The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Steve Schlickman, executive director of the Urban Transportation Center, on the likelihood of RTA fare increases and service cuts under the Rauner budget. Schlickman says similar actions in the 1990s caused ridership loss that took years to recover.
Steve Schlickman, head of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted that it took the CTA and Metra years to recover the riders they lost when they faced a “doomsday” scenario in the early 1990s and enacted steep fare increases and service cuts.
In lieu of some other revenue generator, Schlickman said, “There is no real alternative but to increase fares or cut service or do both.”
