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Acting president summarizes 100 days, legislative outreach and security initiatives
Summary
Acting President Nora summarized her first 100 days, outlined legislative outreach in Springfield seeking additional funding, described new safety and outreach missions with CPD and overnight canine deployments on the Red Line, and said CTA will report further on targeted pilots and security strategies.
Acting CTA President Nora briefed the board on May 14 about the first 100 days of her leadership, ongoing legislative outreach in Springfield and steps the agency is taking on safety and rider-facing service initiatives.
Nora framed her work in four buckets—people driven, performance focused, welcoming places, and partnerships—and described staff activity in each area. Highlights she reported included: - Legislative outreach: Nora said she has met with state legislators in Springfield to press for additional funding and to explain how a corrected funding formula would affect CTA service and local districts; she said she would continue to be a resource to legislators as the session closes.
- Safety and security initiatives: Nora reported targeted missions with the Chicago Police Department that include anti-smoking enforcement operations tied to CTA complaint data and “safety outreach missions” in which officers visit platforms to engage riders positively. She said Chicago Police activity produced nearly 2,000 smoking-related tickets so far this year and that over 100 tickets came from focused missions.
- Overnight security deployments: Nora said CTA started overnight canine missions on the Red Line from Cermak to 95th Street, covering every station overnight, seven days a week. She described this as part of a broader approach combining police, CTA security guards and outreach/street-services partnerships to make deployments more targeted and visible.
- Employee support and trauma response: Nora emphasized CTA offers employee assistance and adjusted post-incident mental-health training (branded as “CTA Cares”) for managers and staff following on-right-of-way fatalities and similar incidents.
- Service and performance: Nora cited progress in hiring (more than 5,000 hires in two years; bus operators exceed pre-2019 levels) and the launch of the frequent bus network, which she said is producing ridership increases on routes where frequency was added.
Board reaction and requests: directors praised the engagement and requested regular, concise updates that link pilot/security outcomes to measurable results. One director asked where additional funding would be spent if the legislature provided $1.5 billion; Nora said the money would expand the frequent network to 25 more bus routes, expand evening and weekend spans, and explore 24/7 airport service among other service expansions.
Ending: Nora said CTA is pursuing multiple security pilots (including non-law-enforcement crisis-response teams and environmental-design approaches at stations) and coordinating more closely with mayoral and city offices on homelessness outreach and community safety.
