November 19 , 2015 vol. 60 issue 7
inside Tis the season for Holiday shopping! Let our annual Holiday Gift Guide lend a helping hand
Inside this issue
Holiday Gift Guide
Community Library Search
Morton Grove Library to introduce new search catalog
see page 3
Business Come to Order
Don’t forget to plan for travel time
see page 10
sports Clark Tabbed POY
Local duo named to all-area squad
see page 7
Photo by Igor Studenkov | Bugle Staff
Niles officials, VFW Post 7712 members and Niles residents bow their heads in prayer for the veterans and soldiers who are still serving.
transportation
Pace riders get hit with fare increase Cash-paying riders will pay extra 25 cents By Igor Studenkov Bugle Staff
nweditor@buglenewspapers.com @NilesILNews
Pace bus riders will pay a quarter more per ride – but only if they pay using cash. The increase was part of the suburban bus transit agency’s 2016 fiscal year budget, which also includes a 15-cent increase for cash-paying riders who qualify for reduced fares. Cash-paying riders that take express buses that run between southwestern suburbs
and downtown Chicago won’t be affected. The Pace Board of Directors unanimously approved the increase during its Nov. 11 meeting. The budget also calls for a total of $227.97 million in spending, $7.6 million of which will go toward service improvements. Most notably, all new Pace buses will come equipped with Wi-Fi. The new budget, along with the fare increase, will take effect Jan. 1. Until Pace’s recent implementation of the Ventra card, most riders paid in cash. Riders could also pay with CTA’s magnet strip cards and the Chicago Card. The fare for standard, non-express routes is $1.75. Cash-paying riders
that wished to make a transfer could pay an extra quarter and receive a magnetic strip transfer card, which entitles a rider to two transfers within the span of two hours. In July 2014, Pace’s old card readers were deactivated in order to complete the switch to Ventra. Cash-paying riders were no longer able to ask for transfer cards, but the fares remained the same. Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot explained that the 25-cent increase for cash-paying riders wasn’t a way to collect revenue. “Pace intends to discourage the use of cash to reduce the costs associated with processing and handling coins and bills,” he said.
“[The policy] mirrors practices already in place at CTA and the Illinois Tollway.” Indeed, CTA bus riders who pay fares in cash currently have to pay an extra 25 cents. Wilmot explained that Pace planned to implement the fare increase as part of the switch to Ventra, but the agency ultimately decided to hold off to give riders time to transition to the cards. Unlike CTA, however, Wilmot said Pace doesn’t have a large network of train stations where it could place Ventra vending machines. That meant that most riders had to either order the cards online or purchase them at retail locations. Since 2013, Pace was
working to expand the network of retailers that would sell Ventra cards. But in July 2014, the process wasn’t as far along as the agency would have liked. The situation has improved significantly since then, Wilmot explained. “We are much further along than we were in the past,” he said. “Approximately 80 percent of fares on Pace are currently paid using Ventra cards.” The increase won’t affect express bus routes that charge premium fares. This includes routes 755 and 855, which run between Plainfield and Chicago, and routes 850
see pace | page 4