By PAULENE POPARAD

Take a little extra change when boarding the South Shore on Wednesday. Ticket prices increase effective Aug. 1 by 2 percent. Fares jumped 2 percent in August of last year as well.

The latest hike sets the price of a one-way ticket from Dune Park station in Porter County to Millennium Station at Randolph Street in Chicago at $6.65 instead of $6.50. The new monthly pass to Chicago will increase by $3.75 to $189.70. The one-way weekend/holiday fare from Dune Park remains $5.50.

As of June 30, South Shore ridership between South Bend and Chicago over the last 12 months is up 5.2 percent boosted by a weekend ridership up nearly 11 percent. In June alone, weekend ridership jumped 16.7 percent over 2006. July statistics should remain strong with over 24,000 passengers boarding July 3 for the Chicago fireworks show.

According to South Shore marketing director John Parsons, “That’s rarified air up there. We keep telling ourselves we can’t carry any more people (July 3) than last year.” And more summer Chicago festivals, concerts and sporting events are yet to come followed by the Chicago Bears and Notre Dame home football games, noted Parsons.

In 2006 the South Shore carried 4.2 million passengers, the most since 1957, and ridership is ahead of that pace this year. With rush-hour trains standing-room-only and weekend and off-peak leisure travelers boarding in even greater numbers, 14 new double-decker passenger cars carrying a $48 million pricetag are now slated to arrive in early 2009.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which owns and operates the commuter line, entered into a contract Friday not to exceed $1,386,600 for engineering and inspection services during the manufacture and delivery of the train cars, which were financed with grants and a $33 million NICTD bond issue authorized in March.

STV Incorporated was hired to perform engineering reviews during critical phases of car design, manufacture and fabrication by Sumitomo Corporation of America. Construction will take place in Japan and final assembly in Milwaukee, Wisc. A model of the proposed seats with flip-over backs for passengers to choose which direction they want to face was on display Friday.

NICTD directors approved a minimum goal of 9 percent of the value of all contracts let by the district during federal fiscal year 2008 to go to a disadvantaged business enterprise or DBE, generally owned by minorities including women. The 2007 goal is 9 percent; through the first six months 3.2 percent of contracts have gone to DBE-qualified firms.

It was announced that also effective Aug. 1 the South Shore is adjusting the departure times of three early-morning weekend/holiday trains between South Bend and Michigan City.

Posted 7/30/2007