(The following story by Richard Wronski appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on January 11.)
CHICAGO — Metra riders will still face a 10 percent fare increase starting Feb. 1, despite Springfield’s action to avert a transit “doomsday” by tentative approval of new mass transit legislation.
Metra’s board of directors on Friday decided to keep the previously approved fare hike, saying it would use half of the revenue to pay for day-to-day operations and the other half to replenish a capital fund that has been raided during the last several years.
Officials said it would probably eliminate the need for any fare increases in 2009 or 2010. In November, Metra had approved 10 percent fare hikes for those years as well.
Chairwoman Carole Doris said keeping the February fare hike was a “prudent business decision.”
“We have robbed Peter to pay Paul for the last four years,” she said, referring to the capital fund that has been depleted by about $168 million to cover operating shortfalls. Capital money is normally used for new equipment, infrastructure improvements and long-term needs.
Metra fares vary by distance, but riders who have been paying $105.30 for a monthly ticket—the cost of traveling between downtown and Orland Park, Arlington Heights or Flossmoor, for example—will pay $116.10 starting Feb. 1.