[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=26024

Special rates rescinded for adult S. Shore riders

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

PORTER, Ind. - Just in time for the year-end holiday season, adult riders of the South Shore will pay full fare rather than the special weekend and holiday rates that have been available since 2003.

The adult rate for weekends and holidays from either Carroll Avenue or 11th Street in Michigan City to Chicago will increase from $6.50 to $7.85 as of Nov. 22.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Board of Trustees voted Friday to rescind the special rates to bolster slumping ticket revenues resulting from declining ridership.

John Parsons, NICTD planning and marketing manager, said this year's total passenger numbers were down by more than 8 percent through August, compared with 2008. Average weekend and holiday ridership was off more than 10 percent, and average weekday use was down nearly 8 percent, Parsons said.

"It's primarily economically related," Parsons said. "Fewer people are going to Chicago on weekends, and fewer are working in Chicago."

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Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.