AUTHORITY IS CORRECTED YEARS WORTH OF RECORDS AND PROVIDED THE WTW NEWS AFTER THE AGENCY DISCOVERED IT DID NOT GIVE ACCURATE ACCOUNTING OF BUS AND TRAIN OPERATORS WORK HOURS.

THAT NEWS CAME JUST HOURS AFTER A STORY ABOUT THE CTA IS CHRONICALLY DELAYED.

PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS DELAYS AT A TRANSIT ADVOCATE WAS ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF FOIA RESPONSE TIMES.

BTW NEWS REPORTED BLOOMBERG JOINS US NOW WITH MORE.

FILL US THE BACKGROUND HERE WILL PURSE FOR THE LAST COUPLE YEARS.

WE'VE BEEN REPORTING ON THE LONG HOURS THAT SOME CTA BUS AND TRAIN OPERATORS, PUTIN.

>> IN JANUARY, WE FILED A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST FOR 2023 NUMBERS UNDER THE STATE'S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

INITIAL BATCH OF RECORDS HAD ERRORS IN IT, WHICH THE CTA ITSELF CAUGHT AND FLAG FOR US.

BUT 2 WEEKS WENT BY WITHOUT THEM PROVIDING THE CORRECTED RECORDS, PUBLIC BODIES AND ILLINOIS, AS YOU KNOW, GENERALLY HAVE TO RESPOND TO FOIA REQUEST WITHIN 10 BUSINESS DAYS.

A DEADLINE, THE CTA REGULARLY MISSES.

AND THAT AS YOU MENTIONED, WE REPORTED WHEN WE RECEIVED THE CORRECTED BATCH OF OPERATOR HOURS, THEY CAME WITH A BIG CAVEAT, CT OPERATORS EARNED TIME AND A HALF FOR OVERTIME FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS.

THE CTA TOLD US THE RECORDS IT WAS PROVIDING WTW NEWS.

WE'RE JUST A STRAIGHT TIME ACCOUNTING OF WORK HOURS.

BUT THE AGENCY DISCOVERED THAT WAS WRONG AND THE RECORDS DID, IN FACT, CONTAIN THE OVERTIME MULTIPLIER.

EVEN THOUGH THE CTA TOLD US MULTIPLE TIMES THAT IT DID NOT.

WHAT EFFECT DOES THAT HAVE ON THE RECORDS?

WELL, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, IT MADE THE AVERAGE WORKWEEKS FOR BUS AND TRAIN OPERATORS APPEAR ARTIFICIALLY LONGER.

THE CTA WAS ABLE TO PROVIDE US CORRECTED RECORDS FOR 2015 THROUGH 2023 LAST WEEK THAT ONLY COVER TIME ON THE JOB WITH NO OVERTIME MULTIPLIER.

THEY STILL SHOW LONG AVERAGE WEEKS FOR CERTAIN OPERATORS AND THE SHRINKING POOL OF EMPLOYEES TO KEEP BUSES AND TRAINS RUNNING.

AND IN 2015, 51.6% OF OPERATORS WORKED AN AVERAGE OF 30 TO 40 HOURS A WEEK THAT COHORT RANKED TO 34.8% LAST YEAR IN 2015, JUST 2 EMPLOYEES WORK AN AVERAGE OF 60 HOURS OR MORE EACH WEEK IN 2022.

THAT PEAK AT 39 OPERATORS NOW, KEEP IN MIND, THESE ARE TOTAL YEARLY HOURS DIVIDED BY 52.

THEY DON'T INCLUDE VACATION OR TIME OFF.

SO SOME ACTUAL WORK WEEKS OR EVEN LONGER RAISING CONCERNS, OF COURSE, ABOUT HEALTH SAFETY AND BURNOUT.

YOU MENTIONED THE DELAYED FOR RESPONSE.

AND SO WE LEARNED ABOUT THAT.

WELL, AFTER OUR STORY LAST MONTH ON THE DELAYS, WE HEARD FROM A LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSIT ADVOCATE NECK 100.

HE OBTAINED DATA ON THE CTA IS RESPONSE.

TIME FOR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS DURING 2023 BETWEEN JANUARY AND NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR.

JUST 94 OUT OF 880 REQUESTS WERE COMPLETED WITHIN THE 10 DAY TIMELINE SET OUT IN STATE LAW ALSO FOUND THAT BUSINESSES LIKE LAW FIRMS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES GOT THE FASTEST RESPONSES.

THE CTA TOLD BOTH U.S. AND 100 THAT IT'S COMMITTED TO RESPONDING WITHIN THE LEGAL TIME FRAME AND IS PURSUING OPTIONS TO SUPPLEMENT ITS FOIA OFFICE STAFF WITH CONTRACT EMPLOYEES.

THE RESPONSE LOT 100 OBTAINED STILL SHOWS MORE THAN 200 UNFULFILLED REQUESTS.

ALL RIGHT.

TAKE A LOT OF CONFUSION