Citizens Taking Action, an advocacy group for transit-dependent riders, conducted an "informal" study of transit costs in several urban areas, including New York, Boston and Los Angeles, among others. The group calculated a national average for basic rides and weekly and monthly passes and found Chicago Transit Authority rates are among the most costly in the nation.This article is worth a good read if you have time.
The study found the nationwide average for a basic fare is $1.53, compared CTA's rate of $1.75 per bus ride or $2 for the El. Weekday passes nationwide average $17.80 and monthly passes average $58.43, while the CTA charges $24 for a weekly pass and $75 for a monthly pass.
The results of the survey are based on current CTA rates. The agency in 2009 has proposed hiking fares to $2 for the bus and $2.25 for the El, $24 for weekly and $90 for monthly passes.
The Citizens Taking Action survey results echo a 2007 Daily News analysis, which found the CTA had the most expensive fares of the nation's largest transit agencies.
A subsequent Daily News investigation found the CTA pays among the highest wages of any major U.S. urban transit system, devotes a bigger share of its operating budget to payroll than all but a few other big systems, and had created fiscal chaos by mismanaging its pension system.
Dispatches from Chicago's south side.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Survey: CTA rides are country's most expensive
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