CTA Vote Could Mean $3.25 Per 'L' Ride

While the governor and the state legislature continue to hammer out a budget for the next fiscal year. Doing this when it should have already been hammered out and as the governor seems to insist on his health care programs and other things. Some will even allege this is a personality clash we're seeing in Springfield.

Anyway the budget negotiations in Springfield may have a casualty in the Chicago Transit Authority. From CBS2...

CTA officials have been playing the budget waiting game for months, wondering if Illinois lawmakers would allocate the money the transit authority says it needs to maintain service.

But an impasse between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and state legislators has resulted in the expiration of a temporary budget and the threat of a government shutdown.

House Speaker Michael Madigan told Democratic representatives late Monday to expect a budget vote as early as Wednesday, but for the CTA, that may not make any difference. Sources tell CBS 2 that Madigan's budget proposal does not include the cash that the CTA said it needs to avert the huge cuts and hikes, as well as nearly 1,100 layoffs.

If the CTA does not get the $100 million in funding from the state, officials say they have no choice but to go with the proposed Doomsday Plan.

If the board approves it on Wednesday, you will be paying $3.25 per 'L' train ride and $2.75 for a bus trip during rush hour, and $2.50 for an 'L' train ride and $2.25 off peak.

Now, buses are $1.75 for fare card or Chicago Card users, and $2 for cash fares.

Further, under the plan, you would not be able to take the 'L' to Skokie anymore. Service on the Yellow Line Skokie Swift 'L' would be eliminated, and its tracks would only be used to transport trains to a repair yard at the end of the line.

The Purple Line Express from downtown to Evanston would also be eliminated if the plan passes, and the Purple Line would only run north of Howard Street.

The plan would also eliminate 63 bus routes.

"It's not fair to the riders that commute every day, doing this and they want to just hike the prices," said CTA customer Angela Monroe.

Customer Steve Bock said his commuting habits will change if the plan passes.

"I'd take it one way for convenience's sake, but I would be walking a lot more," Bock said.

Others said the proposed new fares were just too high.

"It's too high for people just trying to get where they want to go and poor people trying to make it," said Gerald Roberts.

"I commute a lot into the city and going to work, and raising the fare from what it already is, is ridiculous to me," added Chelli Harms.

The CTA has been criticized in the past for threatening drastic fare hikes and service cuts, especially at the end of 2004.

At that time, then-CTA President Frank Kruesi angered many CTA riders, as well as state legislators, at the end of 2004, when he outlined "doomsday" scenarios that involved steep fare hikes, the total elimination of 24-hour bus and rail service and a focus only on rush hour commuters, if the General Assembly did not change the funding formula for mass transit.

The state did not do so, and the CTA ended up only raising fares modestly and not making any service changes.

The transit funding formula was last modified in 1983. The CTA contends that the existing formula has slowly starved it, because suburban funding has grown at a much quicker rate. But officials at Metra and Pace – the other two organizations overseen by the Regional Transit Authority – have also said they believe the formula is outdated.

If Springfield ultimately sends money the CTA's way, the board could back off plan. But if not, the fare increases and service cuts would have to take effect in mid-September if approved.

Hopefully this doomsday scenario isn't necessary.