Riders brace for CTA fare hikes

North lakefront routes hit hard

10/21/2009 10:00 PM

By IAN FULLERTON
Contributing Reporter

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Transit riders are facing steep fare increases and sweeping service cuts next year, according to recommendations from the Chicago Transit Authority’s proposed 2010 budget.

Fare hikes outlined in the report include a $2.50 fare for bus rides — a 25 cent increase in most cases — along with a $3 charge for express buses and all train rides. The recommendations, released on Oct. 12, would also see nine express routes eliminated and reductions on 41 bus routes.

“Faced with significant fixed costs and declining revenues, our challenge is to manage responsibly and make strategic budget decisions that will enable CTA to weather the recession,” said CTA President Richard Rodriguez in the budget report.

Blaming the slumping economy for the cuts and hikes, Rodriguez cited a $300 million projected revenue shortfall for 2010. He said that the agency would also look internally to cover costs.

“It’s far better for employees to make concessions than for us to be forced into the elimination of service,” he said.

Still reeling from last year’s fare hikes, the increases could come as blow to many riders, especially those who would be forced to pay more for express services in their daily commute.

Many of the express bus lines travel between the Loop and lakefront neighborhoods on the North and South sides.

Skyline asked a few transit riders how they’d weather the hikes.

Waiting for his bus at the corner of South Water and Michigan, Gilbert Longoria said he would begrudgingly absorb the costs.

“I could probably do it, but it seems unreasonable to do it from one month to the next,” he said.

Longoria, who works in city tourism, takes the X145 to work every day from his home in Lake View. If the recommendation goes through, his 30-day pass would jump from $86 to $110 a month.

Bad economy or not, he said that the increases weren’t justifiable.

“I understand that hikes happen, but not this big all at once,” said Longoria.

Miriam Carey, a Chicago Card user, had a bit more sympathy for the agency.

“If they have an operating budget they have to meet and they’re not meeting it, then they’re going to have to raise the fares,” she said.

As to whether she would keep riding, Carey said there wasn’t much of a choice.

“I’ll probably move to Oklahoma and get a horse,” she joked. “I have to keep riding the bus; it’s how I get work.”

A managing editor at Info.com, Carey said she moved to Chicago in part because she wanted to live in a city where she wouldn’t need a car. She relies regularly on public transit, sometimes using a Zipcar to get around.

“It’s still wildly cheaper to take the bus everyday than it is to own a car,” she said.

Anita Wells wasn’t pleased with the reputation Chicago would get if the hikes go through — as the place with a high sales tax and expensive public transit fares.

“And it doesn’t mean that they’re going to be more efficient, it just means that we have to cough up more out of our pockets, which is unfortunate,” she said.

A Chicago Housing Authority employee who relies on the X147 to Edgewater to get downtown from her home in Edgewater, Wells said she could afford to keep riding with CTA for the time being, but a further increase — perhaps to the tune of $5 a ride — could make her turn elsewhere for a ride.

X143 rider Desmond Dozier said he had a partial solution to the budget shortfall.

“I’m in the group who thought that free rides for seniors were a bad idea,” he said. “I think revoking that probably would recoup a lot of revenue.”

He said continued ridership sent a message to the CTA that the public would accept any future hikes, but added there wasn’t much that could be done about it.

“Right now, we really don’t have a voice,” said Dozier, who works in advertising. “We can’t vote in and out CTA leadership or anything like that.”

Peter Phillips said he couldn’t imagine a fare that would stop him from riding the CTA.

“I think it would have to be something like ten dollars a ride,” said Phillips, a paralegal.

Other increases presented in the report include: a $2.25 increase for 1-day passes, 7-day passes increasing from $23 to $30, and reduced fare passes going from 85 cents to $1.25.

On a lighter note, transfers for reduced fare rides would be cut from 15 to 10 cents.

If approved, the fare changes would take effect on February 7.


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