Another Fare Increase For Metra Commuters
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Metra's board of directors approved approve a fare increase Friday.
It is the commuter rail agency's third hike in three years.
The flat rate increases, outlined in budget documents released a month ago, are 25 cents on one-way tickets, $2.75 for 10-ride tickets and $11.75 for those holding monthly tickets.
The size and manner of the increases are such that nearly 190 people commented at public hearings Nov. 2-3, as well as by mail, by e-mail and on Facebook.
Most comments were negative.
Rider Jill Woodman said it's "too much to ask" of customers. Rider Joan Johnson and others wrote on Facebook that Metra has done little to increase service or reliability. Rider Debra Coleman complained that trains are "constantly late, dirty and falling apart."
"Where does the money go? Certainly not toward making your customers' rides better," she wrote.
Rider Sara Nobbe asked what Metra is doing to see that significant increases "aren't the norm."
As a matter of fact, Metra committed itself in 2014 to 10 years of annual fare increases. This year's budget document said it is not for everyday bills that Metra needs the increase, but because capital funding from the state of Illinois has dried up in the continuing budget impasse.
Metra said 100 percent of the money raised through the increase, estimated at more than $16 million, will go toward capital improvements.
With local money leveraging federal funding, that gives Metra a 2017 proposed capital budget of $279.5 million. The agency said, just to stay even with wear and tear, it needs $1.2 billion in capital funding for each of the next 10 years.
Metra raised fares 2 percent this year and 11 percent in 2015. The average increase in 2017 is 5.8 percent, although some fares will go up as little as 2.4 percent and as much as 12.3 percent.
The increases are expected to take effect Feb. 1.
