CTA Fare Hike: Trains To Be $3 Per Ride, Buses Up 25 Cents

Chicago Tribune:

The Chicago Transit Authority is proposing to increase bus and train fares under its 2010 budget that will be unveiled today to help close a projected budget gap of up to $300 million.

Read the whole story: Chicago Tribune

Comments

[skypuppet]

Perhaps this is an issue of perspective. BART (SFO) charges by distance traveled and let me tell you, it's not cheap.

[Myshkin57]

It's to the point that sharing a cab with a couple of people is almost the same cost over moderate distances. The CTA is really trying to get more cars on the road, I guess.

What we really need is BRT. A good bus rapid transit system would be cheaper than trying to get the EL up to speed after decades of neglect and, according to what I've read, would be faster.

[Lakeview Greg]

Less service, more crowded cars, and only a dollar increase?!?

Such a deal! No wonder ridership has been sinking like the Titanic over the years. Personally, I go out of my way NOT to ride the el. As goofy as the buses are, they are sane compared to the el.

Besides, the 36 Broadway is still the best rolling entertainment in town!

[Joe001]

As usual, Lakeview Greg doesn't report the facts accurately. Until this year, with lower ridership attributed to fewer commuters due to recessionary job losses, CTA ridership had been increasing, not "sinking."

[Lakeview Greg]

How did that Olympics thing work out for you Joe? And you really like to pick fights.

Go away son, you bother me.

[Jack Barron]

I still say that free rides for seniors was a bad idea. It should at the very least be dependent on income level not just a blanket freebie. (Oldster outrage in 3...2...)

[MrVinegar]

Time to get a car and drive it out of Chicago!

[beerent]

OK. I'll say it before anyone else does. I should really get a month pass. Hah.

[beerent]

I wonder if the CTA was expecting some sort of deal if we landed the olympics? Funny that we just lost the bid and now the service is going to be cut and 75 cents added to each ride. Maybe I'm just imagining things. It now will cost at least $240 per month to take the train to and from work. Oh, and add $48 if you want to go anywhere on the weekends.

I got rid of my car why? Oh, yah... mice living in the engine were getting more out of it than I was.

[bzb]

Well, Chicago don't be all upset here in NYC the rate hike will be going up as well to take the subway.

[zombywulf]

Wow they figured out how to make people use mass transit...RAISE THE RATES. you stupid morons, cut out some of the bloated management and lower wages, in this economy no one with a brain will quit there job with 5000 waiting to take it.

[thephenomenologist]

yet another reason to leave this ill-run, corrupt, pathetic, murderous town

[unstuffedshirt]

No, it's yet another reason to get the ill-principled, corrupt, piggish mayor out of office.

[47th]

Amen!

[NickCatal]

Don't they threaten this exact thing every 6-8 months and 2 months later they have cash in hand?

[peterbeagle]

another thing that might help: start charging seniors for rides. Blago pushed the freebies through without much thought, and it'll be hard to repeal, but everybody should pay SOMETHING, even if only 50 cents. I say this as a senior who continued to work past the age of 65; there are many others who feel the same way.

[shocktreatment]

"Draconian" is the word, brutalizing the people who depend on the CTA most, the very same people that the CTA depends on, most. Increasing train fares by a third will make it much easier to find a seat, even with the nearly 10% reduction in service. Daley's war on the poor continues.

No "supply side" believers at the CTA?

[shocktreatment]

Oh yeah, nearly forgot, the way city hall would like ALL of us to forget, the CTA's $300 million block 37 hole in the ground.

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2009/10/12/chicagos-block-37-superstation-designed-for-quick-airport-service-unfinished-and-unused/

How much is that projected deficit again?

[unstuffedshirt]

Excellent post.

[crookedcountyillinois]

Raising the fares is a move that requires no ingenuity whatsoever. Forget about "supply side" believers - these people have no critical thinking ability whatsoever.

But at the end of the day, the government everywhere in Illinois keeps jacking up the taxes, fees, rates, and fares for everything; and I have yet to see the people react as they should: with anger.

Were you at the last tea party?!!!