CTA president Dorval Carter announces retirement
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CTA president Dorval Carter at Garfield Green Line Station in 2019. Photo: Youngrae Kim for The Washington Post via Getty Images
CTA president and CEO Dorval Carter announced Monday he'll retire at the end of the month.
Why it matters: Carter has been under fire in recent years from other city officials and CTA riders who think the leader hasn't done enough to improve service since the pandemic decimated ridership.
- Public officials from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to half of the Chicago City Council have called on Carter to be fired or to resign, citing slow bus and train service and riders calling out dirty and unsafe conditions.
Between the lines: Carter's recent tenure has been so rocky that social media accounts like "Has Dorval Carter been fired yet" were created.
Reality check: Carter has taken some recent victory laps. On Friday, he joined Mayor Brandon Johnson, Sen. Dick Durbin and members of Congress to celebrate a $1.9 billion federal funding agreement that will help CTA's decades-in-the-making Red Line Extension Project.
- CTA announced recently it had returned to pre-pandemic service levels with a 20% boost in scheduled weekly roundtrips on all eight train lines.
Flashback: Carter has led the CTA since 2015, appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but started working for the agency in 1984 as an attorney and has served in a number of different roles.
- He also worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration.
What they're saying: "Since I became chair in 2021, I have seen firsthand his [Carter's] unwavering commitment to equity and his passion for this agency, which is exemplified through transformative projects like the Red Line Extension. His legacy will leave a lasting impact on CTA, and we are grateful for his dedicated service," Chicago Transit Board chairman Lester Barclay said.
The other side: "I'm grateful that we can turn a new chapter and have a president who is invested in the customer experience, improving safety and reliability, and someone who is an avid user of our world class transit system," Ald. Andre Vasquez, a Carter critic, told Axios.
What's next: Carter will retire on Jan. 31 and plans to serve as president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital on Chicago's West Side.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Ald. Andre Vasquez.