fc remarks for city club 110513 official.pdf

8/14/2019 FC remarks for City Club 110513 Official.pdf

1/11

City Club Remarks11.5.13

President Claypool remarksCity Club speech

Slide 1Cover Slide

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Lets talk about Ventra.

Well, welltalk about that in a minute.

Last December, I stood in this very room and talked about the things CTA was going to do in 2013 and I

am proud that we met our deadlines and achieved our goals.

In fact, amidst the talk about CTAs new open fare system, you may have missed the fact that CTA

further executed Mayor Rahm Emanuels vision to build a new Chicago and opened the reconstructed,

10.2-mile Red Line South, allowing tens of thousands commuters to enjoy a faster, smoother, better

commute than ever before.

And thats just a small part of what weve achieved, not to mention what we are planning to do in the

future. Today, were going to talk about all of that.

But, firstVentra.

Slide 2Ventra Logo

CTAs magnetic fare cards were introduced in 1997. Over time, however, there wasincreasing interest

in a contactless fare card and, by November 2002, CTA implemented its first contactless card the

Chicago Cardsystemwide. It was followed by the Chicago Card Plus, unique because it linked to the

owners credit or debit card, in January 2004.

The move towards what would become Ventra actually started in 2007 and was based on the belief that

the country was moving towards an open standard contactless banking system.

By 2009, CTA was notified that production of the chips used in Chicago cards would soon end and began exploring

a new fare payment system to replace its aging, existing one. CTA issued an RFP later that year.

By 2011, Gov. Quinn signed a bill that mandated all transit agencies develop a universal fare payment system thatwould allow customers to use more than one form of transit with one card by 2015. That same year, two things

happened: bids on the new system came in to CTA in January 2011and Mayor Emanuel appointed me to the CTA

in May.

A few months later, the low bidderCubic Corporationwas awarded the $454 million for an open-fare system.

And, sohere we are.


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Since Ventra went fully live to the public on Sept. 9, just eight weeks ago, we have been paying very

close attention to the performance of the systemand also of our contractor, Cubic Transportation

Systems.

With any contract the CTA enters into on behalf of the taxpayers, we hold the contractor to very high

standards of performance.

So much so that I asked Richard Wunderle, the head of CubicsNorth American operations, to join me

today to talk about this important topic. He agreed even before I finished asking him, and got on a

plane to Chicago.

Slide 3Card Being Tapped25M

There is no question that overall, Ventra is working as a system. In just over 7 weeks, the system has

seen more than 25 million taps.

Slide 4Card Being Tapped4.7M riders/55 percent

About 4.7 million riders board with Ventra each week. Last week, about 55 percent of CTA rides were

through Ventra. A majority of our customers have transitioned to the Ventra system in less than 60days.

That number grows weekly.

But even though hundreds of thousands of riders use the system smoothly each day, as were all aware,

there are a number of things that just arent going the way they should beor the way they want them

to.

In short, our vendor hasnt fully met our expectations yetor those of our customers.

Slide 5Call CenterI want to take a few minutes today to talk a little more about that, and let you know where things stand

in the CTAs first transition to a completely new fare-payment system in nearly 20 years.

There is one main area where our contractors performance simply hasnt been up to par: the customer

service call center. About a month ago, that center was literally overwhelmed with 20,000 calls on a

single day. Many customers couldnt get through at all. Those who did were left on hold had to wait far

too long to speak to a live operatorin some cases more than 30 minutes.

Obviously, thats completely unacceptable.

As soon as we learned the extent of the issue, we directed the contractor to triple the number of call

takers to better serve customers. That has definitely helped: Wait times have dropped dramatically

yesterday, the average wait time was below five minutes. We also changed the phone menu to better

route calls so customers could get what they need more quickly. In fact, today customers who are

calling simply to activate or register their cards can do so in just a few minutes.

And while things are getting better, its still not the top level of service we expect. Beginning this week,

at my direction, the contractor will further expand and engage a second call center operator to provide

both additional capacity in times of high-volume but also to help with continuous quality improvement


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on the calls themselves. Through the information weve gained by auditing the customer experience

through observation and feedback, we know this is a necessary step, and one that will help resolve

customer issues more quickly.

Weve also had reports of a few different technological issuesnone widespread, but occurring with

sufficient frequency that we must address them.

Richard Wunderle is a senior vice president and general manager of Cubic Transportation Systems, and

he leads the companys North American operations. Hell join me now to help explain the current state

of the system.

Slide 6Transition Cubic slide between Forrest Claypool and Richard Wunderle:

Cubic is the WORLDS LEADING SYSTEM INTEGRATOR AND SERVICES PROV IDER FORAUTOMATED FARE COLLECTION.

We have 400 projects, in 40 countries, from Sydney to London to Washington DC But we dont have another project like this. Ventra is the first open fare system, and the first of

its kind in North America.

We took on this contract because it represents the leading edge of fare collection for the next10 years

We are INVESTED IN THE SUCCESS OF VENTRA. LITERALLY. We have spent almost $100 MILLIONin the system, and we WONT BEGIN TO RECOVER THAT INVESTMENT UNTIL THE SYSTE M MEETS

ALL OF CTAS REQUIREMENTS.

We are committed to its success, and we will see this project through. It is improving every day,but lets address some of the issues in more detail.

Slide 7Multiple cards near reader

The FARE READERS CANT CHARGE TWO CONTACTLESS CARDS AT THE SAME TIME.

But what a fare reader WILL do, is CHARGE THE FIRST CARD THAT IT READS. If you have a pass on yourVentra card, and the system reads another credit card in your wallet, you are overpaying. So, please

dont do this. Its important to remove your card from your wallet before tapping the fare reader.

Slide 8Fare Reader with processing message

A more common problem is double tapping, which again can lead to overpaying.

The FARE READERS HAVE BEEN PERFORMING TOO SLOWLY. In part, its because the information is now

account based. The INFORMATION USED TO BE STORED ON A CARD. NOW IT IS STORED IN YOUR

ACCOUNT, SO THE SYSTEM HAS TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ACCOUNT. THAT MEANS THE

TRANSACTION TAKES LONGER THAN BEFORE.

WE HAVE TAKEN SEVERAL STEPS TO IMPORVE THE SOFTWARE AND AS OF YESTERDAY 95% OF

TRANSACTIONS WERE READ IN 2.5 SECONDS OR LESS. Forrest will correctly point out thats still an

inconvenience for the remaining 5%, and we are working to improve those numbers.

We have also changed the screen. As you see on the slide, if there is a lag time, the screen will tell you

that the system is processing your card. When you see that message, youll know that you should WAIT

and not tap your card again.


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Slide 9Card Readers (Bus)

Cubic Official:

Same MV Same software

Same reliability Its on a bus using wireless technology It interfaces with other bus systems -- that has hurt the performance We are making software changes to make the system more efficient and effective

As I turn the mic back over to Forrest, I want to say that Im sorry CTA customers have been

inconvenienced during this transition. We didnt go out there on a wing and a prayer. The system was

working when we launchedbut that was with a small user group.

Unfortunately, the real test of a technology rollout with over 1.6 million rides a day happens in real

time, in real life.

And thats where the problems began to arise. This is a big change, for the system, for the CTA and for

its riders. We are working hardVERY hardto work out the transition problems as quickly as possible.

We are here for the LONG HAUL. We are committed to the CTA, its riders, and to the Ventra system. We

strive to make everyones commute a little easier every dayand we will get there.

Slide 10Chicago Card, Chicago Card Plus

BACK TO PRESIDENT CLAYPOOL:

The bottom line is that too many of our customers are confused and frustrated and thats our fault.

Thats especially true for our Chicago Card Customers.

For that reason, we have taken steps to help the last of our Chicago Card/Chicago Card Plus customers

make the transition to Ventra.

This group represents about 17 percent of our customers, but unfortunately experienced the majority of

problems related to the transition. Our goal with this group was to make the transition easy by mailing

them Ventra cards to replace their old Chicago Cards, and to automatically transfer their balance.

Though our intentions were good and our plan well-mapped out, the execution fell far short of what it

should have been. Though many people transitioned smoothly, far, far too many were confused and

frustrated, through no fault of their own.

Slide 11CTA done all it can to help CC/CC-plus

Weve done all we can to help these customers, including: Making changes to the ventrachicago.com website Providing an email with new instructions. Mailing all card holders new Ventra cards. Making 110,000 phone calls directly to customers to ensure they received them and assist them

with activation.

Slide 12RTA Delay


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The contractor is also awaiting full receipt of all Regional Transit Authoritys (RTA)Reduced Fare cards.

As you can see above:

309,000 Ventra cards have been issued to-date, representing 44 percent of the total, with nearly

240,000 to go.

And 67 percent of the balance is for seniors and disabled free rides.

So the RTA has quite a ways to go to ensure that all of the population it serves through the reduced fare

program receive and activate their new Ventra cards.

Slide 13Calendar

Over the last few weeks, weve made progress on these and a number of fronts,

But we all recognize that there is still a lot of work to do until we reach a point where we at the CTA feel

comfortable moving forward with the next Ventra milestone. From day one, we have said were

committed to giving our customers ample time to transition to Ventra. As weve noted many times

before, this is why we designed an extended transition for Ventra. We felt such a phased and extendedrollout was most prudent because we knew that there would be some unforeseen hiccups with the

system.

Thats why were announcing today that we are extending the deadline for the full transition to Ventra.

Originally, November 15 was the date we were to have fully transitioned to Ventra.

We are pushing that back to a date to be determined. There are three areas of performance that Cubic

must meet in order for us to feel comfortable moving forward.

First, callers should experience a wait time of five minutes or less to speak to an operator.

Second, vending machines and card readers on both buses and at rail stations must have a 99 percent

availability.

Last, all readers must process taps in 2.5 seconds or less, 99 percent of the time.

Cubic will not be paid until it achieves those benchmarks. Once Cubic reaches those goals, then well

announce a new timetable to fully transition the new system.

Our promise to our customers is that this system will be fixed, just as we lived up to our promise to fix

the Red Line South.

Slide 14MRE, FC, TP Greet Customers

Two weeks ago, I stood alongside Mayor Emanuel and CTA Board Chairman Peterson at the 95 thStreet

Red Line station. We were greeting customers returning to the Red Line South for the first time in five

months.

We went there to thank our customers. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your resilience.

Thank you for your faith and support in the decision, which was controversial and caused inconvenience.


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But we also heard, over and over, the same words.

Slide 15Thank You

Thank you.

Thank you for making my train ride faster. Thank you for making my ride smoother. Thank you for

making my commute better. Thank you for providing all those free shuttles and discounted bus rides.

Thank you for finishing on time and on budget. Thank you for providing jobs and contracting

opportunities to those too often shut out of this kind of work.

And thank you for paying attention to the South Side.

Slide 16Media Headlines

Even the media, always quick to point out when we do things wrong, gave us props.

Slide 17Five Months Versus Four Years

The decision to tackle Red Line Southand to do it the way we didis a direct reflection of the Mayorsleadership. He had the courage to make the toughbut absolutely correctdecision to close down 10

miles of the CTAs busiest rail line and rebuild it in the lightning-fast time of five monthsversus the

option of four-plus years of weekends-only work that would have confused and disrupted commuters

and communities for much longer than was necessary. That has never been done beforeanywhere in

the country.

Slide 18Garfield Red During Construction

In every way possible, this was the right way to do a large-scale public works project.

Slide 19Garfield Red with Substantial Construction Progress

We chose the quickest, most cost-effective strategywhich by the way, saved $75 million that wasreinvested into station improvements, including three new elevators to make the entire south branch

accessible.

Slide 20Officials Announcing Project in June

Last year, on June 4th, I was joined by Chairman Peterson and Shari Runner, Senior Vice-President of the

Chicago Urban League, to announce our plan to rebuild the 10.2 mile, southernmost stretch of the Red

Line.

From the outset, we had a lot of detractors.

Slide 21One Big Mess Headline

In fact, some media outlets proclaimed the project doomed before it even started, like the cover story

above, which ran two days in advance of the project start.

Slide 22Community Meetings

We avoided that big mess by talking with the community for nearly a year before the project, to

determine how to best meet their needs during construction.


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Slide 23Alternative Service

We put together the largest alternative-service plan in the CTAs historyfree shuttles, extra bus

service, even Red Line trains running on Green Line tracks.

Slide 24Past Bad Headlines of Large Capital Projects

And we paid special attention to problems with similar projects from the not-so-distant past, including

the Dan Ryan Reconstruction projects of the past two decadesand the Metra Flyover Project, going on

right now.

The issues that confronted these projects ranged from the lack of inclusion for minority and women-

owned firms during constructionto a failure of contractor vetting and oversightto the absence of real

job opportunities for community residents.

Our takeaways were simple:

Demand fairness from our prime contractors. Provide as much alternative service information as possible. And ensure that the residents and businesses near the project footprint knew of all the job and

contracting opportunities.

Slide 25Images of Brochure, Ambassadors, Web Site

We did this:

Door-to-door, by deploying teams to take literature, like the flier you see above, straight tohomes and businesses.

In the stations, with Red Line Ambassadors distributing literature and answering questions inadvance of the construction dates.

On the web, providing a robust web sitered-line-south-DOT-com to detail everything thatwas happeningand going to happen.

Slide 26Images of TV CoverageAnd we were on the air for nearly a year-and-a-half, with radio commercials reminding people about the

coming project and its impactsand myriad media appearances, hammering home that the project was

coming and that our customers needed to prepare themselves.

But, our biggest impact came from taking our message directly to the community.

Slide 27DBE Meet and Greets

We did everything we could to promote opportunities for jobs and contracts. We setand met

ambitious goals for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. And we hosted seven meet-and-greets with

prime contractors so that they could get to know these DBEs.

Slide 28Job Fairs

We hosted three job fairs in the affected community.

The response was incredible, with more than 4,000 job seekers attending the three events. It was

obvious the word had gotten out.

Slide 29Construction Workers, Bus Drivers


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And we created jobsmore than 1,500 of them. About 1,000 were construction jobs. And at least two

firms that worked on the project will be keeping those workers for future projects. More than 400 of

them became CTA bus drivers, and will stay with us long after this project.

Slide 30Local 9 Invites RLS Workers

In fact, I am proud to announce that, last Friday, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,

Local 9, extended an invitation to seven Red Line South electriciansall of whom are pictured among

the group in the photo aboveto join their union as a result of their hard work during the project.

The invitation was unexpected by the electricians and, frankly, by CTA, but weve said since day one that

our goal was for people to find work beyond the life of this project and these workers will now be able

to work on future projects, not just for CTA, but anywhere.

Slide 31Whats Next?

Red Line South set the bar pretty high. And in 2014, well be making many more jumps.

Slide 32$4,000,000,000

Next year were continuing with the next steps on the most ambitious capital investment program theCTA has ever undertaken. When the Mayor took office in 2011, he announced a $4 billion plan to

modernize Chicagos transit system and we are continuing to move CTA forward under that vision.

To execute that vision, weve stuck to the Rs of the NEW CTA: ReformRenewRebuild.

Slide 33Supply Chain Modernization

One of the reforms is our Supply Chain Modernization Initiative, which has resulted in a $4.3 million

reduction of CTA inventory in just six months.

In that same amount of time, weve reduced obsolete and excess inventory by $6,583,000. If you go

back to the beginning of the year, that number is closer to $15M.

Weve also reclaimed more than $1 million of inventory that has been found through inventory counts.

We knew that through an upgrade in simple technology, like barcoding and scanning, CTA could track

worker productivity and follow parts from cradle-to-grave in the warehouseand were very pleased

with the results, which include fewer buses and trains out of service, awaiting parts, in the future.

Slide 34Technology = Easier Commutes

Weve widely expanded our popular Bus Tracker and Train Tracker services, which have received nearly

40 million web page and data requests this year so far.

Additionally, as of this fall, all 145 of our rail stations now have at least one electronic screens displaying

CTAs Train Tracker service, which has become very popular with our customers. In fact, we just

installed 87 new Train Tracker screens in the Red Line South, alone.

Well continue to install more at our busiest stations.

Slide 35Train Tracker Improvements


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Weve made Train Tracker better. On the big screen, you can see how customers can find the closest

train station or figure out when the train they want to take will arrive at the desired destination.

Customers can choose from new features that include Stops near me that lets customers with GPS-

enabled devices detect the closest stations.

We also have a Station Name search function that allows customers to quickly get station information

by typing in just part or all of a station name, instead of having to scroll down a screen to find a stop.

And some customers like our mapping function, where they can watch trains move in near-real time, on

an interactive desktop map.

Slide 36Better Security (Cameras)

Over the past two years, weve added more than 1,800 cameras in our rail stations, bringing our total

number of cameras in those stations to more than 3,600.

And we continue to add additional cameras on our older rail carsmore than 5,000 cameras on our rail

cars and as many as 10 cameras on each of our buses. The CTA also works very closely with the ChicagoPolice Departments Public Transportation Unitand supplements its officer gap, in efforts to combat

crime and create a more secure environment for our customers.

Slide 37Arrests

Last year, CTA cameras assisted police in the arrest of at least 154 individuals for crimes committed

either on or off CTA property; so far in 2013, cameras have aided in the arrest of at least 140 individuals.

The facial-recognition technology available with these cameras allows us to get digitally crisp images

that ease identifying and apprehending criminals.

Slide 38Red North Seven Facelifts

And while new technology is very important at CTA, its what people see, touch and ride that defines theCTA customer experience.

With that in mind, last year, we gave facelifts to seven stations on the north Red Line by tackling $86

million in capital maintenance work.

Most were being built in the early 1900s.

Slide 39Wilson Station Reconstruction

Well also soon start work on a new station at Wilson that will be a far cry from the current, decrepit,

90-year-old station. The new station will be a transfer point between the Red and Purple Lines. More

importantly, we believe it will serve as a new community anchor for the Uptown neighborhood and help

spur even more economic development.

Slide 40Rail & Bus Fleet Modernization

The CTA is aggressively updating its rail and bus fleets to provide customers with the modern, reliable

transportation they deserve and at the same time lowering future maintenance and operational costs to

the agency.

Slide 415000 Series Rail Cars


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We continue to take delivery of our 5000-series rail cars, the latest-generation in our rail fleet. As of last

week we had received more than 340 of the cars, nearly half of our total order, and well continue

deploying them on the Red Line through 2014.

Slide 427000 Series Rail Cars

I am also pleased to unveil the conceptual design for our new 7000 series train car, which will go out to

bid soon.

Slide 43New Bus Fleet

On the bus side, were continuing to receive brand-new buses, and to completely overhaul some of our

new busesinitiatives that will give us an almost entirely new bus fleet of more than 1,800 vehicles.

Slide 4495thStreet Terminal Improvement

But perhaps the most exciting project were starting next year is the complete reconstruction of the

terminal at 95thStreet on the Red Line.

Slide 45Old Images of 95th

When it opened in 1969, it was state of the art. Architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill incorporatedthe clean, minimalist design aesthetic of the International School trend of the time. But like the Red

Line South we just rebuilt, the terminal just doesnt meet the needs of modern-day transit.

Slide 46Platform Crowding at 95th

Today, more than 20,000 customers use the terminal on an average weekday, with 24-hour Red Line

service and over 1,000 CTA and Pace bus trips on a typical weekday.

As you can see, bus bays are overcrowded and inadequate.

Slide 47Conceptual Renderings of New 95thTerminal

We are still finalizing the design of the new terminal, but it will be larger and much more functional thanthe existing facility, safer and more pedestrian-friendly.

Slide 48Theaster Gates/Art at 95th

Because this is such a signature project and given the unique opportunity we have, we have tapped

Theaster Gates, an internationally known, Chicago-based artist to create artworks for the terminalfor

what will be the largest public artwork project in the agencys history.

Slide 49Whats It All About?

At the end of the day, the public discussion about transit is wide-ranging and complex, but really boils

down to two questions: What this all really about? And why should we care?

Slide 50Quote from GE CEO

In my view, its about two things.

First, its about Chicagos position as a world class city, remaining attractive to new visitors and

businesses, alike

Consider the recent decision by GE Transportation to relocate to Chicago.


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As you can see from this Sun-Times story, Chicagos role as a transportation hub and the mayors

commitment to rebuilding the citys infrastructure were key behind moving the company to Chicago

underscoring why there is an unprecedented level of transit and other investment by the mayor going

on in Chicago right now.

Slide 51Norquist Quote

But, in the final analysis, its about our customersthe people of this great city.

This quote former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, now a Chicagoan and CEO of the Congress on New

Urbanism, explains with power how great cities have driven human progress. Great cities are dense.

They attract people of energy and talentin the arts, in science, in commerceto live and work in close

proximity to one another, in order to share ideas and advance interests.

And if you want to ensure that urban density survives and thrives, you need strong arteries of mass

transit to carry people efficiently and conveniently to work and play, facilitating the easy interaction of

neighborhoods and downtown. Quality mass transit is a lynchpin in the job-creating, idea-creating,

wealth-creating power of great metropolises.

Slide 52Conclusion

Under the leadership of Mayor Emanuel, we have been charged to move boldly forward and bring

innovation and modernization to CTA, with an eye towards serving our riders.

And we will continue to do exactly that.

Thank you.

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