fairviewroad

Care to explain how airport passengers are being "cheated" in this case?

ORDnHKG

Thanks for your information, I never know 250 actually go to ORD.



A few examples that come right from my head

EWR-NJ Transit trains cost $12.50 one way from EWR to NY Penn Station, just one stop further than EWR at N.Elizabeth, it only cost $6.75 to NY Penn.

JFK-You are forced to pay the $5 Airtrain one way fare just from JFK to Jamaica or Howard Street Beach, once you get to Jamaica or Howard street beach, then you have to pay another $2.25 for the subway.

SFO-From Powell to SFO is $8.25 one way, there is a stop further than SFO called Millbrae, and from Powell to Millbrae only cost $4.30 one way

milepig

Let's use the words "ripped off" instead. The entire CTA structure is based on a flat rate fee, and you can theoretically ride the system all day until you leave a station.

ORD will be the single exception to this, while Rosemont, with is like 90 seconds away from ORD, will still incur the normal charge. That's ripping off the tourists in my book. It isn't like we pay a graduated charge based on how far we travel, which is the case in many other cities. (For example, you pay more to ride into town from MUC that you do to hop around town, or if you're taking the tubee from LHR, but in each case you're talking about a zoned system rather than a single flat fare.)

fairviewroad

I was referring specifically to the Chicago example, but as you point out this type of airport surcharge is not unheard of around the country. Whether or not someone thinks it's fair, Chicago is not certainly not trying something unprecedented. And in most other cases, the extra airport surcharge applies to people arriving and departing the airport, whereas Chicago's only gets stuck on people leaving the airport.

A little better than "cheated" but I think both phrases imply that the passengers are being charged for something they are not receiving. In this case, and the other cases that ORDnHKG cited, an airport traveler (tourist, business, or local) is being told it costs this much to be transported from Point A to Point B. The person has the option of using another form of transportation, or accepting the advertised product (Blue Line, in this case) for the advertised price. No one is being cheated.

I mean, someone arriving into ORD from DTW may have paid 5x as much for their ticket as someone arriving from MCO (for example) despite having traveled a fraction of the distance. Transit systems are simply incorporating the same supply-and-demand fare structure (to a point) as the airlines. You might not like it, but I don't see that anyone is being cheated or ripped off.

DavidDTW

I found a new way to save on CTA passes last week. If you have a CVS card and get their emails, for the last few weeks a 20% or 25% coupon has been mailed that you can have sent to the card. I used a 20% off last week when I bought a CTA pass, and the discount applied.

Not sure if the coupons will continue after the holidays though.

MessyEater

Just FYI, the CTA board voted to make the fare increases official yesterday.

They did make one change to the original proposal: CTA riders who use a Chicago Card or Chicago Card Plus will be exempt from the extra $2.75 charge at O'Hare until July 1, 2013. Transit Card users will have to pay the extra charge ($2.25 regular fare plus $2.75 O'Hare surcharge for a total of $5).

For those who don't know, a Transit Card is the flexible plastic card with the magnetic stripe that the Transit Card and Express Vending Machines at the 'L' station dispense. A Chicago Card is a hard plastic touch card with an RFID chip inside. Chicago Cards cannot be purchased at the airport, but if you already have one, it can be recharged at the Transit Card and Express Vending Machines.

"Express Vending Machines" are the Transit Card machines found in a few train stations that only accept credit cards. They work only in multiples of $5. They are often out of order. "Transit Card Vending Machines" are in all train stations, accept cash only, and do not make change.

glg

The specific reasoning for this is to give CTA and Aviation 6 months to find a solution for airport workers. The intent isn't to long term give all users this break, just airport workers.

ords

Actually, they postponed the fare increase for everyone on the blue line for 6 months until they can find a work around for airport employees.

So it's not specific to Chicago card or Chicago card Plus riders only.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...cal&id=8925117

MessyEater

That article is just plain wrong.

Here is the CTA's official press release:
http://www.transitchicago.com/news/d...ArticleId=3128

Here is what the other major TV stations are saying:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/...ine-surcharge/

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/transit/CTA-Pass-Hike--Decision-Tuesday-183780231.html


http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/20...ared-fare-hike

Here is what the newspapers are saying:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/17099450-418/some-blue-line-travelers-get-brief-reprieve-on-fare-hike.html


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...s-chicago-card

The CTA has not yet posted the text of the fare ordinance on its web site, but when they do, it will be here:
http://www.transitchicago.com/about/...rdinances.aspx

mileshound

For the CTA passes, what is considered a day? If I buy the 3 day pass Saturday at 6pm is it good until 6pm on Tues (72 hours) or until midnight Monday (3 calendar days)?

MessyEater

The time you buy it doesn't really matter. It is 72 hours after the first time you use it. (If you want to be technical, they round off to the next tenth of an hour.) So a 3-day pass first used on Saturday at 6pm is good until Tuesday at 6pm.

Also, every pass has an expiration date stamped on it. It is 15 months after the pass was created at the factory. The pass will automatically expire on that date if it is not used. So if you buy a pass that has been sitting on the shelf for a while, you may have to hurry and use it.

mileshound

Thank you. I was assuming I used it immediately after buying it but as you point out that is not required. So the 3 day looks good for my Sat PM arrival and Tues afternoon departure.

paytonc

FWIW, CTA has had express-service surcharges (for buses and the Purple Line) as recently as 1997, and currently charges different fares for rail and bus. The proximate reason for dropping those surcharges was that the then-new magnetic stripe system couldn't handle that complexity. Today's system can.

Air travelers are relatively price insensitive, and the other options for getting to the airport are a lot more expensive than $5. A transit system, like any other firm, can use price discrimination to raise revenue: St. Louis also charges a double fare originating from its airport station. Philadelphia effectively puts a fare surcharge by placing the airport in a much higher fare zone than equidistant points. On San Francisco, there's a tourist surcharge for the cable car: cash fares are $6, but $64 monthly passes are accepted.

MessyEater

A reminder:
The new $5 fare takes effect today, July 1, for Chicago Card and pay-per-ride Chicago Card Plus users. It took effect in January for full-fare Transit Card users.

It does not affect Pass users (1-day, 3-day, 7-day, 30-day, UPass) or users with a reduced fare riding permit (senior, disabled, student, military, or child).

u2fan

I noticed the system is not too sophisticated: I recently returned from a trip and was in line waiting to add money to my farecard. A Blue Line passenger who had just arrived at ORD gave me her card explaining there was only a couple of dollars on it but she wasn't going to use it again. I added money to the card and when I dipped it to get to the train, noticed to only deducted $.25. The system saw it as a transfer - definitely not what I expected.