Too costly a place to ride to, or park near? |
One
that would encourage people to pay larger sums of money up-front to purchase
contactless cards. The way to persuade people to quit thinking in terms of
paying for individual rides is to raise the fare – from the current $2.25 to $3
– for those customers.
OF
COURSE, THOSE people catching an el train at O’Hare International Airport would
get hit with a $5 fee for that single ride – all part of the rhetoric that says
the only people who will really wind up paying the higher fare are those
out-of-town tourists who decide to use the “el” during their Chicago visit.
As
I wrote earlier this week, I sympathize with those activists who object to this
new system, believing that people who rely on mass transit but don’t have the
kind of cash to put up front into purchasing a card will get hit with the bulk
of the higher fares.
I
wasn’t shocked with the CTA approval. I would have been amazed if they could
have been swayed.
But
now I learn about how city officials also are considering changes in the fees
that people pay when they use a downtown parking garage or lot.
AS
IF THOSE fees weren’t already enough.
I
know that the last two times I was in a situation where I had to drive an
automobile into downtown Chicago and park it, I got hit with $34 fees – for leaving
my car in a garage for not more than two hours each time.
CTA
officials defended their own changes, in part, by saying that the new fare
schedule will be complex – and that it is overly simplistic to portray anyone
as having to pay an increased fare.
But
after reading about the proposal made this week by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I’m
wondering if he’s determined to out-complicate the CTA.
FOR
WHAT THE city has in mind, according to the Chicago Tribune, is to alter the
taxes on parking fees from an escalating fee to a percentage-based system.
The
people who literally are using the garages to park their cars for just a few
minutes (or maybe up to 1 hour) could wind up paying less.
Like
I wrote, my recent parking experiences in the downtown garages weren’t all that
long – yet I still got whacked with what I consider to be a ridiculous fare. A
fare that likely will be even higher when/if I get stuck paying it again.
All
I know is that it truly discourages me from wanting to have my automobile with
me when I have business to take care of in downtown Chicago.
YET
THE THOUGHT of using mass transit to go downtown is something that could also
become an expensive proposition.
I
find Chicago’s downtown district too intriguing a place to want to avoid
altogether (and I pity those people who claim they never set foot in or near
the Loop). But it almost seems like certain people are determined to put
financial obstacles to our ability to go downtown and stay there long enough to
enjoy it!
You’d
think these people with an interest in propagating the image of the city so as
to bolster its economic potential to the max would be interested in avoiding
moves such as these that wind up discouraging some people from wanting to come
here.
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