Metra Officials Asked to To Justify Threatened Fare Hikes, Service Cuts
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Metra officials appeared before a state legislative committee Friday morning, in which they were being asked to justify fare hikes and service cuts threatened for next year.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts reports, state Sens. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) and Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) called the 10 a.m. hearing.
Garrett, a frequent Metra critic, told Newsradio 780 that she believes the commuter rail agency has not done all it can to make cuts internally.
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Metra officials have cited a combination of rising fuel costs and lower-than-anticipated state sales tax revenues. It also seeks to stop shifting money earmarked for capital infrastructure projects and using it to pay operating expenses.
The commuter rail agency balanced its budget this year through a combination of capital funding shifts and internal cuts, but chief executive officer Alex Clifford said the projected $80 million shortfall next year cannot be plugged in the same way.
On July 15, Metra officials outlined a series of potential 2012 fare increases and service cuts. Fares could increase anywhere from 8 to 21 percent, and the service cuts would likely affect every commuter line except the Heritage Corridor.
Metra last levied a general fare increase in 2008. In February 2010, it raised the prices of one-way tickets and increased the charge for buying tickets on board a train when ticket offices are open. Most Metra riders use monthly or 10-ride passes.
Garrett said she was pleased to hear that Metra is surveying riders online to determine, line by line, what they want. But she said that she sees Metra as an agency that continues to be in disarray.
"It is critical for the thousands of Metra riders that we hear from Metra on other cost-cutting approaches," Garrett said. She cited lobbying contracts as one potential target for cancellation.
such as elimination of unnecessary lobbying contracts."
Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said Metra is seeking more input and its trying to be more open about its budgeting process than ever before, and said the survey of riders and the public is one example. She said Metra was to send officials to the hearing at the Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N. LaSalle St.
Sandoval chairs the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee, and briefly sought the CEO's job at Metra. Garrett is the vice chair of the Senate Local Government Committee.
