The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), along with the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace, are continuing to celebrate Earth Day and encourage everyone to celebrate Earth Day this year by riding the region's transit system and celebrate its benefits to our planet.
Earth Day is Friday, April 22, but the RTA will celebrate Earth Day all week, sharing two benefits a day of ways transit helps the region. The RTA encourages everyone to share this information on social media pages using the hash tag #EarthDayChi and remind friends and family about the many benefits transit offers our region.
Today’s two benefits of our region’s transit system are:
- Every $1 billion invested in public transportation supports and creates more than 50,000 jobs.
- Pace provides Wi-Fi on its new express buses, as well as on the I-55 Bus-on-Shoulder routes, allowing customers to have a more productive commute. Metra installed Wi-Fi in the waiting areas of all its downtown stations in 2015 and is currently testing Wi-Fi onboard the trains on every one of its 11 lines. The CTA continues to phase in 4G service at various Red and Blue Line subway stations throughout 2016.
Earth Day is one of the largest events in the world when people of all ages and backgrounds pledge to improve and protect the environment. The first Earth Day, celebrated nearly 45 years ago, on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed.
