On Nov. 22, the day before a holiday, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced proposed fare hikes for rail and bus riders. The base fare for both rail and bus trips will be raised 25 cents over the current fare. The proposed fares will be $2.50 for rail and $2.25 for bus. This represents a 13 percent increase over the current bus fare, and an 11 percent increase over the current rail fare. As well as raising base fares, the CTA announced that reduced rate fares and 30-day unlimited ride passes are also being increased.
Most people who rely on transit in Chicago cannot afford and oppose the proposed fare hike.
Releasing this news just before the holiday is undoubtedly an attempt to hide the cuts from the general public and ram them through with opposition. City and CTA officials are also emphasizing how this is the first rate hike in eight years. Both of these tactics are because the last attempt at rate hikes in 2009 were met by resistance involving members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and other labor and community groups. The proposed fare hike in 2009 was to $3.00, but the mass action forced politicians to back down, and the rail fare was raised to the current price of $2.25.
In a letter, to the public, CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. blamed a decrease in the state to the CTA of $33 million dollars for necessitating the cuts. The recent state budget did drastically cut public transit spending, and not just in the city. The bus and rail services serving Chicago’s suburbs have also announced not just fare hikes, but service cuts, hiring freezes, and elimination of reduced fares for the elderly and disabled. This narrative of local officials struggling with austerity being forced by the state is just a smokescreen though, as both are united in their goal of funneling money to corporate giants.
These proposed fare hikes are occurring at the same time Chicago and Illinois are offering over $2 billion to Amazon as part of a bid for the company to build a headquarters in the city. One of the most egregious parts of Chicago’s offer is a plan to allow Amazon to keep $1.32 billion of its employees’ income taxes, which means Amazon employees would be paying their income taxes back to their boss instead of the state. Amazon already receives $400 million dollars worth of these tax breaks from employees working in warehouses in the Chicago suburbs. Money that would otherwise go to public transit and other needed services instead just increase Amazon’s profits.
City and state leadership have shown unity in their willingness to give billions of dollars to Amazon. For just a fraction of the money Amazon is already allowed by state leaders to avoid in taxes, there would be no need for a fare increase.
Amazon is led by Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world with a net worth of $90 billion according to CNBC, and has no need for more handouts. An Amazon HQ in Chicago also threatens to increase the gentrification and ethnic cleansing already faced by working class Black and brown communities in the city.
The Chicago city council also recently moved forward on a plan to build a $95 million cop academy—wasted money on a racist institution and killer cops—money that should be going to fund things people actually need.
CTA President Carter, who was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is the highest paid CTA president in history, making almost $240,000 a year. He makes far more than the average worker who relies on public transit to survive. It’s no wonder city and state officials side with racist cops and billionaires like Bezos over residents who depend on the services they manage.
On Dec. 12, Answer Chicago is organizing people to flood the CTA public budget hearing to stop the proposed fare hikes. For information about the “All Out to Stop the CTA Fare Hikes” event click here.
