This week, there has been a lot written about the recent Legislative Leaders’ meeting attended by Mayor Daley, including the Republican Minority Leader Frank Watson’s assertion in that meeting that CTA has not raised fares adequately over the years. The Senate Minority Leader believes that CTA could address most of its structural deficit through a 10 to 15 percent increase in fares. As most of our CTA customers and the readers of this blog already know, CTA is in its present woeful fiscal condition because we have faced a structural deficit since the early 1980’s caused in part by insufficient State funding. This funding has trailed the rate of inflation, short-changing CTA over $1 billion in operating dollars.
As you also already know, CTA’s structural deficit was confirmed repeatedly by the Auditor General in his voluminous audit of the RTA, CTA, Metra and PACE last year. Moreover, the Auditor General acknowledged in his report that it would be impossible for CTA to overcome its funding deficit through cost-savings (service cuts) and revenue enhancements (fare increases).
CTA customers have paid for this imbalanced funding through frequent fare increases. CTA has raised its in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 2004, and 2006. In fact, since 1985, CTA’s fares have increased 95 percent, exceeding the rate of inflation and causing us to lose millions of rides as a result.
Maybe the Senate Minority Leader has forgotten this. Maybe he doesn’t believe the facts (how do you not believe the Auditor General?). Maybe that is why he is advocating requiring another 10 to 15 percent fare increase as part of any transit solution. I’d like to remind you, just in case you’re swayed by the Minority Leader’s rhetoric, that CTA’s structural deficit cannot be and should not be solved on the backs of our riders.
Before any of you write: “Wait, Carole isn’t that what you are doing now with the January 20 Fare Increases and Service Cuts?”, please know that unfortunately, cutting service and raising fares is the only way that we can balance our budget right now. But I know it is not a solution. This structural problem can only be overcome by comprehensive, long-term legislative changes to our pension and healthcare obligations and by a permanent, sustainable increase in operating funding.
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