CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. retiring at end of January
CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter Jr. on Monday announced his retirement at the end of the month after 40 years of service in public transportation.
Carter's retirement is effective Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. He is leaving the CTA to become the head of St. Anthony Hospital in North Lawndale.
Carter has been on the job nearly 10 years. But over the last year, pressure has been ratcheted up to remove him amid questions of safety, cleanliness, and timeliness of buses and trains.
"I am happy that he's resigning, and I hope that we can get the next person correct," said Ald. Bill Conway (34th).
The position of CTA president is a big-money position—the annual salary of $391,000 is nearly twice the mayor's salary. Carter supporters say he also secured big money from Washington to fund big chunks of the Red Line expansion on the city's South Side.
But what Carter has done—or not done—to revive the CTA post-pandemic led to incredible efforts by riders and members of the City Council to remove him from his post. As a representation of the frustration, "Has Dorval Carter Been Fired Yet?" is an X account with nearly 1,000 followers.
Bus and rail riders outraged at ghost trains, dirty trains, and unreliable bus service were not the only ones fed up after the pandemic.
"We had to force legislation to get Dorval Carter to answer questions," said Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th).
Carter faced criticism, and calls for his resignation that made headlines last year. Vasquez finally got Carter in front of the City Council in May 2024.
At that point, the majority of alders urged Mayor Brandon Johnson to remove Carter over service issues and accountability.
But that did not happen.
"Even when asked those questions, he would feel offended that we even asked it," Vasquez said.
Carter said that he was regularly threatened by angry transit users.
"Over the course of the past year, I've had to deal with harassment, with personal physical threats, with racial epithets," Carter said in May of last year.
Carter also said in May of last year that Chicago has a history of bringing down African American men in power. He defended himself over pandemic complications.
"I didn't have any roadmap to tell me what to do during this," Carter said before the City Council in May 2024. "I tried to make the best decisions that I could."
The complaints about Carter's leadership did not subside after that. He faced more heat in the wake of multiple robberies and a mass shooting on the Blue Line that killed four people in September of last year.
DePaul University transportation expert Joe Schwieterman weighed in Monday on how Chicago's transit system has stacked up to other big cities post-pandemic.
"We have overall done OK," Schwieterman said, "but we certainly haven't dramatically outperformed some other cities and get people back on the trains, to get things on time, to make the tracker programs reflect what actually is happening out there."
Schwieterman said Carter's CTA legacy may be most remembered for what has not happened yet—securing billions for the major expansion of the Red Line deeper into the South Side, from its current terminal at 95th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway south more than four miles to 130th Street. Schwieterman credited Carter's good relationships in Congress for his success on this front.
"It took a Black man lobbying hard, working through the ups and downs of D.C.," said Ald. William Hall (6th). "How many presidents that is? Three presidents, four mayors to get it done, and so I think the resilience he showed is respected.
Who should take over?
"I think the way to do it properly, I would imagine, is to have a nationwide hunt," Vasquez said, "We have to do our due diligence, and make sure that it's somebody who instills confidence in the public."
Ald. Hall called for someone who will advance the CTA with Mayor Brandon Johnson's agenda in mind.
"Hopefully the new person brings technology, brings funding, and also safety in a way that reflects the vision that our mayor has," he said.
Mayor Johnson issued a statement Monday expressing appreciation for Carter and his achievements—particularly the Red Line expansion plan.
"The City of Chicago is grateful to President Dorval Carter for his decades of service with the Chicago Transit Authority," the mayor said in a statement. "His leadership reimagined the movement of our city. His stewardship of the Red Line Extension project is just one of the notable achievements in his historic career."
In a statement, Illinois state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) also commented on Carter's retirement.
"I would like to thank President Carter for his years of public service and I wish him the best in his retirement," he said. "I look forward to continuing to work with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority and all stakeholders to ensure our region has a safe, reliable and accessible world-class public transit system that is accountable to our taxpayers, commuters and all of our residents."
The CTA has seen ridership spike lately. Just last month, the agency announced it had hired more than 1,000 new bus operators and trained and qualified more than 200 new rail operators in 2024.
Carter first became CTA president in 2015. He succeeded former mayoral chief of staff, Chicago Park District superintendent, and Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool—who was appointed as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Before becoming CTA president role, Carter was acting chief of staff to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Carter was also acting president of the CTA from January to April 2009—having first joined the CTA in 2000 after serving as Acting Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Commission.
One of the loudest criticisms of Carter is a lack of transparency and listening to complaints.
CBS News Chicago has asked Dorval Carter for an interview several times over the last year, and those requests were routinely denied.
