As the Chicago Transit Authority looks to draw back riders, the agency is grappling with spikes in violent crime and complaints that more riders are breaking rules, leading to issues like smoke-filled train cars.
For much of 2021 and 2020, police issued more tickets for smoking, drinking and other infractions on the CTA, per million riders, than they did the year before the pandemic, a Tribune analysis of ticketing data shows.
Meanwhile, violent crime on the system was up in 2021 compared with 2020, and was also up at the beginning of this year, according to Chicago police.
The data sheds light on what it has been like to ride CTA buses and trains during the pandemic. Now, as residents are returning to offices and resuming outings, agencies must think carefully about how they address the situation, because many riders with the option to work from home might need convincing to come back to buses and trains, said Chris Van Eyken, program manager at the New York-based transportation advocacy organization TransitCenter.
“Just the perception of the quality of service you’re going to get could be a huge barrier for riders,” he said.
Police and CTA officials recently announced plans to address both crime and rule-breaking, saying they would be doubling the number of unarmed security guards and adding more police officers and supervisors to patrol the transit system, including on the busy Red and Blue lines and including a focus on gang and narcotics crimes.
The announcement came as crime on the CTA was up nearly 56% in January and February compared with the same time last year, according to Chicago police. Violent crime was up 24%, and property crimes, which include offenses like theft, more than doubled.
Asked about CTA crime at a press conference Friday, Lightfoot said the visibility of police on trains, buses and at stations was critical.
“It is the lifeblood of our city, and many of our residents depend upon the CTA, whether bus, rail, or a combination, to get from their homes, to get to their jobs,” she said. “And we need to make sure that they have confidence that when they swipe in to get on the train, to get on the bus, that they’re going to be safe. And that’s why that heightened police presence, and protecting, frankly, the CTA workers, is also important.”
The spike in crime could be partly tied to the stress of the pandemic, said Sheehan Fisher, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. As the pandemic has surged and waned, many have faced restrictions on activities, economic fallout and barriers to accessing normal ways of relieving stress.
Anxiety can lead to irritability and agitation, which can escalate, especially when two people experiencing the same irritability and agitation interact, he said. More severe irritability can lead to aggression.
That could also be part of what’s behind rule-breaking on CTA trains and buses, he said.
“As that stress comes, they just need to relieve it when it happens,” he said. “And they’re not so concerned about the social norms of how it’s appropriate to relieve stress or when it’s appropriate.”
The overall number of tickets issued for violating CTA rules was lower in both 2020 and 2021 than it was pre-pandemic, ticketing data shows. But it didn’t drop as much as the number of riders on CTA trains and buses, meaning more tickets were issued per ride.
Most tickets for violating CTA’s rules in 2021 were issued for smoking on the CTA. Possession or consumption of alcohol was the second most common type of ticket.
Ticketing data for 2022 is incomplete, because there can be a lag between when the ticket is issued and when it is scheduled for a hearing by the Department of Administrative Hearings, which is when it would appear in the data, city officials said.
But so far most tickets this year have been issued for smoking. And many riders in recent days said smoking has been among their key issues.
Jordyn Washington, 19, said she has noticed more smokers recently, though she wasn’t sure if time spent off transit during the pandemic highlighted the problem when she returned.
“(Especially when the) weather’s bad, I gotta get to where I gotta go,” she said, as she waited at the UIC-Halsted station on the Blue Line. “I guess that’s why it’s frustrating as well. It’s like, you’re on public transit, why do you gotta make it difficult for other people?”
Still, a bigger problem for her was delayed arrival times. She takes public transit nearly everywhere, she said, including from her job, where she works a closing shift and gets off around 10:30 p.m. She often has a lengthy wait at that time of night, she said.
Jack Johnson, 57, returned to the Red Line in recent months after a hiatus during the pandemic. He said he’s been surprised at the number of people he has encountered “casually smoking” on the train during his commute to work from Thorndale to the North/Clybourn station.
“There are two things that make Chicago a really livable city, and that’s the lake and the transit system,” he said. “And the lake’s pretty static, it’s not going away. But the transit system seems like it’s slipping.”
Transit officials have pegged recent behavior on fewer riders, saying that has emboldened some of the existing customers to act out.
Ridership in the first two months of 2022 was more than 40% higher than at the start of 2021 and behavior has gotten better as riders returned, but it’s still worse than CTA would like it to be, spokesman Brian Steele said.
By the same token, discussion and complaints about rule-breaking are likely to rise as riders return, because more people are around to see a violation take place, he said.
“As more people return to the system, we are certain that there will be fewer people violating the basic quality-of-life issues, like smoking, like littering, like playing music too loudly, like soliciting, things of that nature,” he said.
Rule-breaking, like smoking on buses or trains, will be among the issues addressed by additional private security guards, Steele said.
The private security guards could help be a deterrent, and will work with police as needed, CTA President Dorval Carter has said. They will also be trained in de-escalation, and to work with people who have been experiencing homelessness and sleeping on trains.
“The strategy that we’re deploying — which is really to try to get social services more involved on CTA and providing support to help them deal with their challenges and hopefully get them into a better situation than being on public transit — I think, is the solution,” Carter said. “I think it’s also safe to say that there’s nothing good about living on public transportation.”
CTA has long housed some people, but homeless advocates have noticed an increase in people sleeping on trains during the pandemic, said Julie Dworkin, director of policy for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.
That’s likely because there have been fewer beds available in shelters, as many lowered capacity to encourage social distancing during the pandemic, she said. Some people have also been reluctant to stay in group settings because of COVID-19. Others might find friends or family reluctant to host them with a contagious virus spreading.
Dworkin wasn’t sure how much the CTA security guards would help those sheltering on trains, without new resources to offer them. Any attempts by security or the police to remove homeless people or disproportionately enforce rules against them would be concerning, she said.
Rather, the coalition is calling for dedicated city funding for housing for people experiencing homelessness.
Boosting the use of private security and police raised questions for Kate Lowe, an associate professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies transportation.
Social workers trained to support riders and de-escalate issues would be one alternative, she said. Though CTA has said the unarmed guards will receive similar training, that’s ultimately not their primary purpose, she said.
“It’s a Band-Aid,” she said. “Not addressing underlying issues.”
But to Van Eyken at TransitCenter, security guards could serve as a non-police deterrent, while also supplementing officers. They could take on roles that might not be police specialties, like fare enforcement or connecting someone in need to services.
“Agencies need to think of a more holistic approach here and think of ways that they can make all riders feel safe coming back,” he said.
