Pace paratransit fares hiked
Chicago area transit officials hiked fares on special service for the disabled Thursday to help cover a $20 million budget shortfall.
Riders on Pace's paratransit services across the Chicago region will pay $3 instead of $2.25 in Chicago and $2.50 in Lake, Will and McHenry counties. Riders in suburban Cook and DuPage counties already pay $3. The new rates will begin to take effect in November.
The extra money will help fill a $20 million budget hole for a continuously financially strapped service that provides some of the most expensive transit options intended for those who most depend on them.
The board also voted to tap $9 million in expansion and maintenance cash from Pace, the agency in charge of the $110 million regional paratransit system. And the Regional Transportation Authority board voted Thursday to set aside $4 million that was meant for improvement initiatives and grant a $4 million loan to Pace if needed.
The RTA, which oversees Pace, the CTA and Metra, is funded largely through sales taxes in Chicago and the collar counties in addition to state and federal grants.
Originally, RTA officials floated a plan to take $8 million in federal cash for maintenance and improvements to bailout paratransit along with the $9 million from Pace and a modest fare increase.
Metra and CTA officials, who share in those federal dollars, balked.
The CTA was actually bailed out several years ago when state lawmakers moved paratransit services in Chicago to the suburban Pace bus agency.
Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said the agency is pleased with the final result, but pointed out that come next summer there will still be a major budget hole in the federally-mandated service. That is because the cash set aside from maintenance and expansion funds will be gone.
"We don't have answers to what the long-term solution will be," Wilmot said.
The paratransit service picks up disabled residents who preregister. There are more than 40,000 registered participants across Chicago and the collar counties.