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CTA Penny Rides Return for New Year's Eve

By Prescott Carlson in News on Dec 28, 2009 9:20PM

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Photo by smackfu
Despite its budgetary woes, the CTA is continuing with its tradition of offering penny rides and having extended hours on New Year's Eve in an effort to keep your drunk ass from getting behind the wheel of a car. Starting at 8:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve through 6 a.m. on New Year's Day, riders can hop on any CTA bus or 'L' train for the low price of one cent.

The CTA is also increasing the frequency of buses on certain routes and not stopping rail service from downtown on the Brown, Green, Orange, and Pink lines until 1:30 a.m. The Red and Blue lines, which run all night, will increase the number of trains and will arrive every 10-15 minutes through the wee hours of the morning. You can check out all the routes being beefed up for New Year's Eve at the CTA website.

Some of you might be saying, "But wait, if they deduct a penny from my fare card or Chicago Card, won't that screw up the balance essentially leaving me with 4 cents I can never use?" Good question. In this case, if you want to take a penny ride you're going to need an actual penny. Staff will be on hand at all 'L' stations to collect your shiny copper-plated coins and let you through. In fact, if you go through a regular turnstile using your fare card, you'll get dinged for the full fare. Maybe those of you planning on getting completely blitzed should tape a penny to your card so you won't forget.