Among the records sought in the lawsuit are the bids of companies that were not selected to operate the new fare system, in order to "allow the public to evaluate whether CTA selected the best bidder''; and contracts and invoices submitted in connection with the fare system agreement by CTA adviser William Blair & Co., which also oversaw the deal privatizing Chicago's parking meters.

Prechtel, 27, a freelance journalist and blogger who lives in Chicago, said Wednesday this was his first attempt to use the FOIA process in obtaining records from the CTA. He said he went through several attempts to narrow his request.