‘I stared down the barrel of a gun’: Lawmakers focus on transit safety at hearing
As CTA workers described harrowing violence on buses and trains, city and suburban lawmakers pledged to help make the transit system safer during a Tuesday state hearing in Springfield.
“I stared down the barrel of a gun, praying for God’s grace,” CTA operator Michelle Griffin said, recounting how she was robbed while boarding her bus by two men wielding semiautomatic pistols in April 2024.
Longtime CTA driver Eric Sylvester said he hadn’t encountered significant dangers until this March when a passenger shot a young man through the front door of his bus. “My shield shattered … there was a bullet hole directly behind my head, meaning if I had been sitting straight up, I might not be here now.”
The witness accounts came as legislators are negotiating governance reforms and funding solutions for Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority.
“We are here to make sure our transit workers who work on these very important systems are protected,” said Democratic state Rep. Marty Moylan of Des Plaines, chair of the House Transportation: Regulation, Roads & Bridges Committee.
The three agencies and Regional Transportation Authority have warned a $770 million budget gap looms in 2026, when COVID-19 federal aid runs out.
Legislators are divided on whether to fix transit by merging the four agencies or by giving the RTA greater oversight powers.
But at Tuesday’s hearing, Republicans and Democrats agreed that safety is an overlooked priority.
“It’s important that we don’t get stopped by interagency fights,” Moylan said. “We have to get a full-time police force on these systems as soon as possible.”
Witnesses said crime has increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve witnessed (the system) go from a strong police and undercover presence to nearly none,” said Keith Hill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241.
“They’re spending more money on violence prevention than we’re spending on preventing violence … it’s nonsense,” Democratic Chicago Rep. Marcus Evans said. “Look at all the people who aren’t riding the trains.”
In the short term, union officials advocated for larger, more robust shields for bus drivers.
Republican state Rep. Brad Stephens of Rosemont, whose district includes Chicago, endorsed that idea and said the status quo was “just insane. It seems unfathomable that somebody’s not taking this a little bit more seriously.”
State Rep. Matt Hanson, a Kane County Democrat and BNSF Railroad engineer, said “I think a lot of things are going to happen between now and this getting addressed properly — there’s going to be some tough love on all the agencies and the way they do things but it’s not going to be on your backs. It’s not going to be at the expense of your safety.”