SPRINGFIELD - Frustrated lawmakers on Thursday narrowly backed Gov. Rod Blagojevich's push to offer free bus rides to senior citizens.

The action, which appears to signal the end of one of the longest and most contentious legislative sessions ever, is aimed at averting a threatened shutdown of Chicago-area mass transit systems that was set to start Sunday.

The $500 million-plus bailout will be bankrolled by a quarter-cent sales tax increase in Cook County and its surrounding counties. Cook County property owners also could face higher real estate transfer taxes. The package will keep bus and trains operating on existing routes but won't necessarily stop fares from rising.

After the House and Senate approved the bailout plan last week, Blagojevich announced he would break his long-standing pledge against raising taxes, but only if the General Assembly agreed to offer free bus and train rides to senior citizens.

That forced the House and Senate to return Thursday to finalize the deal.

In the House, the free ride plan, House Bill 656, was approved on a 61-47 vote. It passed the Senate on a 32-19 vote. The free rides won't go into effect for at least 60 days, and they will apply only to residents living in transit districts that have fixed-route bus and train service.

In other words, a senior citizen living in a rural downstate community won't automatically get a free ride on a bus or train in Chicago.

In a sign that ill-will continues to fester in the statehouse, the governor dismissed critics who said he overstepped his authority by tacking the free ride proposal to the bailout.

"Some of them need to get a grip," Blagojevich said. "They really need to take a deep breath and look in the mirror."

The debate over mass transit in Chicago became a statewide cause when downstate lawmakers threatened to withhold their votes for the Chicago-area bailout as leverage to get a long-sought statewide construction program approved. The stalemate kept lawmakers from formally ending the 2007 legislative session until more than two weeks had passed in 2008.

In the end, several downstate Democrats broke ranks with their downstate GOP brethren and supported the Chicago bailout. Among them were state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, and state Reps. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, and Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville.

For now, the statewide construction program is on hold. Blagojevich said he intends to push for one this spring.

"The state needs a capital bill. We have many aging bridges across Illinois that need to be repaired. We have an infrastructure that is aging that needs to be invested in, and we need to build schools and provide better places for our kids to learn, and we also need to put people to work," Blagojevich said.

State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said downstate lawmakers should have held out their votes for a capital bill.

"We, as downstaters, should have stood together," Bost said.

Bost said the governor's decision to add free rides for seniors was "nothing more than a political move, pandering to seniors."

Democrats who voted in favor of the governor's changes said they did so despite the governor's last-minute move.

"You are not elected to like the governor, but we have a responsibility to our constituents to do the right thing," said state Rep. David Miller, D-Lynwood, who voted for the bailout and the free rides for seniors.

A plan to place income limits on the free rides for seniors was approved Thursday in the House, but the proposal doesn't have the backing of Blagojevich or Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago.

Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 789-0865. Kenneth Lowe contributed to this report.