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Posted by Monique
Garcia
at 1:15 p.m.
Gov.
Patrick Quinn said today that he would not sign legislation under
consideration by the Illinois House to take away free bus and train
rides from all but low-income seniors.
The
governor said he thinks the free ride program, put in place last year under
predecessor Rod Blagojevich, is worthy even as transit agencies face severe
money woes.
"I
think free rides for seniors is a good policy," Quinn said following an
appearance at a Joliet high school. "I hope they don't pass a law ending
the program. I think it's a step forward."
The
measure sponsored by state Rep. Suzanne Bassi (R-Palatine) would limit free
rides on CTA, Metra and Pace to seniors who meet the state's low-income
guidelines.
"I
don't think I would sign such a bill that would limit it so
drastically," Quinn said. "I think we always want to keep an eye on
everything, especially in tough economic times, but I'm not really
interested in going to that program and slashing it. I think free rides for
seniors is a basic public policy that we can support and maintain even in
tough economic times."
Quinn
also suggested that perhaps more people should qualify for help from the
state.
"There
are others in our society who don't perhaps have the age or obtain the age of
65 who are right now living from check to check and worried about their
economic livelihood," Quinn said. "So I think we need to keep
everybody in mind at this time. There are different ways to help people and
I'm going to be talking about that in the budget address."
Revenues
for the CTA, Metra and Pace dropped significantly below projections for last
year, officials say.
The CTA
estimates a potential revenue shortfall of $242 million this year. The agency
said it provided more than 21 million free rides for seniors last year.
Seniors
took 2.3 million free trips on Metra and about 1.7 million rides on Pace
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