In October 2009, Senate Democrats held the legislation that allows for impoverished senior citizens to recieve free CTA transportation. Gov. Blogojevich approved this last year, to which Mayor Daley is opposed. As he expressed, this is a great perk, but who is going to pay for it?

According to a CTA source, the agency believed it had a deal with Quinn and the four legislative leaders to freeze fares in 2010 and 2011 in exchange for letting the poorest seniors continue to ride free while charging more financially secure seniors as little as 85 cents. But Quinn backed down, the source said.

“Maintaining the status quo comes with a high price,” CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said in a prepared statement. “The CTA has to have a balanced budget. Fares will go up. Service will be reduced. And more than 1,000 employees will lose their jobs. That is not the outcome we wanted, but those with the power to avoid it chose not to act.”