June 16, 2007
BY MONIFA THOMAS Transportation Reporter This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Chicago Sun-Times

Metra will likely increase fares by 10 percent and reduce night and weekend service next year unless state lawmakers come through with additional funding for the agency, officials said Friday.

Pace on Friday also released a doomsday plan that involves cutting all weekend service, raising fixed-route and paratransit fares and eliminating 88 bus routes by October.

The back-to-back announcements came after Metra and Pace were left out of funding talks between the CTA and top legislative leaders this week, sparking concerns that the suburban agencies' needs may be overshadowed.

Metra has a $60 million deficit in its 2007 operating budget that it is prepared to fill with money earmarked for capital projects. But after this year, the "Rob Peter to Pay Paul" approach won't work, executive director Phil Pagano has said.

Instead, Metra will have to resort to fare hikes and service cuts by next February.  Metra just raised fares last year by 5 percent.

Yet even with a 10 percent increase every year from 2008 to 2012, Metra would still have an operating shortfall of $171 million, Pagano said.

Capital projects, such as the STAR Line and the Southeast Service extension, would also be in jeopardy if Metra doesn't have enough capital funds to match federal dollars.

Pace, meanwhile, is threatening to raise Chicago paratransit fares from $2.25 to $4 and fixed-route fares from $1.50 to $2 by Sept. 1.

Taxi vouchers, which have already gone up from $1.75 to $5 since 2006, will cost $6.75.

At the same time, Pace says it would eliminate all Saturday and Sunday service, special event buses to sporting events and all Metra feeder and shuttle routes.

The service cuts would take effect in October, pending board approval.

Pace needs $23 million to maintain existing bus routes and van pool services and another $27 million to fund paratransit for the disabled.

Until now, the CTA had been the most specific about the service impacts riders would face in the absence of additional funding from Springfield.

So far, the CTA is also the only agency the governor's office is demanding a specific amount of money for in the state budget.