(The following column by Guy Tridgell appeared on the South Town Star website on January 31.)
CHICAGO — We heard for months that doomsday was coming. If the state (a less offensive way of saying “taxpayers”) did not come up with the money to bail out mass transit in the Chicago area, the buses and commuters trains would quit running, we were told. Fares would climb. Insanity would ensue.
After much bumbling, lawmakers and the governor finally did their part, raising the sales taxes in Cook and collar counties to help generate $280 million for the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace and Metra.
The transit agencies quickly dropped their plans and returned to business as usual. Doomsday was dead.
Except at Metra.
Beginning Friday, Metra fares will increase 10 percent across the board. Monthly passes, 10-ride tickets, one-way tickets – everything will cost more. For the commuter catching the SouthWest Service Line in Orland Park, the trip into Chicago will jump from $3.90 to $4.30.
And the best deal anywhere for getting around on the weekends is going away April 1, when the $5 fare for unlimited Saturday and Sunday rides on Metra will end. A $7 ticket will have to be purchased each day.
Metra is taking some heat for going ahead with its first fare hike since 2006. Deservedly so.
Its board gave an early OK to the higher fares in October, when the doomsday talk was gaining a head of steam. The thought at the time was the fares would not need to be increased if more money started coming in from other places.
Were the minds made up at Metra long before the General Assembly agreed to boost the sales tax?
Maybe, but Metra officials said they were left with no choice. The extra sales tax is nice, they insist, but not nearly enough to make up for the other sources of revenue that keep drying up.
The state’s last capital program, Illinois FIRST, expired in 2004. The Illinois Department of Transportation isn’t pumping out the money it did in the past for transit’s capital needs.
Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said $165 million was raided the last three years from funds to pay for capital improvements, such as track upgrades and new cars, to cover the day-to-day expenses.
“Our biggest concern is we are not rebuilding our system. We are just maintaining it,” Pardonnet said. “With a system like ours, you need to constantly upgrade and improve equipment. We are not doing that now.”
The SouthEast Service Line to Crete? The new Electric Line cars with bathrooms? The suburb-to-suburb STAR Line? All of them are on hold unless the state – excuse me, the taxpayer – comes up with even more money.
The need to pass another Illinois FIRST promises to be a big issue in the next legislative session.
Somehow, another Doomsday doesn’t not seem that far away.