Dead Ride for Free on CTA with Fraud Rampant in Free Ride Program

Courtesy of Bob Matter

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/investigative/cta-seniors-ride...

Dead Ride for Free on CTA with Fraud Rampant in Free Ride Program

14% of all CTA rides are used by seniors for free

Updated: Wednesday, 24 Nov 2010, 8:59 AM CST
Published : Tuesday, 23 Nov 2010, 6:18 PM CST

By Dane Placko, FOX Chicago News

Chicago - For years we've joked about dead people voting in Chicago.
Now we know they take public transportation as well.

A joint investigation by FOX Chicago News and the Better Government
Association has uncovered widespread fraud and abuse in the "seniors
ride free" program -- including numerous cases where free passes
continue to be used on trains and buses long after the registered
cardholder died.

RTA spokesperson Diane Palmer says the agency recently completed a
review of more than 400,000 seniors ride free cards. And found 3,000
of the cardholders had died.

"We certainly know this is a travesty and something we've already
become aware of and are addressing," Palmer said.

But the RTA audit found about 160 cards belonging to those dead people
were still being used, presumably by friends and family. Those people
got anywhere from a few rides to as many as 1,400 free fares after
their loved one died.

And there's even evidence some of the cards are being sold.

"It absolutely is (taking advantage of a well-meaning program). And
again as I said, this is a time where the transit system is in dire
straits," Palmer said.

But that may be just the start of the fraud.

A potentially bigger problem that hasn't been measured is seniors
giving their free passes to riders who should pay.

Bob Herguth of the BGA and I decided to test the system one day last
week. We each used our fathers’ free ride cards.

And we were able to access the L at the Harrison Red Line station with
two CTA workers standing by.

Later we went through the unguarded entrance to the Brown Line's
Merchandise Mart stop, where a nearby attendant’s booth was empty.

Then we boarded the LaSalle Street bus for another free ride. And got
on a Howard Street Pace bus -- neither driver gave us a second look.

Okay, so we're two middle aged guys, which is why I then gave my dad's
pass to our FOX Chicago intern Marcella, who promptly used it to get
on the Red Line L at State Street.

When Marcella used the card, a beep sounded, which signals when a
seniors ride free pass is being used. But a CTA employee leaning
against a wall 15 feet away wasn't paying attention.

Minutes later Marcella used the card to get on the State Street bus.
Again, no reaction.

Was she surprised?

"Yeah, I don't really look like the guy. I'm 21 years old. I'm clearly
not a senior citizen getting on the bus," Marcella said.

"(The system) needs to have dramatic changes in terms of its oversight
and administration. Because it's so porous now it's crazy," the BGA’s
Herguth said.

“It’s theft,” he added.
Seniors ride free was the brainchild of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich,
who tied it to a regional tax hike for public transportation in 2008.

It was estimated the program would cost about $20 million.

But now that's soared to nearly $40 million, and republicans say based
on our findings of "riding while dead" and other fraud, it may be time
to send the whole program to the political graveyard.

"This was a political stunt by our former governor. Everybody knows it
was designed to get votes," said Tom Cross, Illinois House minority
leader.

"Unfortunately the current governor has said he does not want to
repeal that. I'm hopeful that given this type of information he will
reconsider,” Cross said.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on December 19, 2010 at 12:41pm

I wonder what kind of numbers could be crunched if they decided to just make the L trains free to all who wanted to ride them.

Just think of all the infrastructure and employees that could be eliminated.

Think of the number of people who would not be driving and the savings that would bring (and the roads that would be that much less crowded for bikes.

Sure it would mean a crapload more trains, and more power needed to run them as well as more conductors.

If they still charge for the busses then there would be more people on the trains and fewer on the belching stinky busses that block more traffic (and thus waste more fuel) than they save. Sure there are many places the trains don't go but its not a perfect solution.

There would also be more homeless in the stations (although there are quite a few in there now).

Positives and negatives I guess. I'd like to see the real numbers. I'd like to see the trains free. I'd like to see cattle cars on every train without any seats just for bikes. People could ride their bikes to the nearest train and take the train to the nearest stop and ride the rest of the way.

I think it'd be a much better system than it is today. The money that the city government wastes on stupid stuff that could be cut would be much better spent making the trains free. I just wonder how much it would really cost/year to just have it a free-for-all.

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on December 19, 2010 at 12:55pm

Possibly-- post 'em up if you find them.

Chris C said:

Any stats on the number of seniors who are now able to ride CTA that couldn't afford to do so before?

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Permalink Reply by S on December 19, 2010 at 2:37pm

Chris C said:

Any stats on the number of seniors who are now able to ride CTA that couldn't afford to do so before?

There's some stats here. It doesn't quite break out how the difference but apparently adding means testing to limit the free rides to those who really need it would add $38 million to the RTA budget. It's not that much compared to the $2.3 billion dollar budget. Still given that the RTA and CTA are chronically underfunded, every bit helps.

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Permalink Reply by S on December 19, 2010 at 2:41pm

James Baum said:

I wonder what kind of numbers could be crunched if they decided to just make the L trains free to all who wanted to ride them.

Just think of all the infrastructure and employees that could be eliminated.

The expenses are easy to figure out, it'd be about $520 million a year if everyone rode free. You'd be able to reduce costs a bit but probably not as much as you'd think. You still need people at the stations to provide security and deal with any problems. I don't expect the turnstiles and fareboxes add much in terms of costs, the major repair costs are with the trains and buses and repairs to structures.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on December 19, 2010 at 3:35pm

So let's just say $500M/year as a ballpark figure.

How much does the city pay to keep up the roads? Paving, maintenance, patrol, snow clearance, lighting -etc?

Is $500 million comparable?

Why do cars get a different system? Sure there is the gas tax -but I don't think the city gets much of that. Not enough to pay for all the roads/streets. Sure, we've still got to have roads but if there were fewer cars on them and more bikes it might make up for a small part of that.

We waste so much money on stupid crap each year. How much does a single F-16 fighter cost? 250Million + plus operating costs.

If the city were REALLY serious about people taking public transportation they wouldn't price it more than most people feel it is worth. It's just simple economics.

S said:

Just think of all the infrastructure and employees that could be eliminated.

The expenses are easy to figure out, it'd be about $520 million a year if everyone rode free. You'd be able to reduce costs a bit but probably not as much as you'd think. You still need people at the stations to provide security and deal with any problems. I don't expect the turnstiles and fareboxes add much in terms of costs, the major repair costs are with the trains and buses and repairs to structures.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on December 19, 2010 at 4:44pm

Well the other thing is that you'd have a lot more people riding. I think the multiplier has ranged from three to nine in free fare zones in other cities. So you need a lot more trains, conductors, repair crews, etc.

It's close to a no brainer, really, as whatever you lose in user fees is more than made up for in lessened spending on roads, productivity gains, added revenues for small businesses near transit stops and so on. But there are a lot of up front costs (which would be especially magnified given the rickety infrastructure here) and it's hard enough to get transit funding that just keeps the system limping along.

Getting certain areas of the city made into free fare zones would be a really, really, really worthwhile project for any local advocacy group looking for something to do, though.

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Permalink Reply by Davo on December 20, 2010 at 5:27am

Is there a different "beep" when seinor cards are used? It seems to me that any card used to get on transit has some kind of "beep".

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on January 10, 2011 at 9:20pm

A little f/u:

Free Rides for Seniors 'repealed' today:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-senior-free-rides-2...

And all because Bob Matter posted that article to some listserv.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 11, 2011 at 2:37am

That should make Gabe happy -how many handicap-card seniors are going to be back on the road???

H3N3 said:

A little f/u:

Free Rides for Seniors 'repealed' today:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-senior-free-rides-2...

And all because Bob Matter posted that article to some listserv.

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Permalink Reply by Davo on January 11, 2011 at 4:40am

;) ;) ;)

James Baum said:

That should make Gabe happy -how many handicap-card seniors are going to be back on the road???

H3N3 said:
A little f/u:

Free Rides for Seniors 'repealed' today:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-senior-free-rides-2...

And all because Bob Matter posted that article to some listserv.