CTA given two weeks to fix safety plan or lose $50M in federal funds

Name: CTA has two weeks to submit new safety plan to secure federal funding
Uploaded: 2026-03-05T17:59:02-06:00
Description: The CTA has two weeks to turn in a new safety plan to the feds. This is all about keeping you safe after what's happened lately.

CTA has two weeks to submit new safety plan to secure federal funding

The CTA has two weeks to turn in a new safety plan to the feds. This is all about keeping you safe after what's happened lately.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Transit Authority has two weeks to submit a new safety plan to the Federal Transit Administration, or risk losing $50 million in funding. That accounts for about 25% of the CTA's operating funds, as the FTA cited alleged failures by the CTA to meaningfully address crime.

What we know:

In a letter published last December, the Federal Transit Administration said CTA is out of compliance with a special safety directive issued earlier this month that requires measurable reductions in transit worker and customer assaults, along with a surge in security staffing.

The agency rejected CTA’s security enhancement plan, calling it "materially deficient" and inadequate to ensure immediate improvements in safety.

If CTA does not submit a revised plan and obtain federal approval by March 19, the FTA said it will withhold 25% of the funds the agency receives under federal law. The notice serves as a formal warning under federal transit safety statutes and regulations.

The FTA said CTA’s plan failed to set monthly reduction targets for assaults over the next six months, as required, and did not propose significant increases in security or law enforcement presence on buses and trains.

In a statement last December, FTA Administrator Marc Molinaro said,

"I'll say it plainly: CTA, city, and state leaders are failing transit riders and operators. 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."

Federal officials noted that baseline data show roughly two CTA workers each week are assaulted severely enough to require ambulance transport or result in death. In December, Molinaro appeared on Chicago Live to talk about what the FTA is looking for from the CTA in the plan.

"The state and the city ought to be invested in both prevention intervention and enforcement tools to support CTA and develop a strategy that protects workers and protects the riders of the system," said Molinaro. "If they can develop such a plan that through their submission reduces month on month significantly reduces assaults on workers and riders then the action of withholding dollars may not be necessary."

Alderman Jim Gardiner, 45th Ward told Fox Chicago in January the interim president of the CTA, Nora Leerhsen, reached out to his office for a meeting to address public safety. On Thursday, Gardiner said Leerhsen has still not committed to a meeting with him as previously promised. We asked Gardiner about the perception of safety on the CTA and what he hears from his constituents.

"I think this hammers home with the fact that there needs to be changes, it needs to be addressed," said Gardiner. "These are taxpaying Chicagoans, these are people going to work every day and coming home, these are people who have their wife their daughter coming home on these trains or going to work, they deserve the right to be safe."

What's being done to address safety now?

The FTA's demands come as the CTA and Chicago police are deploying dozens of additional officers across the system. The initiative increases the average number of sworn officers patrolling buses and trains from 77 per day to 120.

In addition to increased police patrols, the CTA is expanding its private K-9 security teams, adding more canine units systemwide.

The safety push comes in the wake of a horrifying incident in November, when a man set a woman on fire aboard a CTA train, a case that intensified concerns about safety on public transit.

A frequent CTA rider named Kate told FOX 32 she feels a general level of safety on the CTA and is very skeptical of the Trump administration's involvement.

"Any sort of threats to dismantle or weaken our public transit system by revoking, or threatening to revoke funds would be very damaging to our city," she said.

On Thursday, Fox Chicago spoke with Tio Hardiman, executive director of Violence Interrupters. In January, we introduced you to members of their team who rode the CTA one night, in the hopes of adding extra security for rides.

Violence Interrupters say they are specially trained to de-escalate dangerous situations. Hardiman gave us one example of how they did that.

You've got to have people on them trains that know how it looks," said Hardiman. "You know how that looks, when a person is about to commit an act of violence, like this one guy gave me a switch blade one time on the train. He reluctantly gave me the switchblade, but he gave it to me. He was looking at me like, look, man, you're in my business, but I'm not really in your business, bro, I'm here to help you. So my thing is once you get the right individuals on the train, that know how to communicate and network with that population, you'll be okay."

While Hardiman feels it's a good idea to have more police officers patrolling trains and buses, he feels it's going to take more than added police presence to make things safer on the CTA. Fox Chicago asked him about his proposed solution.

"The only thing missing on CTA right now is the community outreach component. We perform community outreach services on the train," said Hardiman. "Since December, we actually have worked with about maybe about a good 30-40 individuals that board the train, some of the people have drug problems, some of people were homeless. It would be an honor to compliment the services on CTA, help keep passengers safe and with the City of Chicago."