Widespread Abuse Suspected In RTA's "Seniors Ride Free" Program

By Anna Deem in News on Nov 27, 2010 7:30PM

According to a recent investigation conducted by the Better Government Association and Fox Chicago News, a government audit found rampant abuse of the Regional Transportation Authority's "Seniors Ride Free" program--which lets senior citizens ride for free on the CTA, Pace, and Metra--with a number of senior free-ride passes being used after the registered cardholders had died. The RTA, who conducted the audit, is placing the blame on friends and relatives of deceased cardholders who are using the free-ride passes illegally, since there is no mechanism to automatically deactivate cards once a cardholder passes away.

RTA officials have told the Better Government Association that they plan to use the audit to gain control of the abuse and to justify ending the senior free-ride program, which was started two years ago by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich and was viewed by many as a political stunt. Despite the various legislative proposals being discussed about ending or scaling back the free rides for seniors, Gov. Pat Quinn wants to keep the free rides, his spokesman said. Currently, about 427,000 seniors have free-ride passes in the city of Chicago.

While it's unclear how much money the illegal card sharing is costing the RTA, the audit came across 160 senior free-ride passes still being used after the registered cardholders had died. The passes were used anywhere from several times to 1,400 after the death, officials said. The RTA audit, which began earlier this year, is expected to be completing in the coming weeks.