CTA banned riders list needs better enforcement, transit worker union leaders say

CBS News

13-05-2025

Flashing guns, assaulting workers, and punching passengers are among the offenses that can land CTA passengers on a banned riders list.
But that list can be difficult to enforce. Thus, some people are pushing for new methods of doing so.
Since January of last year, the Chicago Transit Authority has asked administrative law judges to suspend ridership 30 times. Eight suspensions have been approved.
But union leaders representing bus and train operators said that figure does not even crack the surface of what they are up against, and they need new solutions.
Representing CTA bus operators, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 President Keith Hill, representing bus operators, said the current system is not working. He called for the return of a dedicated police force for the CTA.
"So that's what the fight in Springfield, one of our fights is — to bring back the police force," he said.
Hill is petitioning lawmakers to ramp up security, and said he is disappointed that only 11 riders have been suspended.
"A joke. It's a joke," he said. "So you ban a person, they are approved by the court — who's going to enforce it? Not my operators."
The CTA said when someone's ridership is suspended, a bulletin with an image and details is shared with CTA employees, contracted security companies, and Chicago Police.
But it has been demonstrated how some cases fall through the cracks.
Robert Cook, 47, who stands accused of groping multiple women and attacking other people on CTA trains and platforms, had previously been banned from the system and shouldn't have been on CTA property in the first place.
But Brii Williams caught him on video harassing her on a Loop 'L' train — putting his leg on hers and refusing to remove another seat, and then threatening her and swearing at her as he left.
Cook is now charged with several felonies, including battery of a transit employee.
Pennie McCoach, president and business agent of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 — representing train service workers — said she was not surprised by the fact that Cook was able to keep getting on trains.
"Absolutely not," she said. "My members go through this each and every day."
McCoach joined the call for a dedicated police force, while Hill said he will take all the help his bus operators can get.
"You have a monitor on buses," he said. "Why not let the passengers know that this person can't or shouldn't be on the bus? Why not allowed alert them too? Put their picture up on that monitor screen."
CBS News Chicago asked a transportation expert what other cities might be doing. Some examples he gave us include an app for instantly reporting issues, biometrics and facial scanners, or even select trains or times when passengers know a security guard will be onboard.