Riding Free in Rockford

March 17th, 2008 at 04:38pm Andrea Zimmermann

Rockford Mass Transit buses may soon carry more blue-haired passengers than normal.

RMTD spokeswoman Lisa Brown said senior citizens have been flooding the city’s mass transit office in recent weeks to make sure they can get their state-mandated free rides.

Today marks the first day that Rockford residents and others in metropolitan cities across the state can hitch a free ride on the mass transit buses.

“I think that we will see more and more people join the family of transit riders,” Brown said.

Of course, the governor, who is trying to deflect the negative publicity he is getting while a top fundraiser is on trial for federal corruption charges, is milking the free-ride story for all its worth. On Tuesday, the administration is sending one of its lackeys to Rockford, where he will be joined by other transit officials, to hold a news conference about the new option.

The press pops seemed to help Blagojevich’s poll numbers, which jumped a bit in January, and he was able to seem like he was swooping in to save the day for seniors. However, this plan did backfire when he visited seniors on the north side of Chicago.

In response to one lady who asked a lengthy question about the governor’s policies on mass transit and taxation, the governor finished with this:

“It’s not so bad. Just hold your nose and take a bus for free.”

At the end of the day, seniors got free rides and sadly for Blagojevich, the governor’s good press ended quickly.

In Rockford, people who are 65 years and older must have a RMTD-issued photo ID card to get their free ride. Brown said the office holds photo ID sessions every other Wednesday, and the sessions, which normal handle 15 people, have averaged 70 customers sinc late February.

Starting Monday, March 17, 2008, all senior citizens will be able to ride RMTD’s fixed routes for free. To take advantage of free rides To take advantage of the free rides, anyone 65 years of age or older will need an RMTD photo ID. Photo ID’s are taken every other Wednesday between 1:00 and 4:30 pm at 501 W. State Street.

The cost is $2.00 and proof of age, such as a State ID, driver’s license or birth certificate will also be required. For more information call 815.961.9000 today.

Before today, seniors purchased half-price tickets to ride the bus, but political manuevering in January created the free rides for seniors.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich agreed to break his campaign promise to not raise taxes in order break a legislative stalemate over crucial funding for the Chicago transit systems, but before doing so, he demanded the Legislature approve his free-ride provision.

In January, Brown said RMTD did not expect to lose much money on free-ride clause, because seniors, who already paid half price, also only consisted of 24,000 of the 1.4 million Rockford mass transit riders.

Rockford transit policy allows non-residents to also ride the bus, but they must have the same photo ID as Rockford riders. Because of the way the state law is written, each transit district must set their own rules, which means guidelines can vary between cities and seniors may not be able to ride for free everywhere.

Entry Filed under: Illinois politics