The CTA spent more than $26,000 in 2023 and 2024 on three vehicles used by top officials at the public transit agency. In at least some instances, the vehicles were used more for commuting to and from work than for business purposes.
That was the case for an SUV used by former CTA President Dorval Carter, who reported about four times as many miles commuting as he did for business purposes during the months for which data was available, documents recently made public show.
From February to August 2023, Carter recorded driving 177.8 miles for business purposes and 774.4 miles commuting. Handwritten logs for subsequent months show a similar pattern.
The documents related to Carter were provided last week as part of a months-delayed response to a Tribune public records request for information about vehicle expenses for the CTA president, board members and 11 other top officials. The Tribune requested the records months before Carter announced his retirement in January, but did not receive a complete response until after his departure.
The latest CTA data comes after Carter and top CTA officials took heat for failing to regularly use the system they oversaw during the pandemic, as reported by Block Club Chicago and others. The car-use data sheds more light on the activities of CTA leaders and agency policies and spending.
“This dovetails, unfortunately, with concerns that the CTA president wasn’t a regular transit user,” said Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.
The CTA took more than seven months to provide the complete set of information.
Public agencies in most cases legally have up to 10 days to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. The CTA failed to provide any documents for more than four months, eventually providing records related to two vehicles in December. Earlier in March the CTA provided records for a third vehicle. Last week the agency provided what the FOIA officer noted was the final set of documents, related to Carter’s vehicle use.
All told, the CTA provided 107 pages of documents showing how three vehicles were used and costs associated with four vehicles, though the CTA said only three of the vehicles were used by the top officials specified. For many of the vehicles, months of data were missing. CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said all available documents were provided.
The CTA has previously been faulted for how it responds to public records requests. Five lawsuits have been filed against the CTA over FOIA responses in the past year, including one brought by the Tribune. The request for vehicle records was one of six public records requests included in the Tribune lawsuit, which alleges the CTA had “a pattern of violating FOIA.”
Hosinski declined to comment on the delay in responding to the FOIA request, citing pending litigation.
All told, the documents show the CTA spent $23,933 to lease the three vehicles in 2023 and at least parts of 2024, and another $2,482.51 on fuel costs.
The total amount spent on vehicles is almost certainly higher, as the CTA has a fleet of 51 pool vehicles assigned to various departments. The vehicles can be used for commuting in certain situations, Hosinski said.
Schwieterman said the spending is notable given an upcoming budget cliff the CTA and the region’s other transit agencies will face when federal COVID-19 relief funding runs out in 2026.
“As watchdogs look for belt tightening, this will warrant scrutiny,” he said.
The costs include $8,603 from 2023 through late August 2024 to lease a 2021 Ford Explorer used by Carter. The CTA leased a 2020 Ford Explorer for $9,225 used by Chief Infrastructure Officer Bill Mooney through parts of 2024. And the CTA paid $6,104 through late August to lease a 2020 Ford Explorer used by Chief Transit Officer Donald Bonds.
Logs of vehicle use show that over the six months in 2024 for which his information was provided, Bonds recorded more miles for business purposes than commuting. Mooney, in the 17 months provided, reported slightly more commuting miles than business, though in many cases his commuting trips were directly to various locations around the CTA system and region.
Carter, over about 18 months, reported frequently using the vehicle for commuting.
Hosinski said every trip of Carter’s complied with CTA policy. Carter, through a spokesman for the hospital where he now works, did not respond to a request for comment by the Tribune’s deadline.
The CTA also provided information showing it paid $3,401 through parts of 2024 to lease a 2021 Chevy Traverse, and tied the vehicle to the agency’s former chief safety and security officer, Nancy-Ellen Zusman. Hosinski said Zusman did not use the vehicle during that time, but rather was listed as the contact for any vehicle assigned to her department.
Hosinski said in a statement the CTA vehicles are used by eligible employees for “official agency business when taking public transit is not an option.” They are assigned to a department, not a particular employee.
They can be used for commuting when the driver is designated to respond to emergencies, must attend offsite meetings at night or the start or end of the workday, when severe weather is anticipated or when the employee must respond to large-scale events such as Lollapalooza or the Chicago marathon, she said.
She highlighted other agencies, including the MTA in New York, that also provide vehicles.
“The overall costs associated with operating and maintaining the vehicles available for use by the CTA president and/or other top-level executives are reasonable and expected for a multi-billion-dollar operation that provides essential services 24/7,” she said.
Asked if the CTA provides a take-home vehicle for the new acting president, Nora Leerhsen, Hosinski said a vehicle is traditionally available in the position but Leerhsen has “never” used one for round-trip commute between work and home.
“Leerhsen uses CTA for her daily commute and to travel around the city,” Hosinski said. “She has used the vehicle for business purposes only a handful of times when traveling over longer distances (i.e., to Springfield) or when necessary, given the demands of her schedule.”
