Fares could rise for MCRide, McHenry County’s dial-a-ride, as subsidized cost soars to $42 per trip on average

Riders who use McHenry County’s MCRide dial-a-ride and MCRide Connect rideshare service might be paying more for their trips next year as county officials float a fare increase.

What are the services and how much do they cost now?

• MCRide, a dial-a-ride service provided by the McHenry County Division of Transportation and Pace, the suburban busing agency, has a base fare of $4 for members of the general public and $2 for seniors over 60 and those with disabilities. All riders pay a 25 cent per mile fee after the first five miles. Those rates went into effect Jan. 1, 2024.
• MCRide Connect, the county’s rideshare service that subsidizes users’ Uber and UZURV rides and launched last year, charges riders the first $4, with the county picking up the next $16 and anything over $20 being the rider’s responsibility. It’s available to residents with an RTA reduced or free fare card.

What are officials proposing for the fare changes?

• MCRide fares are proposed to go up to $6 for members of the public and $3 for those over 60 or those with disabilities. The 25-cent-per-mile fee after five is proposed to remain.
• MCRide Connect is proposed to go to riders paying the first $5, the county picking up the next $15 and anything over $20 would be on the rider.

The MCRide fare increases could generate $150,000 to $200,000 in revenue, according to county records.

McHenry County Assistant Director of Transportation Scott Hennings told a county public transit advisory committee last week that with the impending public transit “fiscal cliff,” there’s going to be fare increases for services like Metra and Pace.

Hennings said the farebox recovery ratio for MCRide, which is a measure of how much of a public transportation ride is paid for by the rider, was increasing before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

But after the onset of the pandemic, riders were paying the same fare, but “our cost per trip doubled overnight, essentially,” Hennings said.

Hennings said trip costs went from $18.83 up to the $35 to $40 range; current trip costs are about $42 on average per trip with average fare for the rider is about $2.20, according to county documents.

Hennings said the average trip on MCRide is less than five miles, but some people travel more. The fee for rides over five miles was included in the program to incentivize people to take shorter trips, but the incentive isn’t working the way it used to, Hennings said.

Hennings said MCRide users at first primarily were people getting to work, but ridership has shifted to be primarily seniors and people with disabilities, especially after COVID.

Whatever the public transportation advisory committee recommends will be included in Hennings’ presentation to the county board.

As for MCRide Connect, Hennings said one of the reasons to increase the fare for the program was to “tap the brakes, so to speak, on the growth of this program” to make sure it doesn’t get out of control as well as making sure people are choosing the right option to take.

The MCRide Connect program has gone from 280 trips in August 2024 to 2,658 trips in May of this year, according to county documents.

MCRide Connect allows users to have up to eight rides per day, but Hennings brought up potentially lowering the ride limits.

Hennings said there’s probably a handful of heavy users and there are people who take 50 to 60 rides a month.

The goal of increasing the fare is not to pocket the money but to give more rides with the money they have, Hennings said.

Some of the ideas members of the Public Transportation Advisory Committee floated while discussing the fare increase included changing the 25-cent-per-mile fee, changing just the general public fare, increasing fares with a more gradual, stepped approach and a fare structure based on ride type. Committee chair Tom Riley said transportation staff would put together proposed recommendations based on the discussion from the meeting last week for the committee to review next time.

Hennings also said because of the fiscal uncertainty that Chicago-area transit agencies are facing, Pace and Metra routes could be curtailed, which could make people using those services go onto the county’s program.

“With all of the uncertainty, we’re sort of planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” Hennings said.