With the senior population in DuPage increasing at a greater clip than anywhere else in Chicagoland, county government has to work harder to address the major transportation problems that make non-car travel a huge problem. Naperville and Lisle township have taken this step by improving access in DuPage for seniors (with 24 hour service and a guaranteed ride if you call two hours in advance), but despite their best attempts, this is a problem that calls for a much bigger solution. Why?
- The program will cost about $450,000 annually, with only 17% offset by fares. The difference will be made up by Naperville, Lisle and Pace.
- Even the subsidized charge can be a lot for seniors on fixed incomes if they need to travel any distance in DuPage for medical appointments, etc. It will cost $1.50 for up to six miles with $1.50 each additional mile. There are group discounts.
- The ’solution’ is only for travel in DuPage County; seniors needing to go outside the county are out of luck.
- Seniors aren’t the only ones that need public transportation. Expanding transportation throughout the suburbs would permit more people to ride, reduce costs and reduce road use and congestion (which is a major issue for commuters among others).
While regional transportation issues are being worked on at the county level, people living in DuPage now need results now. The County Board needs to make transportation a higher priority - and they need to start delivering better results than just playing defense. This is not a problem, given population growth, that can be solved by building more roads. In the future there will always be more people needing to travel than roads that can be built. Affordable, accessible and reliable mass transit has to be a major part of any long-term solution.
[5/27/04 Editor Note, the link to the 4/15/04 Lisle Sun for “senior population in DuPage increasing” was eliminate because no longer online and the 4/14/04 Chicago Tribune link for “just playing defense” was substituted (because it was no longer online) with the current link]
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