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CTA plans systemwide tactile blue bus-stop signs, pilot to add route decals for visually impaired riders
Summary
CTA presented progress on a tactile blue bus-stop sign pilot and a planned systemwide rollout funded by an RTA grant; CTA aims to complete installations systemwide by early 2029 and will test route-direction decals and e‑ink where needed.
Jeremy Safran, senior manager of traffic planning at the Chicago Transit Authority, told the ADA advisory committee that CTA has installed more than 3,000 tactile blue bus-stop signs since July 2022 under an RTA grant pilot and that a June CTA Board contract will enable a full rollout to more than 10,000 stops systemwide.
“We were awarded a grant from RTA to pay for a pilot rollout, and since July 2022, we’ve rolled out over 3,000 signs on over 3,000 bus stops on 25 different routes,” Safran said. He added that the new contract includes a three-year base with two one-year options for continuing production and installation.
Safran described a planned decals pilot to add route- and direction-specific printed information beneath the raised lettering and braille. The decal design can fit two routes and a direction on a single sticker and would cover about 93% of stops; locations that serve many routes could be candidates for more expensive e‑ink signs. CTA’s timeline calls for stakeholder testing of 100 decal locations, manufacture in September and field installation as early as October, with systemwide completion targeted by 2029 contingent on production and crew availability.
Committee members raised quality-assurance concerns about braille accuracy, durability in Chicago weather, and how service changes would be reflected. Safran said CTA will coordinate QA/QC, perform stakeholder testing with organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind and Chicago Lighthouse, and accept emailed feedback and in-person trials. He emphasized that in-house forces will perform installations and that production scaling is constrained by mold and manufacturing lead times.
The committee recommended a formal QA/QC plan and outreach to local blindness and independent-living organizations for pilot evaluation. CTA staff encouraged riders to file complaints at transitchicago.org to log missed assistance and operational problems so the agency can target retraining and enforcement.
Provenance: presentation and Q&A on tactile bus-stop signs (Jeremy Safran).
