The Federal Transit Administration issued a letter Friday morning, rejecting the CTA's safety plan just hours into its implementation.

In the letter, the FTA said the CTA will need to submit a more aggressive plan within 90 days. If a new plan is not approved, CTA could lose $50 million in funding.

The CTA submitted their safety plan in response to threats made by the Trump administration to withhold funding should the CTA not improve safety. The FTA cited last month's attack on 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, who was set on fire on a Blue Line train in downtown Chicago, in making their demands.

In rejecting the submitted plan, the FTA said it "fails to address the high rate of assaults and other crimes" against passengers. 

"This 'plan' fails to measurably reduce incidents of assaults and improve overall safety on buses and trains. If people's safety is at risk, so are federal funds. CTA must act to save lives and improve safety," Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro said.

As part of the original plan, the CTA said there would be about 120 CPD officers patrolling trains and buses starting Friday, an over 50% increase in deployment. 

There were also 188 private security guards deployed, which is a nearly 10 percent increase. CTA leaders say they will use crime data and ridership patterns to deploy the security. The surge is funded through the CTA's 2026 budget. 

Commuter Bryn Vanhorn said she felt comforted by the added security she saw Friday morning. 

CTA worker Vanessa Garcia said she's been assaulted on the Blue Line twice, in 2021 and 2022.

"A homeless person throw urine in my face and chased me down," she said. "Probably six months after, I got assaulted again. This time someone shot at the window that I was standing at on my way to work."

CTA is also working on a pilot program called Safe Ride Specialists, which would train people to support people experiencing homelessness on trains, as well as people experiencing mental health crises and others. 

The letter from FTA also said, "Baseline data indicate[s] that, on CTA today roughly two workers every week are subject to assaults that put them in an ambulance or kill them. The Dec. 15 plan barely changes that status quo. That is unacceptable."

The president of the union representing CTA train employees, Pennie McCoach, said she would agree with that statement.

CTA told CBS News Chicago that they will respond to the federal government within the 90-day deadline.

Crime is down on CTA compared to 2024, data shows

Data analyzed by the CBS News Data Team showed, so far this year, there have been 834 violent crimes on CTA trains, buses, and properties, a 6.4% decrease from the same time last year, when there had been 891 violent crimes. About 19% of crimes resulted in an arrest this year, on par with the 20% average this past decade.

Violent crime, while down slightly this year from last, is higher than it was 10 years ago, up roughly 65% from 2015. Even so, Chicago is around levels last seen in 2012, when there were 892 violent incidents on the CTA.