State Representative Amy Grant is informing Chicagoland residents of significant updates to Metra’s ticketing and fare structure, effective February 1, 2024. The changes include new fare pricing, different products, closing of ticket windows, and a shift towards digital and vending machine ticketing.

Representative Grant emphasizes, “These updates to Metra’s system are key steps towards enhancing the efficiency and accessibility of public transportation in our community. It is vital for Chicagoland commuters to stay informed about these new changes so transportation authorities can ensure smooth and convenient travel options”

All details surrounding the structure of the plan can be found here.

For more details on the fare changes and the new fare zone map, visit Metra’s Official Website.

Getting riders to their destinations safely and on time. That's Metra's mission but now you could add another responsibility -- saving people from confusion.

Illinois Inspector General Ricardo Meza opened a can of worms last week when his office chided Metra for keeping false records of the hours engineers or conductors worked.

State investigators also disclosed a practice of swapping shifts at Metra, where one employee would pay another under the table for picking up his or her assignments.

Metra went on the offense, calling the Office of the Executive Inspector General's probe a waste of time and money. Although there were inaccuracies in logs, that no longer occurs nor does shift swapping, administrators said.  Marni Pyke has the rest of the story in the Daily Herald.

Clifford clause addresses severance controversy

Spurred by the uproar over the potential $871,000 severance payout awarded last summer to ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford, state lawmakers have approved a measure requiring tighter scrutiny over future payouts for transit agency employees.

The so-called Clifford clause is part of a broader bill containing several reforms intended to strengthen oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace and provide more accountability of those agencies, according to legislators.

 The legislation would give more teeth to the Regional Transportation Authority, which critics contend lacks enough power to ride herd over the agencies.

State Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, a chief co-sponsor, said the bill is needed to "rebuild the trust" of transit users and taxpayers dismayed by the Clifford episode. Gov. Pat Quinn supports the measure, known as Senate Bill 3056, and intends to sign it, a spokesman said. Read the rest of the story by the Chicago Tribune's Richard Wronski.

Taxes
House Republicans take stand against “progressive” income tax proposal.  At the end of the 2013 spring session, the Democrat majority introduced a new State constitutional amendment, HJRCA 33, for discussion.  This amendment, if it were approved by both houses and ratified by the voters, would abolish the current flat-rate income tax (the current rate is 5.0 percent on individuals) and replace it with a graduated or “progressive” income tax rate that would rise with the income of the taxpayer.  Enactment of a progressive income tax law could open the door to income tax rates much higher than 5.0 percent for many Illinoisans, and with inflation more and more households (including middle-class households) would be subjected to the higher rates.  Graduated income tax rates are higher in neighboring states which constitutions allow these rates to be charged.  For example, higher-income Iowa individuals must pay a rate of 8.98 percent.

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It's been a discouraging few weeks for those of us who'd hoped that the prosecution of Dan Rostenkowski, George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich any number of aldermen might have made a change in Chicago's and Illinois' continuing culture of corruption.

It hasn't made a difference. At least, not enough of a difference.

The mess at Metra and a few other related matters have lifted a grand curtain on how Chicago works, providing a peek at the wheels of government and what oils them. And that peek suggests that, in many, many ways, we're still living somewhere around, say, 1957. Still allowing local and state government to be not a place where the public is served, but a place to set up a family business and profit as much as possible for me and mine. Greg Hinz at Crain's has the rest of the story.

Chicago
City of Chicago deficit will balloon to $1 billion without pension reform.  The Chicago Tribune reported this week that Mayor Rahm Emanuel will not raise sales or property taxes to close a $338.7 million budget deficit for next year. By 2015, the shortfall will balloon to $1 billion without pension reform.

In 2015, Chicago is required by state law to make a $600 million contribution to its police and fire pension funds that currently only have assets to cover just 30.5 and 25 percent of their liabilities. Chicago leaders have suggested that the Illinois General Assembly should relieve Chicago of the pension payment “ramp up” requirement and allow the City to extend payments over a longer period of time.

Chicago’s deficit will rise to $994.7 million in 2015 and $1.15 billion in 2016 without strong pension reforms and possibly new revenues.

Chicago

·         McCormick Place expansion measure becomes law.   Plans were unveiled in mid-May to construct a 10,000-seat arena, which could be used as a meeting space or for athletic contests, adjacent to Chicago’s McCormick Place.  The project, which is expected to cost $173 million, will have the De Paul Blue Demons basketball team as its flagship tenant.  The name of the arena, and the arena’s luxury-box and sponsorship arrangements, have not yet been revealed.  The arena could also be used for large-group convention events and presentations.   The new Chicago arena legislation was “bundled” into an end-of-session omnibus economic development measure, SB 20, and was signed into law as P.A. 98-109 on Thursday, July 25.  The final House vote on the bill was 81-35-1 (the omnibus bill also contained other controversial measures).

Rep. Mike Tryon is Republican
Spokesperson for the committee 
hearing testimony on Metra

News coverage of the fiasco at Metra continues to heat up. We've pulled together several articles that best explain the issues:

Controversy surrounding the departure of Metra Chairman Alex Clifford is emblematic of one of several key things wrong with Illinois government, and a thorough probe could be an opportunity for a thorough scrubbing. Read the opinion piece in the Northwest Herald.

A shake-up is needed on Metra's board of directors, state lawmakers say, as a scandal over political meddling in the agency continues to snowball. Marni Pyke has the story in the Daily Herald.

This Metra mess is wrong on so many different levels, it’s hard to know where it will end or where to begin. Reboot Illinois' Matt Dietrich and Madeleine Doubek get to the bottom of the issue.

More on the Metra Mess:
Ousted Metra chief hits Madigan's 'moral character flaw' in the Chicago Tribune
Former Metra CEO says Mike Madigan’s requests show ‘a moral and ethical flaw’ in the SunTimes
Franks, Tryon differ on what Clifford hearing would bring in the Northwest Herald