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LOCAL News :: Urban Development

The CTA Balances its Budget on the Backs of the Poor

The new 2006 Preliminary budget from the CTA outlines exactly how they intend to make the most disenfranchised poor pay for their bad money management and flawed funding formula.
The 2006 Preliminary budget came out recently from the Chicago Transportation Agency. The CTA is reporting a $90 million shortfall this year. The blame for this shortfall is put on a flawed funding formula (which is up for revision currently in front of the Illinois state legislature this spring), increasing cost of gas and rising health costs (the pension plan for CTA employees is set to run dry by 2012).

One part of the CTA's plan is to eliminate the transfers for those using cash on the bus, and raise the fare for bus riders who use cash and train riders using Automatic Fare Cards. The CTA anticipates that the cuts will generate $17 million.

The changes are best expressed below.
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For those bus riders using cash, the new proposed fare will be $2.00

For those bus riders using Automated Fare Cards (AFC), which have to be purchased at rail stations or other sales outlets, the cost of a BUS ride is still $1.75

But Riders using AFCs to pay for a train ride will now pay $2.00

Fares will remain $1.75 for those riders using Chicago Card or Chicago Card Plus to ride CTA rail or bus lines.

In CTA's proposed 2006 budget, transfers will be completely ELIMINATED for those riders using cash. This means that a rider using cash on a CTA bus would have to pay another full fare ($2.00) when transferring to another route, an increase of 700%. Transfers will still be available for riders using AFCs and the Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus.
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This is also an attempt to get more customers of the CTA to switch to Chicago Card and the Chicago Card plus, which the CTA maintains (although explanations are still vague) will reduce the labor costs associated with processing money significantly.

This places the burden of the budget squarely on those most dependent on the CTA. The CTA has not yet outlined its plans to distribute the Chicago Cards, as of now, they are only available online, over the phone or from the CTA HQ on Lake St. Those who can only afford to pay on a day to day basis most likely cannot afford a computer with internet access with which to order their cards, or to visit the HQ for half a day in order to get one.

There is also the issue of recharging the Chicago Cards, which at the moment is only available at the CTA stations. As any customer of the CTA knows, there are many areas of the city that are not close to CTA train stations. An article in the Tribune today mentioned that the CTA planned to allow 65 stores in the city to "recharge" the cards, however, the locations of these stores are yet unknown. It would not be too surprising if the stores tend to be concentrated in the north side, the amount of red line stops in the south compared to the amount in the north, and the 1.5 mile gaps in green line stops in the west are evidence enough of how the CTA favors the city. Hopefully, the CTA will elaborate on this plan soon.

Even though the CTA has stated that it is considering waiving the normal $5 startup fee for the cards for the spring of this budget's enactment, those who cannot afford to put $10 on the Chicago Card at a time will not get the same benefits as their wealthier fellow passengers. The Chicago Card Plus is exclusively limited to those who are able to have both a bank account and a credit card, and the Chicago Card Plus is certainly the best deal of them all. Therefore, the economically comfortable and the wealthy are not affected by this hike.

The CTA has again shown disregard to its most vulnerable passengers. Those who live paycheck to paycheck and day to day are inconvenienced even more by these fare hikes. The fees for some peoples trips will double or even triple due to the loss of the two hour transfer for cash paying customers. This 2006 budget is certainly a major issue that Chicago residents should be concerned about. Hopefully, this post and other transit activists will be able to construct a dialogue that leads to useful solutions to this problem. Otherwise, the burden of the CTA will be placed on the poor.
 
 

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