Solution for Pace paratransit crisis sought
Disabled riders Thursday pushed back against potential fare hikes suggested as a partial solution to a shortfall in Pace's paratransit budget.
Pace, which operates the ride program for individuals with disabilities in Chicago and the suburbs, needs to plug a $20 million hole or it likely will run out of funds this fall.
Gasps and groans greeted a worst-case scenario of doubling fares that came up during a forum at Access Living in Chicago.
"We don't have any taxing authority," Pace Executive Director of External Services Rocky Donahue said. "The only thing Pace can control is fares. I'm not telling you we'll do that. I'm not telling you we want to do that. But without action we're left with no alternatives."
The action Pace officials and Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jim Reilly hope for is that the RTA board votes to free up $8 million in capital dollars earmarked for the CTA, Pace and Metra for new equipment and infrastructure.
Reilly had proposed using the $8 million plus $9 million in capital funds from Pace and minimal fare increases as a temporary paratransit fix in July. But a majority of RTA directors didn't support the move, reflecting opposition from the CTA and Metra whose leaders resist losing any capital dollars.
The issue is expected to resurface this month at an RTA meeting.
"Hopefully people are willing to compromise," Reilly said.
About 50 people showed up at the forum including Chicagoan Marcia Trawinski, who is visually impaired. She asked Donahue, "assuming you went and doubled fares, would that cover the shortfall?"
Donahue replied no.
"Why should it be balanced on the backs of people who can't afford it?" asked one rider.
State lawmakers said although the General Assembly had hoped a new sales tax would shore up funding for paratransit, the economic downtown was cutting into revenues.
"With the downturn in the economy, we find ourselves in a fiscal crisis," said state Rep. Kathy Ryg, a Vernon Hills Democrat.
Meanwhile one state lawmaker is proposing to give responsibility for Chicago paratransit service back to the Chicago Transit Authority, which ran the program before Pace took it over.
State Rep. Michael Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, says shifting of capital funds to paratransit, which primarily serves customers in the city, "would be taking capital dollars that should be spent in the suburbs and spending it in Chicago."
Paratransit fares are $2.25 in Chicago, $3 in suburban Cook and DuPage counties and $2.50 in Kane, Lake and McHenry counties.