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Partying like it’s 2025: CTAction’s Dorval Carter retirement celebration heralds a new era for Chicago transit

Daniella G. in a Ghostbusters outfit, a reference to “ghost buses” – scheduled runs that never show up – and Emily K. in a beauty pageant costume with a sash that punnily says “Miss the Bus”, holding a sign for sign for the 22 Clark Street bus stop at Foster Avenue in Andersonville. Photo: Cameron Bolton

On January 13, the CTA announced that the agency's embattled President Dorval R. Carter was stepping down after more than a decade on the job. As Streetsblog discussed that day, elected officials and transit advocates had major problems with the way he ran the system, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. They cited major problems with reliability, crime, and cleanliness. As early as last April, everyone from the grassroots group Commuters Take Action to Governor JB Pritzker was calling for new leadership at the agency.

Luckily for Carter, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson let him stay on the job until the CTA president accomplished his biggest achievement, winning $1.9 billion in federal funding for the $5.7 billion Red Line Extension project, on January 10. This allowed the controversial public transportation chief to leave his position with a feather in his cap, rather than taking a walk of shame.

This post is sponsored by Keating Law Offices.

In the CTA's news release on Carter's retirement, the agency noted his 40 total years working in the public transportation sector, and the fact that he oversaw $11 billion in past, present, and future CTA projects. "Serving as president of this great agency has been an extraordinary privilege, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime," Carter stated in the announcement.

The president's last CTA board meeting on January 15 was quite cordial, basically a celebration of Carter's long tenure. "Without your leadership, vision and persistence, [the Red Line Extension] would still be a deferred promise, and not an exciting reality,” said Board Chair Lester Barclay at the hearing, adding that Carter would "leave a legacy that will never be forgotten."

Image: CTAction

Attitudes towards the CTA president's career were less rose-colored at "Dorval Carter's Retirement Party," hosted by Commuters Take Action (CTAction) last Friday at The Emporium Arcade Bar in Logan Square. (The group's policy organizer Morgan Madderom said they threw a previous retirement party for Carter last November, but that had been a suggestion, rather than the reality.)

At Friday's gathering, CTAction cofounder Fabio Göttlicher argued that the biggest problem with the transit chief was a lack of transparency and accountability at the agency. He said he previously presented data and feedback about poor service during the public comment portions of CTA meetings, only for Carter to deny that there was anything wrong with the system. 

"Time after time, Dorval Carter failed to show good and responsible leadership," Göttlicher said. "I'm thinking of all the times he [was] dishonest with the public or even the fact that it was hard to get him to City Council [meetings], he's never talking to media, and he hasn't been... riding the CTA. There [were] so many faults in his leadership that we feel like it was not the right position for him, and now we're hoping to get a better replacement."

A cake at the party featuring CTAction's "ghost bus" character (or is it supposed to be a tombstone here?) and referencing the text at the end of the group's statement on the day the president's departure was announced: "We wish Carter a dynamic and optimized future."

Asked what improvements he would like to see from Carter's successor, Göttlicher said he'd want that person to be honest and not try to sugarcoat poor CTA performance. "Let's be straight up with each other that the CTA has had some troubling years, and let's work on actually making it better instead of pretending like it's a world-class transit system when, in all honesty, it is not right now."

Caroline Pavlecic, a co-organizer with CTAction, said at the party she hopes "the new president is more willing to engage in dialogue with community members and everyday transit employees to improve the system."

Pavlecic cuts the cake. Hopefully the next CTA chief will do the same thing with travel times. Photo: Cameron Bolton

So was there anything that CTAction members think Carter did well? "He was very good at securing money for stuff, like federal funding for the Red Line Extension," Pavlecic replied. Göttlicher and Madderom also mentioned the RLE as a win.

"Bus service is pretty much at pre-pandemic levels, which I think is really great," Madderom added. "However, I think [Carter's] downfall is definitely his stubbornness and when there is an issue, [not] being transparent about the issue existing."

Some of the messages party attendees left on Carter's retirement card were gracious, others not so much. Photo via CTAction.

Attendees Daniella G. and Emily K., featured in costume at the top of this post, both live car-free. Since they rely on the CTA to get around, they've been personally impacted by service lapses.

The O'Hare Blue Line platforms were decorated with patriotic and Chicago-centric signage in advance of the Democratic National Convention. Photo: John Greenfield

"During the DNC this summer, I thought the transit was excellent," Daniella said. "It was clean, it was reliable, it was fast... They're very clearly capable of running fast, on time, reliable transit that is clean and safe and all of that. But they only do it when the politicians are in town, and I think they need to value the people of this city just as much as you value Joe Biden or whoever. So, I just want the next [president] to come in to say, 'We are capable of doing that, and we need to hold ourselves to that standard.'"

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