BY MIKE CETERA
UPDATE (SEPT. 14): The RTA has voted to accept the governor's front-funding offer, delaying planned Pace rate hikes and service cuts until at least November.
If you ride the bus to get to work, plan to spend more beginning next week. Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to stave off RTA's doomsday scenario, which has already been slammed repeatedly, doesn't look like it will help Pace bus riders.
The suburban bus agency reiterated its plans to increase fares beginning this weekend:
Pace leaders say it’s something they’ve warned about for months, even years, but now the crisis becomes an everyday reality for riders, and the situation won’t be improving any time soon without additional funding from Springfield.
Here's what happens on Sunday:
* Fares increase from $1.25 to $1.50.
* Paratransit fares increase from $2.50 to $3 in the suburbs and from $2.25 to $3 in the city.
The situation gets worse in a month with Pace announcing it plans to eliminate a number of routes, including several locally. The projected cuts include Saturday service on the following lines:
* Route 528 Aurora Transportation Center - Rush-Copley Medical Center
* Route 529 Randall Road – 5th Street
* Route 801 Elgin-Geneva
In addition, midday weekday service on Route 787/788 in Naperville will be cut.
The RTA votes on Friday whether to accept Blagojevich's offer to front-fund millions of dollars while lawmakers work out a bill to increase transportation funding.
I'm not sure how much resonance this crisis has locally. Is a quarter too much to ask people to pay extra to take the bus? What's more alarming than the fare increases and the service cuts is the lack of progress, particularly when it comes to Chicago, where the cuts are far more dramatic.
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