Faced with proposals for fare hikes and service cuts, local Chicago area residents voiced their concerns about Pace’s financial crisis to Chicago Transit Authority and Pace transit officials at a public forum on June 28. At the forum, held at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., residents discussed Pace’s plans to climb out of the red on two major services: the Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit program and its suburban bus program. “Every several years, there has been a tremendous push to try to find efficiencies or to cut things in order to maintain the services that we have,” said Richard N. Winston, executive vice president of transit operations at CTA. “Some years, we have not been successful and we’ve had to cut services. Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice.”With Pace’s ADA paratransit budget in a $27 million shortfall and its suburban bus program in a $23 million shortfall, Winston and other transit officials will conduct public hearings until the end of July to gauge public opinion on their proposal and to garner support for extra funding.Introduced mid-June, the Pace proposal calls for a combination of service cuts and fare hikes. Starting September 1, all Pace fares, local and regular, would increase to $2 from $1.25 and $1.50, respectively. Pace would also no longer honor any CTA passes- except the Pace CTA 30-Day Pass- and by October, would eliminate 23 fixed route bus services that are experiencing subpar performance. Pace Route 426, which provides for some of Northwestern’s intercampus transit needs would not be affected; however, student riders who use other routes and U-Pass would have to find other alternatives to the bus. Evanston Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th Ward), spoke out against the proposed cuts and fare increases on behalf of Northwestern students.”Students are dependent to get to and from Chicago on the CTA,” Tisdahl said. “It’s a terribly important part of their life and their university experience to be able to get easily to and from Chicago. The cuts that have been proposed are of great concern to them.”Some legislative action to alleviate the transit budget deficit is already apparent. In March, Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) introduced House Bill 1841, which will revamp the Regional Transit Authority’s organization and funding capabilities. Pace is operated by the RTA.”We depend on mass transit to support our economy,” said Evanston City Manager Julia Carroll. Each day, more than 24,000 Evanston residents ride the CTA’s Purple line and the five primary Pace bus routes, Carroll noted.”We must make mass transit funding a priority,” Carroll said.

The Daily’s Katie Euphrat contributed to this report.Reach Paul Takahashi at [email protected].