The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently directed the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) to submit a new Security Enhancement Plan within 90 days or it will withhold as much as $50 million in federal funding.
The FTA said CTA’s plan failed to address a high rate of assaults and other crimes against passengers and transit employees. According to a baseline metric, there is an average of eight assaults per month, equating to two victims per week. The CTA plan maintains this rate for the first three months and targets seven assaults per month, or 1.75 victims per week, for the latter three months.
“I’ll say it plainly: CTA, city, and state leaders are failing transit riders and operators,” Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro said. “This plan fails to measurably reduce incidents of assaults and improve overall safety on buses and trains. If people’s safety is at risk, so are federal funds. CTA must act to save lives and improve safety.”
FTA issued a special directive on Dec. 8 after a CTA passenger was set on fire by a repeat criminal with a reported 72 prior arrests.
If CTA does not comply, FTA has threatened to withhold 25 percent of Urbanized Area Formula program funds.