CHICAGO — According to a report by Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) may have inflated by up to $150 million the federal funding it received since 1982 by "fraudulently over-reporting" the number of miles CTA buses travel while in service, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The report claims that the CTA got the extra funds it wasn’t entitled to by improperly including "deadhead," or out-of-service bus miles, along with funding-eligible revenue bus miles when applying for money from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A CTA official told the Tribune that the agency has followed the FTA's guidelines for reporting mileage data and used the same methodology for almost 30 years, up through last year when the rules were changed. For the full story, click here.