Chicago transit violent crime at 7 year high, funding concerns persist

By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – With federal authorities now threatening to cut Chicago Transit Authority funding due to rising violence across the system, Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford worries actions being taken by the federal government could put vulnerable riders even more at risk.

Chicago police data shows at the same time transit system arrests have dropped, overall violent crime across the system hit its second-highest level since 2015 in the 12 months ending in July. Riders reported 2,893 crimes or 2.7 transgressions for every 100,000 riders.

Ford, D-Chicago, said the government’s growing funding threats only stand to exacerbate the problem.

“This government clearly has decided to take a position of cutting funds because of crime, but they’ve cut funds to reduce funding for housing, for substance abuse, for crime prevention,” Ford told The Center Square. “When you have the federal government cutting funds for safety net programs and at the same time saying that we need to reduce crime they’re actually playing a role in making sure that people don’t have the resources they need. You had a federal government that used to be a partner, now the federal government is the enemy and that’s impacting all of Illinois.”

With less than 1-in-5 of all such crimes ending in arrest, data highlights most of the carnage was concentrated in the same areas of the city, topped by the South Side’s Red Line at over 3.5 transgressions out of every 100,000 riders.

While the most common crime reported was battery, statistics also show at least four murders took place on CTA property.

“The violence that they’re experiencing comes from societal problems that’s created by not supporting people in poverty,” Ford said. “We need to address why the violence is taking place and we know poverty is one of the factors. We need to meet the needs of the people, and you will see that crime will go down.”

With all the questions about funding and the system’s 2026 budget proposal calling for an additional $130 million in spending, CTA officials are already considering the system’s first fare hike in seven years at as much as a 25-cents increase to base bus and rail fares.