Amid push for mass transit reforms, CTA bus drivers call for greater police presence on routes

Working conditions have gotten more dangerous for CTA bus drivers over the last decade, a group of drivers testified during an Illinois House Transportation Committee hearing this week.

In 2024, 184 CTA employees reported being assaulted while on the job, according to Keith Hill, president of the Local 241 labor union that represents CTA and Pace bus drivers and mechanics.

“Those are just reported physical assaults, those are not the people who were spat on, or cussed at, or had a weapon pulled on them,” Hill told the Sun-Times.

The CTA spent about $83 million on private security contracts last year, an amount bus drivers described as severely inadequate to deal with the mounting threat they, along with riders, face on their routes.

“We see the individuals day after day, the same threats, the same violence, because the word is out, there’s no one coming to help us,” Hill said. “Not because (the Chicago Police Department) doesn’t care, but because they are overwhelmed and they are stretched thin, and we are paying the price.”

Michelle Griffin has been a bus driver since November 1998. On April 11, 2024 Griffin was held at gunpoint as she was boarding her bus.

“Two young men armed with Dracos [semi-automatic pistols] approached me, demanded everything. I relinquished,” Griffin said at the hearing Tuesday. “Thirty dollars, that’s what my life would have amounted out to. Thirty dollars, that was the price of my security and peace of mind.”

Griffin was joined by roughly a dozen other CTA employees giving their own testimony, or holding photos of bruises, stab and gunshot wounds operators received on the job.

CTA bus driver Lee Key described getting shot and scarred by a paintball gun as he finished his route. Another CTA driver, Eric Sylvester, said a bullet came so close to hitting him in March. “If I was sitting straight up, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Earlier this month, the CTA’s board of directors approved a $1.2 million contract extension with ZeroEyes to incorporate its gun-detecting surveillance technology into 1,500 cameras through the summer of 2026.

The CTA issued a statement saying it understands "the challenges that our bus operators face and work tirelessly to make investments that supplement the efforts of our primary law enforcement partner, the Chicago Police Department, to keep them safe."

The agency said it adjusts its deployment of private security and CPD officers on buses based on community input. "The CTA works closely with CPD to identify and apprehend suspects who are involved in cases of harassment or assault on our employees," the agency stated.

According to Hill, none of the individuals who assaulted the drivers that testified earlier this week have been caught.

Last year, the state passed legislation permitting the Chicago Transit Board, the governing arm of the CTA, to fine and even revoke riding privileges from individuals that create an unsafe environment for workers.

Hill said that helps, but the lack of a police or security presence is also needed to improve safety on city buses and trains.

“We’re going to get the money for that,” state Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, told the Sun-Times. “It’s just unrealistic that the CTA doesn’t take care of drivers and the mayor is invisible.”

Moylan is chair of the state’s transportation committee, and is a strong proponent of public transit reform in the Chicago area.

Transit needs to be safer to get ridership back, he said. “You could have an expansion of Metra [police], you could work with the sheriff's [department], or we could have a whole dedicated force, and we’re going to get the money for that.”