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Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA") Reliability Tracker

Overview

This project (and associated PowerBi Report) was created to help provide insight and transparency into the current service levels of the Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA") rail network. Utilizing the CTA API and Train Tracker Map, it can be determined when a train arrives at a specific station along the line. Using this data, the number of arrivals can be determined and compared to the number scheduled via the GTFS feed of published schedules.

Station Selection

The station selected along each line is one where all trains, regardless of destination, will arrive. For example, Logan Square can capture Forest Park, UIC-Halsted and even runs that terminate at the Rosemont yard. Trains that operate around the loop and then return to their originating stations (Brown, Orange, Pink and Purple) have only one direction tracked. For trains that do not return to origin (Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow) tracking is done in both directions because these are considered separate trips.

The following stations were selected to monitor each of the 8 CTA Lines in operation:

  • Blue - Logan Square
    • O'Hare bound
    • Forest Park & UIC-Halsted bound
  • Brown - Addison
    • Loop bound
  • Green - California
    • Ashland/63rd & Cottage Grove bound
    • Harlem/Lake bound
  • Orange - Halsted
    • Loop bound
  • Pink - Polk
    • Loop bound
  • Purple - South Boulevard
    • Howard & Loop bound
  • Red - Grand/State
    • Howard bound
    • 95th bound
  • Yellow - Oakton-Skokie
    • Dempster-Skokie bound
    • Howard bound

Equipment

  • I use a Google Cloud Compute E2 Micro to run the program 24/7, however the program can be run on theoretically anything capable of running Python scripts.

Installation

  • Create API access token on the CTA Transit Tracker developer site
  • No API access token required for the CTA Train Tracker Map
    • (You can opt to just use one, however both are recommended)
  • Clone the repository on your endpoint of choice with the following git clone https://github.com/brandonmcfadd/cta-reliability.git
  • Change into the working directory of the cloned repository cd cta-reliability
  • Install the required dependencies pip install -r requirements.txt
  • Edit the file named .env_example to include your API Key and Default File Path. Then rename this file to .env

Configuration

  • Enable the portions you want to use by changing False to True in the settings.json file
  • To change the station being monitored modify the Station/Stop Information (station-ids and map-station-ids) in the settings.json file with the station code(s) you want to use.
    • The Train Tracker API uses Station ID's in integer form, while the Train Tracker Map uses them in float form (I wish I understood why it is this way)
  • 'L' Station codes can be found on the following site from the City of Chicago's Data Portal.

Running the program

Power Bi Report