Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently issued a joint statement with CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) President Dorval Carter Jr and ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill announcing that they are working on solutions to combat crime on public transportation.

Recent shootings that occurred on Chicago public transportation has CTA passengers and employees concerned for their safety. ABC News reported that on the afternoon of June 26, two men boarded a CTA bus at Chicago and Pulaski and shot a 17-year-old boy to death and wounded another passenger. The bus driver jumped out through his window to escape harm. As of June 21, there had been 391 violent crimes, including assaults, batteries, and homicides, reported on the CTA so far in 2022, representing a 37% increase from the same time period last year.

"Right now, no operator, no train person feels safe coming to work," Keith Hill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 said, according to ABC. "The attacks are up, the assaults are up, now we've got a murder on a bus." Hill added, "It's not a CTA problem, it's a city problem that's trickling onto the system." 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill, and CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. have issued the following joint statement.

"This evening we met with the hardworking men and women who drive our city buses every day and make sure the thousands of residents who rely on public transportation get to their destination safely. Equally important is that the hardworking men and women of the CTA, whether bus or rail, deserve to be safe in their workplace and we are committed to continuing to work together to ensure the safety of our workers across our transit system," read the statement that has been posted to Twitter. "Together, we are also evaluating our options to create tougher consequences for those who commit crimes against transit workers and in or against transit properties. We will continue to take the steps necessary to protect both transit employees and riders alike."

On June 15 around 3:30 pm, a man was shot to death at the entrance to a Red Line station in Chatham, CBS News reported. CBS reported that crime on the CTA is at its highest level since 2015. Eric Dixon, president of Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 308, said, "A lot of people don't feel safe coming to their jobs, and then we have issues from that with absenteeism and things of that nature … they're afraid." Dixon said that despite promises from the mayor's office and the police department of more security on the CTA, there hasn't been any change.

SafeWise's annual 2022 State of Safety survey found that only 42% of Illinois residents report feeling safe, while 64% reported feeling "high daily concern" for their safety. 13% of respondents reported experiencing gun violence firsthand, an increase from 8% the previous year. Mass shooting incidents in Illinois increased by 25% from 2020 to 2021.