It would seem you could get into the T5 parking lot with a relatively short tunnel or viaduct. Maybe just do that, buy some FLIRTs, and call it a service. T5 flyers already have to backtrack to the central terminals to catch the Blue Line anyway so that would be a considerable improvement.

While the Blue Line still works pretty well I'd probably deal with the short trip on the ATS from T5 to T2/3 if I was traveling anytime around rush. Crowding on the Blue Line has become a real problem.

I mean, this is really easy to debunk -

https://www.boringcompany.com/chicago/

Although for all intents and purposes it might as well have been.

I know T5 is shifting to more LCCs (plus SkyTeam) instead of international flights, but this is still pretty ho-hum. O'Hare 21 will shift an even greater percentage of gates to the central terminal complex and away from T5. You could probably achieve similar ridership by reconfiguring the garage to bring a rail spur to the west side between Mannheim and the APM station.

Fundamentally, an airport express train serves a narrow market since it prices out airport workers and budget travelers, leaving only wealthy travelers and business folks. Toronto's airport express train could not be more similar to Chicago's, even the same travel distance, yet it was a miserable failure financially and the private operator ran away. Now it's a huge strain on the balance sheet of the public agency.

Elon Musk's plan had many red flags, but at least it changed the rules so majorly that it could overcome this obstacle. The projected travel time beat out every other option, including driving on an uncongested Kennedy. It would have been the fastest way to access O'Hare at the peak of rush hour or the wee hours of the night. Plus the Block 37 terminal offered excellent CTA connections and the O'Hare terminal was in the middle of the action. The speed and convenience were so clearly stronger than any other option that it could have dominated the travel market from "global city Chicago" to O'Hare, and stood a decent chance of covering its expenses (assuming Musk's ultra-low cost goals could be achieved). I don't think there's a way for North American commuter rail to succeed at this market without a massive re-alignment to European or Asian transit principles.

Delta has expressed interest in expanding their service also. T5 would be more convenient time wise than the CONRAC probably for similar cost. If ORD wants to spend the money to get a line into the central terminal area they can be my guest, METRA should under no circumstances pay for that (they have MANY other priorities).

I don't particularly disagree with any of this. I'm not passionate about airport express service to begin with. I'd rather have CTA focus on getting (and keeping) the Blue Line in good shape and replace the aged rolling stock as soon as they start getting 7000 series cars. Also maybe find a way to reliably inform incoming passengers which track of the terminal will be the next to board from...

At least having some or all cars fitted with luggage racks would be useful.

I still think the idea of having one or two extra premium fitted cars attached to usual Blue Line trains that include say usb/charging outlets, comfort seating etc may be all that is really needed for many travelers to pay an extra $5-10 for the privilege. Having those cars only be available to take on passengers at a few select stations would cut down on some logistical issues I'd think.

I speculate that it is not so much the surplus time that is a turn off for many potential travelers but riding with the everyday "riff-raff" along with their luggage that barely fits next the seats and being subjected to the summer/winter elements every stop when the doors open.

I think you'd have to extend the trains to 9 or 10 cars to make that work, if platforms permit.

Honestly crowding and the layout of the old cars which makes handling luggage difficult at best are my biggest annoyances. Run more trains at peak and use a more favorable car layout (more longitudinal seating for more space in the center of the car).

What Blue Line stations allow for 9-10 car trains, if any. Anyone know?

The expressway stations, Jeff PK, I think Logan might. Clark & Lake just barely, and the continuous platform downtown.

CTA did this when the O'Hare extension opened in 1984. No one but me ever used them, so after a few years they removed them.

Lightfoot outlines ambitious agenda for her first 100 days at City Hall

https://chicago.suntimes.com/?post_t...icle&p=2503075

Oh yes please

I've been thinking about subtle ways for donor states to claw back some of their losses. Of course it's unreasonable to think that every state gets an equivalent share, but perhaps some remedy for states that are donor to the point they get back less than 90% of what they send to Washington could use the difference as matching funds for infrastructure projects. In other words, say Illinois was shorted by $2 billion beyond what would amount to a 90% return. If they could qualify for a 2/1 local/fed match transit project that has a $3 billion price tag, they'd not have to ante up any actual funds, the Feds would grant their 1/3 worth $1 billion and then cover the $2 billion local match to compensate for the $2 billion excess donor status.

This seems only fair and makes a ton of sense, so of course it will never happen.

God fucking dammit.

https://patch.com/illinois/glenview/...expansion-idot

If Glenview hates Amtrak service so much maybe their stop should be cut.

No surprises there. If they hadn’t screwed up with the Glen station, it’d be possible to move the Amtrak station there assuming there’s space.

You really have to ask what was up with Glenview’s planning department when they decided to put their outdoor mall almost a mile from the Glen Metra station.

Yeah cut their Metra stops too (they probably don't care too much about Amtrak).

Glenview Amtrak station no longer make sense. At one time there was GV Naval air station nearby. Updating for today's population and travel patterns it would make sense to move Amtrak to Lake Cook road where travelers could make use of multiple bus routes and employer sponsored shuttles.

Also a stop north in Lake County at Rte 120 in the old Lakehurst site is needed. This to provide Milw/Chi access to Great America park (3 Mil attendance) and an easy 10 min shuttle to the park.

7-10 trains day, each way is enough for park visitors to plan a day trip and enough for employers/employees to plan shuttle services and commuter trips. Also Amtrak has a balanced inbound and out bound schedule meaning it would be useful for reverse commuters.

Frankly the nimbys of Glenview dont deserve this service. And Amtrak could increase ridership by responding to current needs, not some outdated model that serves an older recalcitrant suburb.

banning out-of-state motorists who have flooded Chicago streets

How is this supposed to be enforced? Monitors at the borders? How is she defining "flooded" has there been a census? The police don't have time or energy to stop cars that blatantly run a red light right in front of them almost killing pedestrians who scatter to get out of the way, there will be zero enforcement of this.

City: Non-IL residents/vehicles aren't permitted to operate. Give us data to verify compliance, non-compliance results in shutting your service locally.

Uber/Lyft: ok

I mentioned this before, but the mall was centered around the old control tower. They weren't about to relocate the tower a mile away. The North Glenview station was added as an amenity for local residents and as overflow parking for Glenview station. There was never a TOD concept around The Glen, except that some people might enjoy the property value boost of being "walk to train" and an even smaller group might actually do it. It is actually a very pleasant walk... but the overriding goal all along was to avoid the aesthetic of suburbia without actually changing the suburban lifestyle.

Such a system would be unfair to Indiana or Wisconsin rideshare drivers, who probably do a lot of trips into Illinois and especially to the airports.

They should just charge drivers a cruising fee or something while they're downtown waiting for rides.

Such a proposal wouldn't keep them out of the state, just the city. I'm sure a carve out for trips to the airports could be done and would be desirable.

Do a utilization rate like NYC.

In capital bill proposal news some info is starting to come out:

https://capitolfax.com/2019/05/17/pr...-capital-plan/

And how will the cops know they're cruising - follow them around? Chalk their tires - oh wait, that was ruled unconstitutional.

Same problem - you need to go through the city to get to the airport - anyone stopped could just say "I'm on my way to Midway..."

This, or a variation of it, is the answer. Whatever part of the city that makes sense becomes a "permit only" zone. This is in place all over the world. There are cameras at all entry points into the zone that scans license plate. Any car with a plate not in the database gets a ticket in the mail. There are typically ways to exempt non-permitted vehicles from the fines. The example I'm familiar with is in Italy, where if you're a hotel guest the hotel has a way to enter your car to get the exemption. I'm not sure how with would apply to things like food delivery services or Uber/Lyft - I'd think there would be a way for them to pay a large annual fee to be able to enter the zone as permitted. That would, of course, be added to your delivery fees.

London has something similar and NYC is talking about it.

In Chicago, I guess it could work sort of like the zoned parking:

You live in the zone you get a free pass to drive there.
You live in the zone and have a guest? - there could be away to enter an exemption for their car - with a cost per use and an annual limit.
You need to enter the zone repeatedly but don't live there? You can by an expensive annual permit.

This could even be time of day, where the permit is only needed M-F 7-7 or whatever.

The apps would not accept destinations inside city limits that aren't the airport. Rideshare companies would most certainly not risk losing city/airport access altogether for non-compliance. They already have to give data to the city.



I support a utilization standard for rideshare and dynamic congestion pricing. Both of these could indeed be done with fully automatic enforcement. Tons of people already have transponders for tolls and plate cameras could handle the rest.

Uber/Lyft know these numbers (essentially the times a driver is available for a ride) and will cooperate if they are made to. Maybe they can pay for some Uber or Lyft stands to have a place for drivers to wait without muddying traffic.

IDOT insists it is still looking at ways to make the Hiawatha expansion happen. I’m not happy about them kowtowing to Glenview and Lake Forest NIMBYs, but maybe this will push them to re-evaluate the New Line freight bypass idea.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...523-story.html

This drove me nuts 4 seconds after I looked at the proposal, and I've actually used that Metra station twice now. All they had to do was keep running that train another 5% of its distance and come around the north side of the building and they could have had one station serving both the ATS and Metra all tied in together under one roof. They could have made the north side the main entrance to the rental care facility fairly easily, there is no main pedestrian entrance, just shift the setup within the large main hall/rental desks/parking spots.

As it is now you get off Metra and you're just standing all alone on the side of a street with no real pedestrian access or anywhere to go. You can walk around the side of the rental car facility and in through the front, but it is akin to getting dropped off behind a Target store and then having to kinda awkwardly walk and make your way around to the official entrance. It just seems like it's not built for this at all and not designed to have you walking there - yet here sits the Metra stop.....

This is what greets you:

https://goo.gl/maps/fUiF1s9kckHZHYnf8

There is one solitary door along that 400 feet of the northern side of the building, and I believe it's locked but I was able to go inside and you're literally just standing on the first floor of about the worlds largest parking garage. I wandered around and it made no sense, finally ran into workers who were just like - what the hell are you doing here??? I said I had gotten off the metra and were looking for the main desks and they thought I was crazy. They said I was in the totally wrong area, and there were no signs.

This being Chicago - is it just possible that the city sees the Metra as competition for the CTA and doesn't want to loose all those $5 trips from ORD? So, has thrown up a huge disincentive? Just asking.

Very possibly could be a primary reason.

Because it certainly seems negligent planing at best to have not to have integrated the ATS into NCS Metra Stop or least stage it for intermodal integration.

I can't see the Dept of Aviation caring about protecting CTA, a completely separate unit of government. I think it's more that a) this is a facility for rental cars, paid for by rental companies, and the proximity to the NCS station is an accident; and ii) any real Metra O'Hare service—if it ever comes—is more likely to use MD-W, which Metra actually controls and could add more trains on.

The smart short-term Metra Express play would be to simply run a shuttle bus from the terminals down (usually free-flowing) Mannheim Road to the MD-W Mannheim station.

Metra is also competition for rental cars.

No it's not. . .

. . .

Very slight competition. Out of hosting about 700 Airbnb bookings, exactly one used Metra for a trip to the suburbs, to visit Burt's pizza before they closed.

And you know this because...? Maybe they slipped away and took Metra somewhere. I book Airbnb all the time with a rental and then take local public transportation during my visit. Unless they're spying on me my hosts never know.

Well the thing is - as we all know - Metra doesn't really function as "public transportation" so much as simply "commuter rail". . . I mean sure, people /could/ be using Metra in lieu of renting a car but that seems very unlikely. . .

. . .

Any direct experience of how well arterial rapid transit is working in Chicago? Do the buses run full enough to justify it?

^We don't have any routes running yet. The first line (Milwaukee Ave. from Jeff Park to Golf Mill) begins operation in August—supposedly.

Exactly how do you justify defining public transportation as not including commuter rail?

Public transportation: anything that is not a single occupancy personal vehicle and is owned by the public for the public's use on a mass scale. Commuter rail is public transportation. It transports the public on a mass scale. It is owned by the public. It just happens to be public transportation for a group of people who you are clearly biased against: suburbanites.

Context, man. Context. No one is claiming that suburban rail service isn't public transit in a theoretical sense.

But Metra is virtually useless for any travel other than rush-hour commuting from suburbs to city. Certainly no tourist will be headed anywhere, except possibly Pullman or the Museum of Science & Industry, that can easily be reached by Metra. Even if they are headed to MSI, or to Oak Park for Frank Lloyd Wright, they'll find CTA much more convenient.

I think you're missing the point. . . my original comment was directed at someone who was suggesting that the Metra station at O'Hare was in some ways competing against the car rental facility to which it abuts. . . which it doesn't. . . any further extrapolation to suggest that I'm biased against "suburbanites" is so unfounded that it puts your sanity into question. . .

. . .

^ I thought Burt's Pizza is still open under new ownership.

I hope it's not closed! :(

Any ideas or hints on what transit funding might be in the new capital spending bill? All I see is nearly 40 billion for roads, a bunch of buildings and schools and then maybe a passing comment about transit. I really wish they could throw a bone to transit and not always have 90%+ of the spending go to roads.

The RTA got $3.6B that will be divvied up between CTA/Metra/Pace. Metra will surely spend a lot of that on new power and rolling stock (as they should), possibly an A2 bridge also. CTA I know specifically got some cash to upgrade traction power on the Blue Line and will probably exercise its option for the extra 400 CRRC cars.

The rest of the 75th St CIP appears to be funded also which will make it possible for Metra's SWS to use LaSalle Station instead of Union south which is overcrowded. Also the freight improvement is substantial.

Sundry Amtrak projects including some Quad Cities/Rockford money. I am curious if the connection from CN to NS that would eliminate the backup maneuver on/off the Air Line made the list for the upgrades to the Champaign and Carbondale route but haven't found anything specific.

I think that number got revised upward

From Streetsblog:

Also, the Grand Crossing project to eliminate the reverse-move over the SCAL doesn't really jive with the One Central vision that calls for Amtrak to serve the new lakefront transit center. For the crazy amount of money they're requesting for that development (separate from the transit money in the capital plan) maybe they can fund a direct track connection from the SCAL into Union Station through Amtrak's yards, maybe using the abandoned north span of the SCAL bridge. Such a connection would honestly have some serious regional benefits and basically enable the CrossRail proposal or Metra's proposed O'Hare Express to serve McCormick Place directly.

I didn't notice the bumped transit share, that is good news.

Agree on this but I don't know how bought into One Central Amtrak is, if at all. As a whole I'm skeptical of the development's viability but am content to wait and see. I have long desired a direct electrified connection via the Air Line to Union for the same reasons.

I guess you're right:
https://chicago.eater.com/2019/4/9/1...tion-deep-dish

Some more details about transit investments coming out of our budget from the Midwest High Speed Rail association. I'm especially happy that $400 million has been committed towards CREATE. We need to keep that going:

I do look forward to taking my son on a train trip to the QC to see the grandparents. Won't be a time saver as I have to go downtown first (or drive to Naperville) but it'll be fun.

Are the QC worth a visit? I would consider visiting for a weekend if I can go by train.