The Chicago Regional Green Transit Plan focuses on the following four primary strategies that can increase the greenhouse gas emissions reduction benefits of transit in the region:
- Grow Ridership & Market Share
- Promote Transit-Oriented Development
- Improve Operation Efficiency
- Greening the Transit System
