UChicago's Trusted Transit Nerds
UChicago Transit Enthusiasts and Explorers fosters a community for students interested in transit/transportation within the Chicagoland area and beyond.
Check out our New Member Guide to learn about joining UCTEE and join our Discord to engage with our growing community of undergraduates and graduate students, and/or join our Listhost by requesting to join us on Blueprint.
We are UChicago Transit Enthusiasts & Explorers
UChicago Transit Enthusiasts & Explorer seeks to engage, educate, and advocate around transportation and urban planning in Chicagoland and beyond. Through these three pillars, we foster a community for students interested in transit/transportation.
Some events we have held in the past include:
- Springfield Advocacy in support of funding the CTA
- Trip to the Illinois Railway Museum
- ORD Airport Operations Tour
- A Talk with Trains are Awesome
- and so much more!
We hold events almost weekly during the academic quarter, with select off-weeks during midterm and finals season. Because we don’t have regular meeting times, we mainly organize through our Discord and Listhost. Learn more about joining by visiting our New Members Guide.
Our Mission
We seek to engage, educate, and advocate around transportation and urban planning in Chicagoland and beyond. Through these three pillars, we foster a community for students interested in transit/transportation.
Engage
We ENGAGE through our transit excursions. Transit excursions are activities in the city that we subsidize or offer at a low-cost to members. Each excursion is different, but they all share a common characteristic: they are accessible on public transit or connected to transportation. In the past, we have held trips to the Illinois Railway Museum, Pullman National Park, Garfield Conservatory, and more.
Our goal: get students off campus, reduce stigma around Chicago transit, build community, spark city exploration, and encourage connection with local residents.
Educate
We EDUCATE through a speaker series, networking, and industry partnerships. We’ve worked with CTA, American Airlines, Delta, the Chicago Department of Aviation, YPT Chicago, and others. Our speakers—often UChicago alumni—cover Data Science in Transit, Social Equity in Fare Enforcement, Airline Network Planning, and more.
We also run joint events and competitions, including our annual Transit Datathon and Jet Lag competition against Northwestern Aviation.
Advocate
We ADVOCATE through our partnerships with community action groups and opportunities to move on pressing transit issues. We work with community stakeholders to identify flaws in our city’s transit network and we take action.
Some examples of prior actions organized by our club have been travelling to Springfield to lobby for CTA funding and against cuts to transit, boosting petitions calling on reform in the leadership of the Regional Transportation Agency, and inviting speakers from the community to educate on other issues plaguing quality service.