Public Transportation

Transportation is how people travel. In Chicago, people travel to work in many ways. Some walk. Some drive cars. Many take a bus to work. And others take a train.

The buses and trains are part of public transportation. They are part of a system. A system is how a lot of parts work together. The parts of public transportation in Chicago are all part of the Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA. Long a go, people walked to other places when they lived here. Or they rode on horses. Today, there are thousands of people who work in public transportation.

Public means everyone, and transportation means travel. Public transportation is a way everyone can travel in Chicago. If you look at the transportation map, you will see routes. Those are the ways the buses and trains go. The people who planned the routes looked at where people live and where they want to go. Many of the routes help workers get to their jobs every day.

Transportation means work, too. There are thousands of people who work to make the transportation system work. Some are bus drivers. Those drivers need more than a drivers’ license. They complete special training to be drivers. That includes how to maneuver the big bus. Imagine turning a corner in a big bus. That is not easy. They need to learn how to communicate with the public, too. Many drivers face problems every day. For example, tourists from other countries may get on a bus and ask a question in a foreign language.

Trains have drivers, too. Those are called engineers. The train stays on a track, so they do not have to worry about turning corners. But they have to make sure the train moves at a safe speed. There are signals along the track that alert the driver when there is danger. The driver has to respond quickly.

There are many transportation workers you don’t see but who are part of getting you places. They work in the offices where they oversee the trains and buses. They keep track of where all the trains and buses are. They watch the traffic. They watch it on computer monitors. They are not watching the cars they watch symbols on the computer screen that tell them how much traffic there is on different routes.

They plan changes in public transportation, too. The planners look at where people live. They look at the number of people who travel to work in different areas each day. They figure out if they should add more buses or trains. They figure out if they should change the route of a bus. They can’t change the route of a train, but they can add more train lines. In fact, Chicago added a new line a few years ago. It is the Pink line.