It was a bombshell, but not a huge surprise, when the CTA announced this morning that President Dorval R. Carter Jr. is stepping down from his post at the end of this month.
The announcement
At least since last April, there has been a long line of elected officials and transit advocates calling for Carter to be replaced, citing the CTA's recurring problems with service, crime, and sanitation in the post-COVID era. But Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson seemed reluctant to get rid of the agency head, at least until Carter achieved his signature goal, nailing down $1.9 billion in federal funding to help pay for the Red Line Extension. But since that landmark was achieved last Friday, this is a good time for the embattled transit chief to leave his post in a relatively dignified banner.
The CTA news release noted that Carter has spent 40 years working in public transportation, with the last quarter of that spent leading the CTA. "The City of Chicago is grateful to President Dorval Carter for his decades of service with the Chicago Transit Authority," Mayor Johnson said in a statement. "His leadership reimagined the movement of our city. His stewardship of the Red Line Extension project is just one of the notable achievements in his historic career."
According to the presser, Carter started at the CTA in 1984 as a staff lawyer, and has worked a total of 26 years there, along with 15 years at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration.
"Serving as president of this great agency has been an extraordinary privilege and I am forever grateful for what has been the opportunity of a lifetime," stated Carter. "It has been an honor to work on behalf of CTA customers and to advance our mission in a city that I love so dearly."
The announcement credited Carter, whose strengths seemed to lie in winning federal funds for the CTA as opposed to day-to-day operations, with overseeing over $11 billion in past, current, and future projects. In addition to the upcoming $5.7 billion Red Line Extension, these included the nearly-completed $2.1 billion first phase of the Red and Purple Modernization project, the $280 million 95th/Red Line station reconstruction, and the $203 million Wilson Station rehab.
What's Carter's next gig? The CTA says he will become president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital, 2875 W. 19th St, where his father, Dr. Dorval R. Carter, Sr., worked for 40 years. The younger Carter previously served on the hospital's board.
Ald. Vasquez responds
Streetsblog checked in with local transit advocates to get their takes on the changing of the guard. Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) has been President Carter's most outspoken critic in the City Council. He wrote an ordinance calling for the CTA chief's resignation, and another requiring Carter to report to the City Council quarterly about transit issues, the latter of which passed. Two such meetings have actually happened since then. "He was sick for the third quarter [of 2024] and the fourth is City budget season, so no meeting occurred," the alder explained.
"I’m glad that there is the opportunity to have a new leader for this next chapter of CTA, where we can have sharp focus on improving the customer experience, safety, and reliability of our transit system," Ald. Vasquez told Streetsblog. "Many thanks to the organizers who led, held us all accountable, and helped us navigate to this point."
Commuters Take Action's take on the news
Perhaps the most notable activist organization that has called for a change of leadership at the transit agency is the grassroots group Commuters Take Action (CTAction). "It's truly a day we have been waiting for a long time!" cofounder Fabio Göttlicher told Streetsblog.
"Today marks a historic and long overdue change at the Chicago Transit Authority," CTAction said in a statement. "For years, the agency has suffered under poor leadership that failed riders, employees, and the entire city of Chicago."
The group acknowledged that Carter had accomplished some key victories for the agency, including garnering funding for the RLE. "On the other hand, under Carter’s leadership, the CTA has deteriorated in a wide range of other aspects," they stated. "After seeing pandemic lows of up to half of scheduled service being cut, CTA’s service levels have improved in 2025. However, this on-paper victory is contrasted with continued wide inconsistency in service delivery and abysmal attrition levels among CTA operators. Slow zones on the 'L' are constantly increasing and average bus speed continues to decrease, with no improvement for either in sight. And above all, Carter’s CTA did not learn how to communicate with the public in an honest, candid way."
"With Dorval R. Carter Jr.’s departure, Commuters Take Action sees a new hope for Chicago transit," the group added. "Change will not happen overnight, but we are ready to see a transit agency that delivers frequent and reliable service, keeps riders informed and engaged with honesty and transparency, and provides a safe and comfortable work environment for all of its employees – especially those on its front lines."
"We hope the next president will not only guide the CTA to improve its current lackluster service, but push it to grow beyond, with a vision for the future and the innovative, world-class transit system the CTA can be – and Chicago deserves," CTAction said. "We also hope the next president works with organizations like ours and engages with the communities they serve, especially by riding the CTA regularly." Records showed that in 2022, Carter only used his Ventra card 23 times, less than twice a month.
"We wish Carter a dynamic and optimized future," CTAction graciously concluded.
Interview with ATA Executive Director Amy Rynell about the change
As it happened, shortly after the transit agency made its announcement, I had a phone interview scheduled with Active Transportation Alliance head Amy Rynell about another subject. So we spent a few minutes discussing the big reveal.
John Greenfield: What do you think about the news of Dorval Carter retiring?
Amy Rynell: I'm excited about the prospect of new leadership, in the sense that we need someone really excited about a new vision for transit that is squarely centered on the riders and increased service, and has a regional sensibility. Because our region's changed a lot. A lot of folks that live in the city work in the suburbs, and vice versa. And we have these siloed transit agencies that are serving a geography that doesn't always make sense for the workers, businesses, and other needs we have.
So I really am excited to hear a new vision for where we can get with transit and rejuvenate what we have, which is a great system that needs more money, needs a new vision, and needs needs some policy change around it.
JG: How do you think Carter did as CTA president? He was there for a while under Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot, and now Mayor Johnson. What do you think his strengths and weaknesses were?
AR: I think an important moment around COVID where his leadership stood out was making sure we kept service running for essential workers, when it was really hard to run service. That was really important.
A lot has broken down now around service frequency, availability, and funding, that needs to be repaired. But I think there were some really important moments around COVID where his leadership was appreciated.
JG: I remember there was the thing where they were having rear bus boarding for a while, to keep the drivers away from customers.
AR: Yeah, not focusing on collecting fares, keeping the staff safe. I wish we would have continued some of those really important things, where the people running the buses are just running the buses safely, and not having to worry about these other responsibilities.
JG: What would you have liked to see Carter do better?
AR: More communication from our transit agency is really important. We've started to see progress to that end. But I think as riders, we have experienced so many letdowns and disappointments over the last few years, myself included, that hearing the vision forward, and really frequent communications about what's happening, would have made a difference when they were struggling. Instead of the CTA communicating a lot, and clearly, and reaching riders, [customers'] frustration grew at the lack of transparency.
JG: What other things have frustrated you about the way things work, or didn't work, at the CTA? What are the problems that you think Dorval Carter has some blame for?
AR: You know, I've been working on state legislation to reform the entire system, so I think there are some elements where the CTA has been dealt a rough hand, as a result of how the system is constructed and funded. And riders and funding suffers as a result.
After the recent trip to Germany [that Illinois advocates and lawmakers recently took to learn about how that country's transit system is run], I came back really invigorated by how centered on the rider experience every decision was, whether it be the fares, the simplicity of use, the frequency, feeling of safety and cleanliness. Everything was really rider-centered.
And so I think that if we have a leader that says that matters, that's the number one thing, that's why we exist, I think we'll all be better for it. And I don't think riders had been feeling that.
JG: There were a lot of complaints about service, cleanliness and other conditions on trains, and crime. How do you think President Carter did in those departments.
AR: We were really disappointed by the lack of adoption of what other cities have done around creation of hubs, creation of transit ambassador programs, and other things to deal with the problems that people have that come to the trains. So the CTA's been really lagging in adoption of that. And instead they've got a massive security guard contract which, at least in my experience and observations of it, has not been effective and not a good use of money, and I think we could have done other things to that end.
JG: Anything else you'd like to say about Carter?
AR: It's a really big job, so I appreciate anyone's willingness to step into it and want to really support the success of the system, both through policy change, getting it the funding we need, and making sure that it's operating with the vision that is responsive to our changing needs for our city and region.
JG: Does anyone spring to mind who might be a good person to lead the CTA?
AR: I really don't know. Hopefully we'll be looking at people who have been running really progressive transit systems around the country, as well as internally there might be some hidden gems at CTA.
Correction 1/13/25, 3:45 PM: This article previously stated that Dorval Carter Jr. only had one quarterly meeting with the City Council in 2024, but there were actually two meetings. Streetsblog Chicago apologizes for the mistake.
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