On October 14, 2009, I wrote, “Seniors as Freddie the Freeloaders." where I talked about how the free mass transit rides for seniors were costing the carriers millions of dollars. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley estimated that the CTA alone lost $60 million a year because of the free rides. I had no problem with free transit for low-income seniors, but not for everyone across the board.
The group got the gratis rides back in March 2008 when former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich used his amendatory veto power to demand that senior citizens across the state get free rides on their local mass transit in exchange for his approval of a sales-tax increase to fund mass transit.
Two interesting events have happened since then.
First, it was revealed that the governor was recorded in 2009, in response to his low approval ratings, saying, “I f***ing busted my ass and pissed people off and gave your grandmother a free f***ing ride on a bus ... I gave your f***ing baby a chance to have health care ... And what do I get for that? Only 13% of you think I'm doing a good job, so f*** all of you." So maybe he was not that altruistic in blackmailing the legislature for the free rides and was doing it for the ratings!
And second, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn eliminated the free rides except for low income seniors, so as of September 1st, the freeload is over!
Only about 25,000 seniors out of the 440,000 who received the free transit cards will now qualify to continue in the program. The income caps are determined by the Illinois Department of Aging’s Circuit Breaker Program (http://www.cbrx.il.gov/), so called because:
“The Illinois Department on Aging's Circuit Breaker program provides grants to senior citizens and persons with disabilities to help them reduce the impact of taxes and prescription medications on their lives. When the costs of property taxes and prescription medicines begin to "overload" our seniors and persons with disabilities, this program steps in to help, just as a circuit breaker prevents overloads in an electrical system.”
To qualify, one’s income in 2010 had to be less than:
- $27,610 for a household of one;
- $36,635 for a household of two; or
- $45,657 for a household of three.
Don’t feel badly for the seniors who won’t get the free rides because citizens 65 years or older get to ride mass transit for about half of the regular full fare. Sounds like a Groupon deal that runs every day!
What I love about the timing of the ending of the program is that it will take effect on September 1st. Won’t that be about the same time that Blago reports to prison? How ironic!
The idiotic people who vote in the idiots who do idiotic things deserve to pay, pay, pay ... I have no empathy for the voters of Illinois as they keep voting in corrupt politicians, believing the lies that are designed to get votes.
ReplyDeleteA couple of points:
ReplyDelete1) My recollection is that the projected annual loss of revenue was $37 million and I believe it
covered all three services. I don’t know that anyone every has found a demonstrable figure for actual loss/cost.
2) I have no problem paying for my rides, and I take many of them. However, there are two flaws, for me, in paying the fare:
a) One must go to a subway or L station to add money to a fare card, even people who use buses only. The RTA should figure out a way to add value at ATMs or some other system that is more wide-spread.
b) I’ll have to stop and buy a separate fare card (paper which the conductor punches) to use Metra service. The free ride allowed me to show my card to the Metra conductor. If Metra were to have an electronic fare card system (like the rest of the world), it would be easier.
On this last note, we toured the Moscow subway last week, buying a fare card at a kiosk. We have ridden subway systems in New York, Washington, Boston and San Francisco and have had the same experience. (You still can buy tokens 10 or 20 at a time for the NYC system.)