METRA SMOKESCREEN ----------- high salaries, contracts and political cronyism is what Metra is all about.

MONEY PIT

Metra board members Thursday advanced a plan to raise fares by nearly 11 percent next year and by a total 68 percent over a decade to help upgrade the oldest fleet among its peers.

The green light to 10 consecutive years of fare increases came with some trepidation that Metra riders would be hit with a 10.8 percent fare increase Feb. 1, but not see any new train cars for 2 ? to 3 years.

“We absolutely are asking our customers to be patient,” Metra CEO Don Orseno told reporters after Thursday’s board meeting. “It takes a long time to get these cars…”
But Orseno said, “When new cars are in place, they will have a more reliable, more comfortable ride.”

Stocked with a new CEO and mostly new board members in the last year, Metra Thursday unveiled grander plans than perhaps at any point in its 30-year history.

The agency outlined a 10-year, $2.4 billion modernization program that includes 10 years of fare increases — in part to bankroll debt service on Metra’s first-ever attempt to float bonds. The $400 million in bonds, and other funding sources, would be used to pay for $2.1 billion in upgrades to virtually Metra’s entire fleet and a $275 million federal safety mandate.