The Ride

Why shouldn't it cost $40 a day to drive into downtown Chicago

$16 - congestion fee
$24 - parking fee

Because, it will limit our central urban areas to the haves and the have nots.

This will turn downtown into a nightmare since many people that work outside of downtown and commute through the area. So which streets will have the congestion fee, Michigan, Wabash, State, (traffic limited once before and it didnt work), Dearborn, Clark, Wells or La Salle most of which are major streets that carry north south traffic, why not have done with it all and sell the commuting rights for downtown to a private company for several billion just like we did for Grant Park parking system. Why not keep giving large companies the incentive to pack it in and leave downtown for good?

I pay $75/month to go to the Loop for work every day. I take the CTA.

This idea is overdue, and now because we're behind the curve we've potentially missed out on a piece of the $1.1 billion in federal funding for congestion pricing, which would have made it a lot easier to implement this.

If suburbanites want to continue to enjoy Chicago's urban benefits, they're going to have to start helping to pay for them. Funding is getting tight enough that it's either progressive policies like this, or we'll watch the city and its benefits (jobs, entertainment, homes, parks, etc.) start to disintegrate -- it's an unfortunate fact of life. Many of the suburbanites who will complain about this live in communities that charge outsiders to visit their parks!

Chicago leverages the same power of urban efficiency as London -- and it's powerful that enough that people will continue to come downtown despite having to pay. Some people will be willing to pay to drive downtown, and others will find other means of getting downtown. But we'll have more funding to provide alternative transportation options for those who won't or can't pay. Other people still will decide to take advantage of living downtown, which is something we should be encouraging anyway if we want to reduce pollution and waste and take advantage of a great existing walkable urban environment.

vote out ed burke and any other political parasite who tries to implement this inane scheme.

Even if I were convinced that this is a good idea, how exactly would you enforce the rule? Ring the area with toll booths? The downside to the grid system of streets is that there would be too many ways into the Loop to make it reasonable to collect the fee.

Now, I could see something where the toll booths are on the major arteries like the Kennedy and only collect tolls during peak hours. Maybe all those people that think they can't take the train to work would reconsider. That would probably do more than punishing the random visitor for coming here.

I think Mayor Daley is an idiot and out of touch mayor. I just left Chicago, gas is high and traffic is a nightmare. The people of Chicago have there priorities messed up. What needs to be done in Chicago is to invest in a major new subway system in Chicago. The CTA has not expanded nor created a new train line in twenty years!!!!.... But Daley wants the Olympics to come to Chicago in 2016...Please explain..the logic..

If the TRUE desire behind the implementation of such an idea is reduction of emissions and congestion, and not lining our government official’s pockets, I see no reason not to IF there is a sliding scale intertwined in the fees, the lowest going to hybrids, scooters and motorcycles, with the most hitting SUV’s. Lager commercial trucks should be given a reprieve if they have business within the area as to not discourage business there.

HOW DOES ALDERMAN BURKE AND HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS, ASSOCIATES GET TO WORK, SCHOOL, BUSINESS, FAMILY FUNCTIONS. EVERYONE IS TRYING TO GET WHERE THEY ARE GOING THE FASTEST AND CHEAPEST WAY. ALL THIS WILL DO IS STOP PEOPLE FROM COMING DOWN TOWN MAYBE THATS WHAT THIS PROPOSAL IS ALL ABOUT, KEEPING CERTAIN TYPES OF PEOPLE OUT.

This ideal is dumb, to eas traffic lets move the courts and city hall out of the loop!!!!

If the Alderman is truly interested in reducing the number of vehicles in downtown Chicago, then his Finance Committee should find the resources to help the CTA out, which my understanding is a paltry contribution from the cities coffers. If this is his plan to steer more money into the CTA budget, then if we REALLY wants to encourage people not to drive, eliminate the fares collected by the CTA, which will also eliminate much of the administrative cost.

The Federal government should also be assisting the RTA, METRA, and the CTA for the added security cost post 9/11, Madrid, and London. Our congressional delegation's help should be sought in addressing the funding of a safe and secure public transportation system regardless of the cities Olympic bid.

Technologies such as open road tolling should be explored for those who use LSD as though it was another expressway, rather than the parkway that it is. I think it would be nice to use any funds collected from a parkway open-roads collection to extend our park system with a series of islands north of Hollywood/Osterman Beach, and add a two lane parkway on those islands extending LSD to Evanston. On the South side, tolls should be used to expedite the conversion of the old steel site to a park system.

If the city council is going to look at these types of measures, they should look more comprehensively at our entire transportation system. The Chamber of Commerce should look at this as an opportunity to address funding for CREATE, potentially an economic boost to businesses by maintaining Chicago's traditional role as the nations HUB for rail freight. The city council should also be working with the state legislature to gain more efficiencies and greater accountability in streamlining the administrative functions of the RTA, METRA, and CTA.

If the city is truly interested in making a serious bid for the Olympics, an environmentally and fiscally sound public transportation network would be a lasting legacy for the cities residence. I have never understood what the difference is between public education and public safety - (which we do charge user fees) - and public transportation. Our city leaders should be taxing those things they want to discourage, and reducing or eliminating any taxes toward those things we want to encourage. If this proposal should move forward, I hope our city leaders explore eliminating CTA fares, expanding bike lanes, and encouraging transit oriented development throughout the cities neighborhoods, and not solely focus on measures in the Loop.

The Democrats solution to everything is a tax increase. Burke, Stroger, Blago, Pelosi.

It sounds dumber than a box of rocks. I'll just drive thru like I do on the tollways while singing Marvin Gayes WHAT'S GOING ON!

What about those of us who live downtown? Would we be exempt? I don't drive very often, but I don't want to pay a toll so I can get in and out of my parking garage. I already pay sky high property taxes.

The taxing of coming to Chicago is not a new idea. The first Mayor Daley effectively did the same thing with the closing of State Street and allowing the parking fees to become excessive. The malls of the suburban areas enjoyed economic growth as a result. I beleive the end result coupled with higher rapid transportation cost will drive revenue from downtown Chicago.

Mayor Daley should concentrate more on cleaning up corruption in his government (starting with himself) than sticking another tax on people. Or maybe he needs this money for his corporate fund defense when he get indicted.

THIS IS INSANE PEOPLE IN CHICAGO ARE GETTING FED UP WITH ALL OF THE NW EXPENSES THAT ARE BEING PUT ON THEM WHERE IS ALL OF THIS MONEY GOING SOME ONE SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR IT. i THIN K ITS A WAY OFD GETTING PEOPLE TO TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION WHICH IS A BIG JOKE.

I'm afraid that Burke and those who agree with him are simply showing their ignorance. The simple fact is that the Chicago Aldermen do not have the authority to pass such a ridiculous law. Why? A little piece of paper called the Constitution of the United States of America. The 5th amendment of the Constitution states that a person has a right to life, liberty and property and shall not be deprived of these things without due process of law. What does that mean? Due process means the court system. You can not be deprived of life, liberty or property unless a court finds you guilty of a crime, in which case they can deprive you of life, liberty(freedom by putting you in jail), or property (some amount of money or property to repay your crime).

Ok, so how does that play into Burke's insane and illegal idea? It all comes down to the little word, LIBERTY. Back in feudal Europe, it was all too common for each lord to charge a bogus tax simply for crossing lines on a map. A bridge tax, a looking at my trees tax, or a "just because I feel like it" tax. The founding fathers were tired of this. They did not want each state or each city charging bogus taxes simply for entering their region. It was called the "liberty to travel". The founding fathers wanted all the people to be able to travel the whole United States freely and without impedance from the government. It was one of the first times in modern history that such an idea was put into practice.

So, all of these roads are paid for or maintained with taxpayer dollars, so that are not privately owned. They are owned by the people. This, coupled with the constitution, means that ALL people, including those from other states have an unalienable right to travel into the city of Chicago with bogus taxes from the feudal lords simply for traveling.

Burke, yet again, seems to have no problem making illegal laws. He really needs to be given a copy of the United States Constitution and read up on it. Better yet, for violating the Law of the Land, he should be put on trial for treason and punished, as described in law.

It would not hurt a thing. Why don't they cut that TIF crap out if they are so hard up for dough?

Embracing more taxes/government, especially in this fashion, is like giving Big Brother a shot in the arm. This is more of a control issue than a tax issue as some have pointed out (actually most government ideas are control issues. We have been paying more than enough taxes for a LONG time to cover government. It's mismanagement, patronage, and corruption that eat up our money).

Perhaps this will lead to a Chicago Congestion Fee Party akin to the Boston Tea Party? Funny how overall attitudes to the taking of our wealth changes in 230 years, or maybe they haven't. It is still government taking as much as it can get away with.

The first thing wew should do it make sure that Burke is NEVER REELECTED. The second thing we should do is charge each alderman a $100.00 per day fine for contributing to global warming by all the hot air they continue to pollute Chicago with. Add this $16.00 per day fee with the construction debacle if Chicago does get the Olympics and I would be the first to petition Burke and every other alderman who goes along with this idiotic brain fart to be sentenced to Gitmo as an enemy combatant. TIME FOR BURKE TO GO!

Why limit this to cars and trucks?

If a 5.00 daily fee was applied to all pedestrians and workers who venture in the downtown area, at any time, this city would be much better off and think of all the money the city would gain.

definitely an idea whose time had come.

Another facist busybody outrage by nanny Mcfee.

It's a good idea in many respects, many of which are set out here. One big one I can think of is the probable reduction of urban sprawl. Sprawl is killing the Chicagoland area. We are destroying valuable farmland to build communities further and further out. You have people out in Yorkville now communting 120 miles per day to and from the Loop! This can't be good for the planet. The fee would perhaps cause people to move into inner ring suburbs or city neighborhoods where they would be close to public transit. And this could have the additional benefit of revitalizing blighted neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. "Adaptive reuse" and "smart growth" are the concepts the fee may assist in achieving. This is just speculation but it analytically flows.

If Burke likes how London has implemented this fee scheme then maybe he should move there. He'd fit right in with the royal snobs that have disdain for the commoners.

This is completely rediculos!!! Just another way for the city to get our money. True NYC is considering the idea of doing this, but that doesn't mean that Chicago has to once again follow suit in this topic as well. All a tax like this will do is push businesses back out into the suburbs where taxes are lower, traffic is less, and costs of doing business aren't as high. A congestion tax will discourage good highly qualified suburban residents from wanting to work in the loop and stay out in the suburbs therefore reducing the worker pool that companies have to choose from. It will totally discourage freight into and out of our city via truck of which is Chicago's main industry (freight/transportation), and also, where are people supposed to get these pollution passes??? Tollbooths? I thought the state is trying to do away with tollbooths because they have been proven to create traffic back-ups of which cause motorists to sit in stop and go traffic with their engines running thus CREATING MORE SMOG!!! Don't even consider this stupid tax Chicago, just leave sleeping dogs lie.

I drive into the city from the northside every day. I have a disability and can't take public transportation. I park at a handicapped space which I don't have to pay for. In order to get this space, I arrive downtown at 4:30 a.m.

For the city to charge a tax for the privilege of working downtown and needing to drive in order to work here is ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as the weeks of time that the handicapped parking spaces are taken up because of movies shooting in Chicago. In the five years I've worked downtown, handicapped parking has been off limits for a total of a little over 2 months.

Parking in area lots, even arriving at 4:30 a.m., costs $24.00/day. That's $120 per week, or $3,480 per year, which I wouldn't even be able to take off my taxes. City sticker is up to the same cost as my license plate renewal. My property taxes have gone up as well as gas, electricity, etc.

When is enough enough? I say get rid of the bloat caused by malfeasance in office and you would have plenty of money to give the CTA. And why, for heavens sake, should I support the CTA when I can't and don't use it? It's the same as my supporting the Chicago Public schools when my children went to private school. And now that my husband is retired, we are still supporting the public schools through our taxes.

If the city wants to tax me for driving into downtown, how about removing some of the other taxes that I pay? But of course, that's sounds fair so it won't even be considered.

WOW! That's about all I can say for this insane proposition.More money for the strapped city,Daley needs more money to pay for all those law suits that has stricken that city. More tickets ,more tickets.I can see it now at one of Daley's staff meetings(I hear they are a site to see,with the king going into fits of anger like a little 5 year old),brain storming for way's to get more money from these people. When I get east of Cumberland avenue I instinctivly hang on to my wallet,now toll booths to collect money from people driving downtown. It won't be long before all roads leading into Chicago will have toll booths. Sending tickets in the mail is Daley's way of not having the police coming into contact with real live people,"just send them a pay or lose your license" notice and of course you have a right to have a hearing for your 'violation',yea right ,two chances of getting off of one of those notices,slim and none. I can see it now your fine is normally $150.00 but we will settle for $75,just pay the clerk.
I am glad I only get into that city once or twice a year,and that's too much.

Will the alder-boobs and his holiness be required to pay this fee also, or will they simply afford themselves another pay raise to cover this expense. Try getting rid of all the dead wood in city, county (especially Todd Stroger), ans state government. When will we say enough!

obviously a toll that's even on par with what N.Y.c is proposing ($8) would be too much in a city like chicago, but I think it's a great idea.

Any incentive to get people out of their cars an into public transit, bikes or walking is wonderful.

Suburbanites can easily take Metra into the downtown area as many already do (as can car driving urbanites). If we don't implement something like this, we'll continually suffer from horrible air quality and compared to n.Y.c., an even more underfunded transit system.

It's a quality of life issue for me. I leave for Yale come september and if the CTA mess doesn't get fixed, I plan on planting roots in new york. a city that's "getting it".

"You gotta pay to play." Everyone loves the appeal and luxury of the city but nobody wants to pay for it through higher taxes, increased CTA fares, or now a driving fee. This is the price of congestion: pay it or move out!

The city is full of it...millions of dollars spent on these flower boulevards that impede a driver's view may have also contributed to congestion. Yet, they approve the building of a 150 story tower that is on a parcel a little larger than a postage stamp with limited access. Let's see congestion when that thing is finished.

Why cast the congesting pricing on the people? Why not charge Ford (etc.) with these prices for not making more electric compact cars for city driving? There is not a sufficient variety of these cars available. Why? Government. Corporations. Money. Greed. Politics.

Here's an idea DALEY, instead of looking for ways to deter people from coming into the city in some lame attempt to reduce pollution, how about tackling congestion relief by syncronizing all the city's traffic signals with eachother much the way NYC did 15-20 years ago. Syncronizing the signals will allow for traffic to flow more smoothly by reducing the amount of stop and go movement between signals, and at the same time syncronization will increase our 19th century road's capacities allowing them to be able to accomodate more cars. NYC's traffic signals all work in perfect unison with eachother allowing a driver to travel 1-2 miles before ever being stopped by a red signal and that includes driving in Manhattan. In Chicago I'm lucky if I can make it through one intersection on a green light before once again having to stop for another red signal. Time the signals better and you will reduce the city's congestion and also greatly reduce any pollution caused by cars.

Nice idea...NOT!!! At least when this tax goes into place I will be able to once again watch the suburbs explode with growth much the way they did in the 1970's and 80's where everyone was so discusted with living in Chicago and putting up with horrible traffic, taxes, costs of living, filth, so on and so on, that there was a huge mass exodus out of the city.

Yeah, congestion pricing is something we should examine because its been done in London and New York in looking at it. How original! I find it hard to believe, that after I pay $90 a year for a city sticker for my SUV and $25 for a residential parking permit, the city is looking to once again tax the beleaguered citizens of this city! And the whole suggestion that congestion pricing can help fund the CTA is pure tomfoolery. If anything, the bloated elephant that is the CTA should have its fat trimmed and streamlined so that it can run efficiently and not go running to Springfield with its hat in its hand! The reality is this: the city's residents have over 1.1 million registered vehicles and when combined with the considerable amount of suburban, taxi, limo, and commercial traffic, congestion pricing might make sense to officials who refuse to take into account what we pay in stickers, gas prices, downtown parking garages and the like. What would be a shame is if this legislation goes through and all of the recent improvements to the Loop were all for nothing because businesses choose to look elsewhere to conduct their business. Looks like Ed Burke is the next alderman up on the chopping block!

Wow..some of the comments smack of the old "forced relocations" from the Soviet Union days under the guise of "saving the planet".Make 'em move closer if they want to be part of us..eek.
My question is,what would the boundries be? I see the Loop, but my impression of downtown is much larger perhaps out to Harrison Street on the west,the Lake on the east,North Avenue on the North,and 21st St. to the south (taking in the South Loop redevelopment and all).
As to the "promised" distribution of funds to the CTA..well, this comes from those wonderful folks who promised all the money from the Lottery would go to education. Need I say more? This must be reviewed with the finest-toothed comb money can buy :)

Cutting off access to downtown is easy. Just raise the bridges and block all roads in from the south. That leaves only a handful of access routes (LSD, Ike) which would be easy to control.

If City Council is serious about implementing a congestion fee, they should still allow free access to the parking garages like the Millennium Park Garage, and on some major downtown arteries like Wacker and Lake Shore Drive. Exemptions should be given to the small number of Loop residents with proof of residency as opposed to those who might try living in a PO Box. Drivers of low emission vehicles such as Hybrids, electrics, or motorcycles should also be exempt if lower emissions are the reasoning behind congestion fees.

Personally, I thought the CTA/RTA should've gone to the Tollway Authority to collect money when they were making money hand-over-fist after the toll increases. Instead we hear about the CTA's money woes, and ambitious plans to sell the tollways to European consortiums who will manage like a slumlord on vacation.

I wouldn't pay anything. This kind of stupidity is the reason I live and work far away from downtown Chicago. I'm sure all the suburbs will be in favor of the plan since it will drive business and workers out of the city.

This is absolutely unfair for people who LIVE downtown and HAVE to drive. And instead of taxing us all the time to pay for the city's corruption, the city should clean its own house before punishing us even further for their incompetence and dishonesty.

It seems to me a few years ago, there was a big push to increase public presence in the loop, and now that there are more people, there's a proposal to tax them? It is already hard enough to shop in the loop with the dearth of street parking and the high parking lot rates. My purchases wouldn't add up to the fees and taxes!

I used to live in Rockville Centre, NY, a suburb of New York City much the way Orland Park where I live now is to Chicago and must voice a my concern over this proposed tax for driving into Chicago.

In New York City, having a car is more of a luxury than a neccessity as it is in Chicago. New York's MTA (the equivalent of the Metra here) runs every 20 minutes day and night to all areas of New York's metro area allowing a commuter to not only get into Midtown's Penn Station from L.I. in about 30 minutes, but also from one suburb to the next. In Chicago, Metra strictly runs from the burbs to downtown. There is no way for a commuter to get from lets say Joliet to Schaumburg, or Hinsdale to Lansing, etc, or if there is, then it is very difficult.

Next, there is New York's subway system (the equivelant of the L here); this system runs again 24 hours a day at intervals of every 20 minutes to all stretches of the 5 bouroghs of New York City and parts of NJ. When I arrived in Chicago I was stunned to find out how limited I was by the CTA's train schedule and where it went to. To be honest, it didn't seem to go anywhere I needed it to and many of the lines seemed VERY unsafe with little policing of the activities that were occuring on the trains. In New York there were police on every train which made me feel at ease and made me feel comfortable to ride the train at ALL hours of the day.

In New York a tax placed on those driving into Midtown somewhat makes sense because it isn't a neccessity for one to drive into Midtown as there is plentiful mass transit for one to use, but in Chicago where the CTA (L's) is noutoriously unreliable, slow, and doesn't have enough lines