Is it really a free ride? Updated x1

January 15th, 2008 at 12:03pm Andrea Zimmermann

Last week Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced that he was going to make lemonade out of the mass transit bill the Legislature had sent him.

The governor inserted a provision to let Illinois’ citizens, aged 65 and older, ride on mass transit anywhere in the state for free. The legislation provided necessary money to bailout Chicago mass transit – a funding crisis that has been brewing for years.

Now that the smoke has cleared a bit and the governor’s office has released the official language, Blagojevich’s meaning of free is not so clear.

The official language states that any senior citizen could hitch a free ride on the transit system in his or her district. For example, a Rockford senior citizen would be able to ride on the Rockford Mass Transit buses. If that same senior citizen goes to the doctor or visits relatives in Chicago, he would have to pay just like his fellow younger commuters.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said the governor’s intent was to let seniors get free rides within their transit district, but he is encouraging individual transit authorities, such as the Rockford Mass Transit District, to let all seniors ride free regardless of where they live.

Venita Hurvey, vice president of the RMTD board, said most of the people who ride mass transit in Rockford are elderly, and this is a good proposal for them.”You have to wonder how people on fixed income can stay ahead of the curve,” Hurvey said.

Hurvey also said she would have to look into the cost of such an idea.

Fortunately Rockford transit does have a bit more money coming its way.

When senators last week were having problems getting the votes necessary to avoid a shutdown of Chicago transit on Jan. 20, the bill’s sponsors gave downstate transit districts, including Rockford, additional money to get more legislators to approve the bailout measure.

The bill narrowly passed the Senate with a 30-25 vote, and as a result, Rockford mass transit is poised to receive $1.2 million more.

However, the measure, and the money for Chicago and downstate transit, is still in limbo because the governor added his free ride provision. If lawmakers approve the governor’s changes when they return to Springfield Thursday, senior citizens in Rockford could get their free ride.

UPDATED x1:

Two Rockford lawmakers are split about the governor’s proposal to give seniors a free ride.

Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, said he favors the proposal because senior citizens deserve it.

“Seniors have made this country what it is today, and if anyone should be given a break, if you will, it should be the seniors,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson was the lone Rock River Valley lawmaker in either chamber who voted last week for the original mass transit legislation. Some media outlets (here and here) have reported some legislators who voted for the bailout last week may be getting cold feet as it gets closer to Thursday, the day lawmakers return to vote on the governor’s change to the bill.

Jefferson said he will decide how to vote when he returns to Springfield on Thursday.

“It’s not a selfish vote that I made for the CTA,” Jefferson said. “Sometimes you have to make decisions that are good for the state of Illinois.”

Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, did not vote for the transit legislation on Thursday and said he won’t vote for it this week either, unless, a capital construction bill is attached.

Syverson said he is surprised that the governor’s proposal would be limited to a senior citizen’s transit district.

“(The governor) doesn’t think about the ramifications and the complexities when you do something off the cuff like this,” Syverson said of the proposal that took most in the Capitol by surprise.

He said if senior citizens do need free transit, then it should be addressed in separate legislation, rather than “a blanket political maneuver.”

Entry Filed under: senior citizens, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois politics