The new CTA budget holds the line on base fares for buses and trains, which will remain unchanged at $2 and $2.25 respectively.
The fare hike for pass users goes into effect next year.
"Our passes were the most generous in the country and hadn't changed in many, many years, all we're doing is bringing the, up to the national average. We are right in the middle of the pack now," said Forrest Claypool, CTA president.
The passes, which Claypool says are mostly used by visitors to Chicago, have been heavily subsidized for years.
Under the new fare schedule, the cost of a 30-day pass will go from the current $86 to $100, the seven-day from $23 to $28, the three-day from $14 to $20. The single day pass will nearly double, going from $5.75 to $10.
"We think it's going to hurt everybody, when you raise our passes, you raise the 30-day, it's not good for our community or riders to feel the pinch even more," said Lee Crandell, Riders for Better Transit InitiativeThe CTA will also increase the cost of a one-way fare from O'Hare into the city from $2.25 to $5. But this increase will only affect single-fare riders and not anyone using a pass or a Chicago card.
"Mostly this will be tourists and others getting a one-way ticket downtown and we think this is a tremendous value instead of a $50-60 cab fare downtown," said Forrest Claypool, CTA president.
Claypool says the increases will raise some $56 million for the CTA in additional revenue, and help close the budget deficit that for years has plagued the CTA. But that, critics say, is the problem.
"They're making these decisions to fill a gap and if we continually go back to now can we maintain the status quo how can we maintain what we have, we're never going to move forward," said Crandell.
