A Chicago Transit Authority board committee recommended Thursday the sale of biweekly passes for unlimited use on buses and trains.
Nicholas Ruggiero, chairman of the board`s committee on finance, sought the new pass for riders who find it difficult to spend $46 at one time to purchase a CTA monthly pass. The committee`s recommendation will be presented before the full CTA board for action at the board`s next meeting on March 5.
If approved, the pass would go on sale for the first time March 30 and would cost $23, according to CTA spokesman Bill Baxa. Senior citizens would be able to buy the biweekly pass for $11.50, he said.
After a lengthy debate, the committee also agreed finally to ask the full board to give a 25 cent commission to currency exchanges for each biweekly pass they sell.
Initially, CTA staff members recommended that currency exchanges, which now sell more than half the monthly passes in use, be paid 15 to 20 cents for each biweekly pass sold.
Michael Levitt, president of the Currency Exchange Association, which represents 365 exchanges, said operators want 25 cents–the amount they are paid now for selling each $46 monthly pass–because the same amount of work is involved in selling biweekly passes.
