CHICAGO — Metra’s board of directors has approved a 2024 budget that significantly revises the commuter rail agency’s fare structure and eliminates some discount passes introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board on Friday approve a $1.1 billion operating budget, a 4.9% increase over the 2023 budget (excluding $65 million to be reimbursed by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District). The increase largely reflects inflation for costs such as fuel, insurance, and medical premiums, as well as union contract costs. Also approved was a $574.9 million capital budget, funding 97 projects throughout the system.
The new fare structure and pass changes largely reflect changes proposed in June [see “Metra considers significant changes,” Trains News Wire, June 22, 2023], with some adjustments. Key changes are a structure that reduces the number of fare zones from 10 to four, along with the elimination of the $100 “Super Saver” monthly pass and $6 and $10 weekday day passes. A list of the stations included in each fare zone is available here; a map showing the zones is below.
“Our aim is to create a fare structure that customers can easily understand, that will encourage ridership, that will simplify onboard fare collection, and that meets Metra’s financial and technical constrants,” Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski said in a message accompanying the budget.
Also, the Fair Transit South Cook Program, a three-year pilot program sponsored by Cook County that lowered fares on the Metra Electric and Rock Island lines, will end Jan. 31, 2024. Metra said it is working with the county and its parent agency, the Regional Transportation Authority, on a revised version of the program that would provide reduced fares to low-income residents in the six-county area served by Metra. More complete details on the fare program are available here.
The capital plan will include some $143.8 million in bridge and retaining-wall replacement or rehabilitation; $77.5 million in station and parking rehabilitation; $71.1 million in yard improvements and facility acquisition, and $67.6 in railcar rehabilitation.
The full budget document is available here.
The photo in the article at River Grove on the MD-W is listed as November 19, 2023–a date that has yet to occur.
Back to the Future!
No zone 4 on Metra Electric. Hmmm . . . .
That’s true.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün