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As regular as the first frost of the season, so, too, does the oncoming winter also bring another tradition of recent years: a proposed fare hike from the CTA. Say what you will, at least it's not another Doomsday Prophecy. The CTA is still trying to close that pesky budget gap that may go as high as $300 million and they've outlined a new list of proposed fare hikes in a plan that was printed as an ad in today's Chicago Tribune. In addition to the fare hikes, the CTA is also proposing for a cut in service, mainly in the form of cutting back hours and nixing a few express bus routes.
So what, exactly, is the CTA proposing?
- Raising all train and express bus route fares to $3 ($2.25 now)
- Raising basic bus fares to $2.50 ($2.25 now)
- Raising 7-day pass fares to $30 ($23 now)
- Raising 30-day pass fares to $110 ($86 now)
- Eliminating express bus routes: X3, X4, X9, X20, X49, X54, X55, X80 and 53 AL
- Cutting back bus service hours by 13.7 percent (827,000 hours) and cutting back train service hours by 9.8 percent (57,803 hours)
Think the proposed hikes are okay or atrocious? You'll have a chance to share your thoughts with the CTA thanks to a few upcoming meetings. An informational meeting will be held on Thursday, October 29 at 6 p.m. at the Austin Town Hall (5610 W. Lake St.). In addition, the CTA will also hold two public hearings on the proposed budget:
- Monday, November 2, 6 p.m., Lane Tech High School (2501 W. Addison St.)
- Tuesday, November 3, 6 p.m., South Shore Cultural Center (7059 South Shore Drive)
Last week, the CTA announced a slew of cutbacks - including job cuts, furlough days, and unpaid holidays for non-union employees - in an attempt to save as much as $122 million.
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$3.00/Ride? For realz?
And cutting back service 10%- so, they can cut 10% of their workforce then, right?
Know what's funny? This plan isn't too far off from the 2008 version of Doomsday that had us all screaming the world was going to end ... me included. (The service cuts aren't as drastic, but aren't far off.)
It reminds me of when my kids were just learning to walk and would fall. If I jumped up to help, they'd cry. But if I acted like nothing was wrong, they'd get up and go on as if nothing had happened.
I think the difference is that the bus routes eliminated here are all express. The Doomsday Scenario from way back talked about cutting several non-express routes, correct?
I wasn't committed enough to search anywhere other than here, and the Margaret Lyons post didn't list specific routes or whether they were express. It just said there were a lot of them, and that the first round of service cuts would be 17%. The second round would have cut something like 27% of service. So I'm pretty sure you're correct.
The fare hikes, on the other hand, would have brought the rate up to $2.75.
Here's an old post that shows a 40% overall bus reduction.
http://chicagoist.com/2007/10/12/2008_cta_budget.php
Look! Over there! it's a WOLF! It's a WOLF! I am the city agency that likes to cry WOLF!
No problem for me. It is a real pleasure to pay additional money for public transit knowing the money goes to pay union workers high salaries, allowing them to enjoy a nice standard of living.
Plus, this gives the working class a guaranteed job, for life. Just like their brothers/sisters in solidarity at Ford and General Motors, or any other manufacturer that knows it is stupid to pay laborers $2/hr in Mexico, China, etc... when you can pay $20/hr for the same work in the United States.
Dude, there are so many holes in your argument, swiss cheese would make a better case.
It is a real pleasure to pay additional money for public transit knowing the money goes to pay union workers high salaries, allowing them to enjoy a nice standard of living.
Do you mean the same unions that agreed to major work rule changes and wage concessions during the last Doomsday scenario to keep the CTA running? The same unions that sat down with the mayor and the governor to try and work together to keep the CTA running at 100% capacity?
Plus, this gives the working class a guaranteed job, for life. Just like their brothers/sisters in solidarity at Ford and General Motors.
I don't know if you've looked at Ford's market share or stock prices lately, but they're in pretty good shape (closing in on Toyota and Honda, by the way, in the compact car and sedan market. And GM went into bankruptcy because the so-called leadership team managed that company into the ground. The UAW never made the decision to produce huge gas-guzzling SUVs at the expense of developing smaller hybrid and electric cars. Those decisions were made by the CEO and his circle of bosses.
By the way, the UAW gave GM and Chrysler large concessions on wages and work rules (as well as taking massive layoffs) to keep the plant doors open.
P.S. - The list of vehicles that are actually manufactured in the United States is hardly extensive. Ford, GM and Chrysler all build cars overseas, just like the transplants build cars here in the U.S.
Sear's m.o. is usually to pop in, say something ridiculous and misantrhopic, and then quietly slink away when called on it. Until next time.......
But yeah, a nightmare: My fare money might be helping working class people have a decent living!
Union-busting (always charming) aside, the pensions are a real problem at this point and eating up huge chunks of the CTA budget. The baby-boomer bomb is just starting to go off and the younger generation simply cannot afford to pay for the much larger retiring one. It's not just a CTA problem, obviously, but it's a big part of their financial mess.
$6 for a round trip? That's fucking INSANE. I was just talking about this with a friend that in 2000 or so I was paying about $1.80 to get to school on two buses. If I gamed my route right I could even get a second ride off the transfer home. $3.60 a day for transit all across the north side, pretty decent.
Now they want to double that and cut the, already, shoddy service? The whole point of public transit is to provide a less expensive means of getting around for the people of the city, not drive everyone to buying cars because they will, all costs included, end up saving money.
Try plugging the numbers into the Edmunds "Total Cost of Ownership" calculator for a car. I tried it for a Prius and it came out to about $0.45 a mile. Non-hybrids like the Jetta come in around $0.48. Would be interested to see the Sun-Times of Tribune start running a series on how many people would save money NOT riding the CTA under this stupid plan.
For the Jetta, one year of gas is more than a year of the CTA 30-day pass. How are you saving money there?
Basing it off of cost per mile is obviously going to give a car the advantage. But who in Chicago drives 15,000 miles a year? Everything you need is typically within a few miles of you, so unless you're the worst trip planner ever I don't think you'll be running up those kind of miles.
so annoying that they want to cut the x49, or any express bus for that matter. not having to stop and altgeld or palmer in the morning and evening makes my commute that much faster.
i wish chicago would learn to work within its means like the rest of us have to.
I believe cutting redundant express routes we can't afford could be considered living within our means.
true, but i'd still have to pay more for less service.
I don't know about anyone else, but I think a fare hike to $3.00, which of course brings the round trip cost to $6, would result in a pretty significant decrease in my personal ridership. That's just a ludicrous amount of money to spend considering the quality of the ride you're getting; I'd rather bike or find a car to borrow.
And how much could we save simply by reversing Blago's idiotic free rides for seniors policy?
This fare hike would make it cheaper for me to drive to/from work. I really, really, really want to leave my car at home, but $6 round trip (urine smell and drunken harrassers free of charge) is a bit ridiculous.
They are going to lose SO much ridership that they recently gained thanks to higher gas prices, that they'll end up with the same budget hole!
I'm hoping this is just politicking aimed at RTA and Springfield....
For $6 a round trip, I'd rather sit in my comfy car.
Every year this happens and every year people freak out en masse. Then 75% of the threats don't see the light of day, but we do always still manage to lose a couple routes and pay a quarter or two more for a ride.
Once biking season was over last year, I spent the money I would have spent on the CTA on some Winter gear and walked the 2.75 miles to and from work every day. As it gets colder out, I find myself giddy with excitement for the return of my workweek treks.
Let me add to those who would ride less if the fare goes to $3.00.
I often need to decide between my car or the CTA. Give me just a little more reason to use my car and I will use it every time. Why waste $6.00 on a CTA round trip?
Depending on where you live, it might make more sense economically to use a car instead of public transportation to get to work.
If the CTA is going to keep charging riders more for less service, I might buy a crappy used sub-compact and use that to get around.
And Metra to Zone B is only $2.35 [most of the city], Zone C is $3.35.
Rogers Park to Northwestern Station is 21 - 23 minutes on Metra, Morse to Lake St is 40 or more minutes on the L.
Not a hard choice & the seats have actual padding on Metra & are much wider!
I wish Metra would build a Peterson station. I'd never ride the CTA to work again.
It's time for the city and all of it's agencies to cut pensions. I don't have guaranteed income when I retire, neither should these workers. None of these positions are exactly "skilled" positions that require a higher class of worker that isn't easily replaced.
I don't have guaranteed income when I retire.
That sounds like a pretty good reason to support pensions. I've never understood the "I don't have health insurance/pensions/steady raises/job security, and neither should they" mentality. It seems to me that if you want those things for yourself, you have to support them for others.
One more note of comedy in this tragedy? The meetings are at 6pm at locations most accessible via bus routes that are among those being cut. Meaning that if you do happen to get out of work at 5 on the button you might just make it by six if you're very very lucky.
The CTA: Because the only alternative is fuck you.
cta must be high if they think they can get away with $3/ride.
i'm not the best mathematician, but the 30 day pass? that's approximately a 30% increase, right? WTF? they JUST raised it over 10% this year. grrrrrr.
Yep, that would officially make it more costly than New York City's unlimited 30 day MTA pass. Absolutely ludicrous.
Am I the only person here to uses the CTA to get to/from work five days a week? You bitch about a $6 round trip, when if you just bought the 30-day pass you would cover that amount (using rail) just by going to and from work on weekdays. Basically making any weekend trip(s) free. (I know there is an agrument that some people can't afford a 30-day pass or need it because they don't use the CTA that much, but I'm not talking about those people since it doesn't seem like that's been the uproar here.)
Can someone please show me how it is less expensive for you to drive to work each day? You must not work in the Loop if that's true, because last time I checked parking wasn't free.
I'd like to know about parking as well. If I were to buy a car and start driving to work, the first thing I'd have to do (before buying the car) is put myself on the waiting list for a parking space, then wait until enough people leave the company for me to get a space. Which I would have to pay for, on top of paying for a car and insurance and gas and tires and everything else.