With the largest Metra fare increase about to kick in, longtime train commuter Melinda Shepherd wastes no words summing up her feelings about it:

“Angry but helpless,” she said.

On Wednesday, Metra riders will see their ticket prices skyrocket as much as 35 percent. And because of the cost of gasoline and parking in downtown Chicago, Shepherd and other commuters say they have little choice but to dig deeper into their wallets and pay up.

“They (at Metra) have you captured,” said Kathy Gibbons, 47, who commutes every day from La Grange.

“Driving is much more expensive, even with the increase. So I will still take the train,” she said.

Metra says the overall ticket hike is 25 percent, but this figure can be misleading because it averages the 15.7 percent increase in one-way tickets with much bigger jumps for 10-ride tickets and monthly passes.

The vast majority of riders who use monthly passes and 10-ride tickets will see increases averaging 30 percent.

For close-in suburban and Chicago customers, it’s even more.

“It’s a huge jump, 33 percent,” Shepherd, of Westchester, said of the $30.55 increase in her monthly pass on the BNSF Line. She’ll pay $121 instead of $90.45.

The fare hikes vary widely because Metra fares are distance based. Riders in the nearest zones, A and B, will be hit the hardest, with 35 percent increases in monthly passes and 10-ride tickets.

For riders in the middle-distance E zone, for example, a monthly pass will rise about 29 percent, to $149.50 from $116.

Fares to the most distant — and least used — zones will rise 21 to 24 percent.

Before approving the fare hike Nov. 11, Metra’s board of directors spent months pondering service cuts and other options. Finally, board members decided not to cut service.

Metra CEO and Executive Director Alex Clifford, who spent most of his first year on the job warning of the hike, said the increase is necessary to “put Metra on a stable financial course.”

The additional revenue will help close a $53.6 million budget gap in 2012, officials said. That shortfall had been estimated to be as high as $100 million.

Metra, which provides 300,000 trips a day, blames spiking diesel fuel prices, the demands of meeting new federal regulations, higher insurance premiums and other rising costs.

Officials said they also promise to stop using capital money for operations. Over the last two years, about $60 million in money intended for long-term infrastructure and equipment was diverted for day-to-day needs.

Without naming his predecessor, the late Phil Pagano, Clifford blamed Metra’s previous management for “kicking the can down the road” and failing to address Metra’s deficit shortfall sooner. Clifford took over at Metra one year ago after coming from Los Angeles.

A close comparison of Metra’s 2011 and 2012 budgets bears out some of Metra’s needs. For example, the agency plans to spend about $19 million more for diesel fuel this year than last.

Metra’s 2012 budget calls for spending $6.7 million more for equipment maintenance.