http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...l=chi-news-hed
All-transit fare card is on way
It would cover Metra, CTA, Pace
By Richard Wronski
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 15, 2007
Commuters in the Chicago area may soon have the means to make transferring between trains and buses much easier:
a single fare card that works on Metra, CTA and Pace.
After a long history of resisting the idea, the agencies are putting the finishing touches on a plan to offer a joint transit pass, officials confirmed.
The card would likely
be a hybrid of Metra's monthly pass and the fare card now used by the CTA.
Creation of the new integrated transit pass, which officials plan to
announce in the coming weeks, is expected to be popular with riders who have long complained about the inconvenience of the current system.
State legislators and transit watchdog groups for years have criticized CTA and Metra officials for accentuating the differences in their operations rather than focusing on giving riders seamless transit connections and a simplified fare structure.
The release last month of a top-to-bottom state audit of the Chicago area's transit system was key to prodding the agencies into getting serious about finding ways to better coordinate their operations.
The audit concluded that the current Regional Transportation Authority system is flawed and requires restructuring, along with reforms in how mass transit is funded.
An integrated fare system for the CTA, Metra and Pace was among the changes the audit recommended.
RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman called the move by the CTA and Metra "encouraging."
"I think they are responding at least partially to the auditor general's report," he said.
Jim LaBelle, a transportation expert with the civic group Chicago Metropolis 2020, called the plan important and long overdue.
"Absolutely. It's not the only solution, but it's an important part of moving toward an integrated system in helping people move around the region."
Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano and CTA President Frank Kruesi and their staffs have been meeting in recent weeks to work out details.
"We have been working closely with Metra to make it easier for customers to use one fare card on all systems," Kruesi said Friday.
Pagano said officials hope to have a working proposal completed within the next 30 days so it could be presented to CTA, Metra and Pace directors. He acknowledged that having better fare coordination among transit agencies has long been a concern of the public.
"If we can work this through, I think it's a good first step" toward providing fare coordination, Pagano said. "Fare coordination and [system] integration are important for our riders."
Pagano would not discuss specifics, saying that many remained to be worked out. "The devil's in the details," he said.
CTA officials declined to elaborate on the plan. "We have been working closely with Metra to make it easier for customers to use one fare card on all systems," Kruesi said.
But Schlickman said the pass will probably be a
"flash" card akin to the CTA's Chicago Card.
Schlickman's deputy, Leanne Redden, said the CTA and Metra are working "on a combined monthly pass. It has been on the table for a while, as a potential interim step" toward an eventual universal card, she said. "They are dealing with the monthly-pass users first."
Redden said the popularity of the free trolleys that operate in downtown Chicago points to the need to simplify Chicago's public transit system.
"It's easier for the tourist or the weekend visitor to jump on the trolley rather than trying to figure out which of four CTA buses will take them to where they are going," Redden said.
"We already have attracted many daily commuters to transit. The more difficult part will be to develop the policy and program to draw in people who are not currently transit customers. A straightforward, truly integrated fare system is part of the solution," she said.
Redden said the
RTA is working toward conducting a pilot project involving fare-collection technology similar to a test under way in New York City. There, customers use a special MasterCard for transit and at retail outlets ranging from Starbucks to McDonald's, she said.
One of the major obstacles to fare integration in Chicago has been dealing with the different types of service. CTA and Pace riders simply pay per trip, while Metra riders pay on a per-distance basis.
Worldwide, there are very few truly integrated transit fare systems, Redden said. Even the Paris transit system, often identified as the standard, does not have integrated fares with the commuter rail lines serving the suburbs outside Paris, she said.
Redden said the initial CTA-Metra integrated pass represents "a relatively low-cost way of combining fare media. The big question is, will this encourage Metra riders to use the CTA more?"
The CTA Chicago Card is being used in the experiment because travel patterns can be tracked. All trips are recorded by the computer chip embedded in each card. Riders now use the plastic Chicago Card for bus and train trips like a debit card, replenishing it with cash at fare machines. Also available is the Chicago Card Plus, which is replenished from a customer's credit card account.
The CTA and Pace fare systems already are integrated; CTA fare cards are accepted on Pace buses. But coordination between the bus systems and Metra has proved problematic. Most riders simply pay two separate fares.
Metra riders who buy monthly passes also can buy a Link-Up Sticker for $36, giving unlimited connecting travel on CTA and Pace buses. But CTA usage is restricted to the peak 6-to-9:30 a.m. and 3:30-to-7 p.m. travel hours.
Metra monthly pass holders can also buy a $30 sticker for unlimited travel on all Pace suburban buses.
Link-Up users number only 5,000 to about 9,000 a month, officials said.
The number of transit riders who would use both a Metra monthly pass and a CTA Chicago Card is relatively small, officials said.
"Our point to the CTA and Metra is we won't know how many people would use the new combined pass until we try it," Schlickman said.