The two CTA-700 buses make the CTA the first major public transit system with all-electric buses in the country. Photo by the Chicago Transit Authority.

Sustainability is a major area of focus in cities throughout the country. From climate action plans that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from government buildings, to bans on plastic bags at restaurants and grocery stores, sustainability initiatives have gained traction as city officials become more concerned about their local environments. Yet, an area of city life that has gone overlooked in the local sustainability movement is public transit.

In Chicago, sustainability in public transit has arrived through buses. Since October of 2014, the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) fleet of vehicles has included two all-electric buses. Known as the CTA 700-series, the buses make the CTA the first major public transit system in the country to use all-electric buses in their daily operations.

The CTA-700 buses are used on routes such as Route 52, which takes riders through Northwest neighborhoods such as Logan Square to Chicago Lawn on the city’s Southwest side. Photo by Gregory Hampton.

Purchased through grant funding from the U.S Department of Transportation and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the electric buses are designed to save the city an average of $25,000 a year in fuel costs. In addition, each bus is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 121 tons a year, which is the equivalent of emissions produced by 23 passenger vehicles (as calculated by an easy-to-use Emissions Calculator from the federal Department of Energy).

Even with the projected energy and emissions savings, the CTA has a long way to become the nation’s first public transit system completely dependent on all-electric buses. The two buses are just a snapshot of the 1,800 currently in the CTA fleet. In addition, plans for future CTA 700s may be dependent on data gathered from their performance in extreme weather conditions as a part of the CTA’s grant agreements. However, the buses are a major step in creating a more sustainable public transit system for the 2.7 million people that call the Windy City home.