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Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. “The CTA has invested significantly in equipment and systems to keep employees safe, and we’re always working with the leadership and members of ATU to enhance those efforts.” “The safety and security of our employees is our top priority, and we work very closely with CPD to ensure the safest environment possible,” CTA President Dorval R. The CTA issued the following statement in response to Block Club’s inquiry: It’s unclear whether these guards have been deployed. Last month, CTA officials announced they would double the number of security guards on buses and trains.
Chicago bus driver beaten drivers#
In December, CTA bus drivers and train operators shut down Michigan Avenue as they protested the increase in violence and threats.

“I’m leaving in a few years, but the way things are set up right now, I don’t know if I will get out of here alive. “They say, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ ‘I’m going to shoot you,’ ‘I’m going to stab you.’ All the time,” said the employee, who has been with the CTA for over 20 years. A booth worker at a CTA ‘L” station previously told Block Club he is threatened at least twice a week on the job. He was trying to help the riders.”Ĭomplaints about bad behavior have climbed since the start of the pandemic, a trend impacting transit systems around the country as ridership dropped by 50 percent, CTA officials said.Īmong the increase in unruly behavior is violence and threats of violence against transit workers.Ī bus driver in West Pullman was shot at last year after telling someone to wear a mask. “We, as transit workers are their care takers, but we are not equipped for that. They declined to be named, citing potential retaliation. “What happened with this operator is a total breakdown of society,” one organizer with the transit group said. No arrests have been made in the case as officials continue to investigate. Francis Hospital with soreness and released Monday night, according to CTA. The operator did not make contact with the electrified third rail. The worker was attacked after responding to a customer who said their phone had fallen onto the tracks, according to police. … Our safety is neglected by the CTA.”Ī man that operates CTA Red Line trains was pushed onto the tracks around 8:30 p.m. “The trauma we endure is wearing away at our souls. “All of us here have been assaulted or threatened with assault,” Eric Basir, organizer with the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition, said at the protest. The coalition held a protest Saturday on the South Side, involving current and retired CTA workers. They want the CTA to require two-person crews so workers are better protected. Members of the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition said front-line transit workers are not getting enough help from the CTA when they are threatened or assaulted on the job. CHICAGO - A coalition of CTA bus drivers and train operators is demanding stricter safety precautions in the face of more frequent attacks on transit workers, highlighted after someone pushed a train operator onto the Red Line tracks in Edgewater this week.
