Transit woes worry riders

Under a tall canopy that does nothing to hold off the heat, John Lowe waits for his Pace bus at Rosemont's bustling transit station off the CTA's Blue Line.

Every workday the middle-aged warehouse manager waits here -- baseball cap pulled tight and bagged lunch in hand -- as part of a lengthy and intricate commute from his Chicago home to his job near Elk Grove Village.

The oil-stained concrete station is worlds away from the offices of transit officials and lawmakers as they decide whether Lowe has to pony up a lot more cash to get to work or just figure out how to buy a car.

"They should do something," Lowe says plainly, as he squints and looks down at the pavement. "It seems like they don't care."

Lawmakers and transit officials have been locked in a politically charged debate for months about how to bridge a $240 million budget shortfall at Metra, Pace and the CTA.

Now time is running out. And those who rely on the buses and trains are getting nervous.

"Where are people supposed to go?" asks 21-year-old Emily Stoner, who is waiting for another Pace bus a few feet from Lowe. "How are people supposed to get around in the suburbs? They should find the money somewhere."

Stoner counts on Pace and the CTA el nearly every day to get from her house in Schiller Park to her college courses in Chicago. She also needs to catch buses and trains to see friends and shop in the Northwest suburbs.

Without higher taxes to bridge the funding gap, officials at Metra, Pace and the CTA say they have no choice but to substantially raise fares and cut service for people like Lowe, Stoner and hundreds of thousands of others.

But when asked whether raising taxes would be better than cutting service and raising fares, several riders at the Rosemont station just shook their heads.

They didn't have a clear answer and conceded it was a tough choice.

Policymakers are having the same problem deciding, but there appears to be no more time for vacillating.

Last week a measure to raise the region's sales tax to fund Metra, Pace and the CTA failed in the state House.

Now state senators are not expected to vote on the plan until Sept. 17 -- one day after the first round of fare hikes and service cuts is set to wreak havoc on commuting.

Even if lawmakers voted on it sooner, the governor has vowed to veto it and the House and Senate will have to vote on it again. That means it could easily be several weeks before the measure becomes law even if most lawmakers support it.

This is clearly not good news for transit riders.

Among the first round of changes on Sept. 16, the CTA would raise fares $1 on the el during rush hour and 50 cents at all other times, in addition to slashing 39 bus routes. Pace would edge up local fares a quarter and move to eliminate 23 bus routes and Metra feeder runs.

That is just the beginning.

By next year, a sweeping increase in fares and cuts in service would result in virtually no train or bus service in the suburbs on weekends, limited night and express service regionally and a drastic escalation in cost for the tens of thousands of riders who transfer between Pace and the CTA daily.

For example, Pace would cut Metra feeder buses in December, making it harder for suburbanites to get to the train stations, likely leading to severe parking problems near stations and more commuters on the road.

Also, Metra officials are looking at eliminating all weekend runs and some night runs next year, services that have been booming in popularity recently.

The drastic nature of the changes to the region's transit system would create a "downward spiral," says Jim Reilly, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority. Fare increases and route cuts lead to fewer riders and, in turn, even less money for transit officials to run a shoestring system.

The hundreds of thousands of riders opting out of the transit system will fill the already-congested roads. Those who can't afford cars will either have to endure difficult and long commutes or quit their jobs.

"People are going to pay one way or another," Reilly says.

Currently, the top-billed plan to bail the transit agencies out is a half-cent sales tax hike in the collar counties.

Half of the increase would go to counties for road repairs and the other half would be split between Pace and Metra.

The plan also calls for the CTA to get most of another quarter-cent sales tax increase in Cook County and more than $100 million from a real estate transfer tax hike in Chicago.

A quarter-cent sales tax adds 25 cents to every $100 spent on merchandise. A half-cent tax adds 50 cents to the same bill.

Meanwhile, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been pushing another, unspecified plan to close so-called corporate tax loopholes. The governor calls the sales tax increase a "backdoor fare hike" because it would be paid by average people.

Still, lawmakers have refused to take up his plan.

The repeated failures and stalls over the past several months have left transit officials exacerbated. They have been planning this move for three years and have spent more than $3 million on lobbying and marketing to convince people it is needed.

"I don't know how you say one tax is good and one tax is bad," said Pace director T.J. Ross about the struggle.

Meanwhile, for those waiting at the Rosemont station on a recent afternoon, the debate seems to be largely esoteric and out of their control. The only real thing for them seems to be the consequences.

"I will really be in a lot of trouble," says James Harris, a Chicago resident wearing a bulging backpack in the heat on his way to a telemarketing job in Elk Grove Village.

Paying more for less

Here are the top transit changes planned for the coming months if no new taxes are approved. Visit www.rtachicago.com for additional information.

Pace

Sept. 16:

• Local route and Metra feeder fare up 25 cents to $1.50

• Vanpool fares up 10 percent

Sept. 29: 23 of 233 routes cut

October: No more use of CTA passes

December/January:

• All Metra feeder routes cut

• Bus fares rise to $2

• Weekend Pace service cut

CTA (on Sept. 16):

• 39 bus routes slashed

• Bus fares up to $2

• Rail rush hour fares up to $3

• Unlimited ride passes jump by up to 20%

Metra (next year)

• 10 percent fare hike

• Reduced weekend and night service

Para-transit

• All fares rise to $3 Sept. 16

• Service cut to within ¾ mile of fixed routes in October

• All fares rise to $4 in January

Source: Daily Herald research