I'm one of those dufuses who tries to save the environment by not owning a car. I'll stick with it for as long as I can.

Cool. I'm a little low on funds, so when I visit Milwaukee for the first time, I'll probably take Megabus. But, when I get more money, I'll try the Hiawatha.

Does anyone know the logic behind each loop-bound train's path around the Loop? For example, why is the brown line counterclockwise while the pink is clockwise?

All trains originally circled the Loop anticlockwise, some on the Inner Loop and others on the Outer Loop. The 1969 through-routing of Lake–Dan Ryan prompted a change to bidirectional operation.

As for which lines go which way, it's been worked out through the decades to minimize delays at Tower 18 (Lake & Wells), and to a lesser extent, Tower 12 (Wabash & Van Buren). Brown has the most trains, and its routing means it makes no "left turns" at the busy Tower 18. Green Line's through-routing means it uses the Wabash & Lake legs only, so there was the most room for Orange and Purple—and much later, Pink—on the Inner Loop. During Brown Line reconstruction in 2007-08, the Purple Line (making all stops south of Belmont) was routed the same way as Brown because both Brown and Purple lines were operating with fewer trains, so the joint identical operation encouraged passengers to take whichever train came first.

I kid of course, and downtown Racine is certainly decent and I am glad it survived the fallout of countless other medium sized cities’ downtowns.

Although I found Racine a rather boring place to live, it will always mean something to me since it is the town of birth on my two sons’ birth certificates. Being born in small midwestern towns runs in the family—I was born in Jamestown, North Dakota!

Seems to me the new Coach bus is geared for those living in Racine that take Metra to Chicago for work. . . not an alternative to the Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago. . .

. . .

Bottom line is, the new bus service reinforces the walkable nature of in-town Racine and (slightly) makes it a better place to live vis-a-vis the surrounding suburbs.

I'll raise a Spotted Cow to that small victory!

Also: I have to imagine most of the reason downtown Racine didn't crumble away like Waukegan is because of Johnson Wax, a major global company that had to recruit talented folks. They could either pack up and leave like many small-town companies did, or re-invest back in the city of Racine to maintain a good quality of life. I'm glad they chose the latter!

Lol, I guess I should of clarified why I'm excited for the new coach before I continue getting roasted. I live near the Rogers Park metra stop, so I'm usually annoyed about going all the way to downtown to catch a coach bus going up north to Milwaukee. Plus I'm cash-strapped and don't have a car, so a cheap alternative for getting to Milwaukee without going downtown is dope. The weekend schedule works out if you catch the 7am train, but I recognize that most people aren't early birds.

Building of from Tom in Chicago, this service would be a start for folks who would want to work for Foxconn but want to stay in the North Shore. I find it unlikely that people in Winnetka would want to work in the new factory, but I do see Waukegan as a potential candidate.

^Yeah, but Foxconn will be just off 94 at Highway KR, six miles west of where the KRM bus will run. Currently no buses run there, although I assume Racine will extend a city bus line to the new plant as they did for SC Johnson's Waxdale facility. I doubt Illinoisans will want to take a train to a bus to a second bus.

Except fora handful of people living in Racine, I doubt any Foxconn workers will take transit at all. Factory shifts often don't line up with AM/PM rush hours when transit options are most plentiful and traffic is the worst, which means factory workers face shitty transit and wide-open roads.

I think the economic multiplier numbers used by Wisconsin assume that every Foxconn worker will be hiring a private driver.

I always thought it made sense as well because the trains have transfers at Fullerton and Belmont to the Red Line. The Red Line serves the east side of the loop, so in my head it also made sense to have the Brown Line serve the west side of the loop first to logically spread out the crush of people coming from the north side.

I always just flipped from train to train at Fullerton or Belmont based on which side of downtown I was trying to access.

Not from The Onion:

Foxconn requests autonomous vehicle lane on I-94 as part of factory deal

So the expansion begins in Milwaukee and ends at the state line. What purpose would that really serve though, especially given the fact that the AV lane(s) would end the second it hits the Tri-State? I would assume that much of their talent will be commuting in from the Chicago area, rather than Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha.

Unless Wisconsin starts prodding the Tollway into integrating one of these types of lanes as well.

Wait.

I feel a disturbance in the Force. One my iPass has not felt since...

:tup::tup::tup:

I-94 in Kenosha and Milwaukee Counties was already widened. I doubt WisDOT will go back and widen it again so soon. It's only the Racine County portion that still needs rebuilt. They could re-designate the fourth lane on the Kenosha and Milwaukee segments for autonomous, but then a bunch of motorists are gonna get upset, including the FIB Illinoisans who drive up to their vacation homes on summer weekends.

If Foxconn did get the lane, they could run autonomous trucks from the factory up to Mitchell Airport to ship products out (saving money on drivers) or to Wisconsin's park and ride lots to enable remote commuting. The technology doesn't quite exist for this yet, so it's a bit of a gamble. I suppose they could operate the trucks autonomously for the freeway portion and switch over to remote control while on local roads.

I don't know why they wouldn't just encourage employees to drive, though. Foxconn doesn't have a particularly strong environmental conscience, and they have ample land on which to build lots.

I think that they have Wisc lawmakers on a string, and they're jerking it to watch 'em dance.
Worst case scenario, they don't get it. Best case, they get what would be tantamount to their own private lanes to the airport.

Surprised no one is talking about the O'Hare express train...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...details-emerge

^ On the one hand, the RFQ PDF is 125 pages, so there's a bit to flip through before making comments. Among other things it details 3 potential rail corridors and 4 potential downtown terminus sites (no huge surprises though). On the other hand there's little to really comment on, and it's all still just aspirational, until there's real number crunching and actual feedback from the market with the RFQ responses early next year. One big issue not discussed before seems to be what real estate opportunities at the termini might be offered to the developers in order to make the project's economics work. Imagine if no Rosemont existed yet, and a bunch of land or zoning or infrastructure were offered and a developer made the project viable by planning a shopping and entertainment district near the terminus. In this case, the City has available land around the CONRAC and in the surface lots between T1-T3 and near T5; serious plans emerged last year to site hotels in all 3 of those places, and they (or similar sites or amenities) could be deployed as commercial sweeteners for the rail developer, for example. Even something crazy like an outlet mall built on top of the CONRAC (and directly linked to downtown) could divert easy dollars from Rosemont and maybe be not so crazy. Lots of empty land will become available once the car rental companies vacate all their surface lots.

But the utility of that land is limited due to the runway protection zones from 9R/27L and forthcoming 9C/27C. The latter of which will require the demolition of the parking lot E ATS station I believe because it's too high. There would still be some good sites to develop at T5, at (or even on) the CONRAC, and the main terminal complex however.

And now this.....

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...train-interest

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to add a high-speed train between the Loop and O'Hare International Airport has drawn interest from a big name: Elon Musk.

Yesterday, the tech entrepreneur tweeted:

The Boring Company will compete to fund, build & operate a high-speed Loop connecting Chicago O'Hare Airport to downtown https://t.co/bRqKpzSJjz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2017

The media are mixing the terms "high speed" and "express". This actually sounds more like a conventional train, running express. I can drive from the Loop to ORD with no traffic in about 20 minutes, maybe a bit less. Google maps gives the "no traffic" time at 18 minutes.

There are very few instances in which a person can make it from the Loop to O’Hare in 18 minutes by car.

Yep, and no planes will be arriving or taking off a those times generally.

I don't know those 3:15 am flights have a lot of perks...

Actually, the fact that Rahm continues to push the OHare-Loop link, plus with Elon Musk publically planning to bid, does get me a wee bit excited. It's still a ways off, but this actually could happen...

I get that. My point was that if a car can do it with no traffic in that amount of time then a true high speed train should be able to do it in less, not the 20 minutes they're talking about - that sounds like express with no stops, not high speed.

Ok, so it's express.

My understanding is that the RFQ only mentions 20 minutes to rule out any proposal that takes longer than that. I would expect Musk's proposal, at least, to be significantly faster than that considering we are only talking about 15 miles as the crow flies. That is only 45mph average...

Has anyone proposed just building a giant slide that runs from OHare to the Loop?

That would be cheap as hell. Start at around 2000 ft in the air, plop your ass down, and just ride it all the way till you get to the Loop. Let gravity do the work.

I bet I could get a team and build it for way cheaper than all these other proposals.

Come to think of it, have it enclosed and run a bit of water under it. Turn it into a ride like at a water park.

Move O'hare to Meigs!!! Problem solved!!!

Really though, if this gathers momentum the concept of Crossrail could become an "official" goal which gives me hope.

https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/...nectivity.html

Chicago scores top mark in new study of flight connectivity





By Lewis Lazare  –  Reporter, Chicago Business Journal
4 hours ago

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport are a fearsome combo when it comes to the flight connectivity they offer travelers in the Chicago market.

That's the top finding in a new study of the quality of air ....

The Eno Center for Transportation, a transportation think tank, ranked the quality of Chicago's air service highest among all 47 cities because of the level of flight connectivity travelers are afforded at both O'Hare and Midway. 
In the Eno Center study, Chicago notched a score of 94. The next highest-ranked market was Denver (79) followed by Los Angeles (78). Dallas, New York City and Atlanta each had scores of 76.

At a time when Chicago wants to stay in the competition to land Amazon's second headquarters, any study of airport connectivity that paints Chicago in a flattering light is going to get Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's attention. 
Noted Emanuel: "Being home to the most connected and competitive airports in the country is another strong asset for Chicago residents, businesses and visitors to this great city."

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has stated that an airport with great connectivity is one feature it is looking for in the city eventually selected for HQ2.
Chicago Department of Aviation commissioner Ginger Evans said of Chicago's top ranking in the Eno study: "Chicago's connectivity will only get stronger as we continue to modernize and improve O'Hare and Midway airports, making them best-in-class aviation facilities for travelers in Chicago and worldwide."
Chicago's high flight connectivity ranking was due in no small measure to the fact that both United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) and American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) have major hubs at O'Hare, a unique aspect of that airport. And Midway is Southwest Airlines' (NYSE: LUV) largest hub.

Yep, another reason I love living here. So easy to get virtually anywhere, both my wife and I travel a lot for business and never having to have a connecting flight is unbelievable.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/11...e-125mph-loop/


The Boring Company proposes 125-150mph “Loop” for Chicago express train request

The initial stage asks for qualifications; winning companies will submit proposals.

Megan Geuss - 11/30/2017, 2:15 PM


https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-conte...14-800x450.jpg


Enlarge / An artist’s rendering of an electric skate.

The Boring Company




On Wednesday, the city of Chicago opened a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an express train that would take passengers from the city’s O’Hare airport to downtown. The system would have to be completely privately funded—Chicago says no taxpayer money would be used for it.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company is digging a 10-mile tunnel in MarylandElon Musk’s Boring Company—a tunneling company that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO started last year—will respond to the request. Musk hopes to get to the second round when bidding will take place. On Wednesday evening, he tweeted that his company “will compete to fund, build & operate a high-speed Loop connecting Chicago O’Hare Airport to downtown.”

Musk’s reference to a “Loop” is explained more clearly on The Boring Company’s FAQ page: “Loop is a high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported on autonomous electric skates traveling at 125-150 miles per hour. Electric skates will carry between 8 and 16 passengers (mass transit), or a single passenger vehicle.” Unlike Musk’s idea for a Hyperloop, a Loop won’t draw a vacuum. “For shorter routes, there is no technical need to eliminate air friction,” The Boring Company states.

The company also clarifies the concept of an “electric skate:” that is “a platform on wheels propelled by multiple electric motors.” The platform would operate autonomously without a rail or rails to which the skate would connect. The skate would operate in the tunnel’s main artery, and it would enter and exit from side tunnels. With this system, The Boring Company says, the skate’s average speed would theoretically be able to operate close to maximum speed.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called for an express transit link between the city’s main airport and downtown to be in planning within the next three years. According to the Chicago Tribune, the city is accepting project proposals that are above ground, too—a tunnel is not strictly necessary. A source told the paper that such a project would likely cost between $1 billion and $3 billion.

Wednesday’s RFQ specified that any service that the city would consider should offer travel times of 20 minutes or less between the two hubs, with departures every 15 minutes. Any “premium” fares would have to cost less than any ride-hailing service.

The mayor’s office offered three potential routes but didn’t limit interested companies to those routes. The Tribune says those routes include one that follows ...


The new plan echoes a failed idea from a decade ago, under Mayor Richard Daley, when the city and its transportation authority “put more than $250 million into a hole in the ground before work stopped in 2008.”

...

New York's three airport combine to have more non-stops than Chicago. Why is it so far down the list? I mean, I hate using New York's airports, but statistically they do have a lot of non-stops to places Chicago doesn't.

Always pregnant with the future

The Boring Company claims cost reductions of 90%. Even if that's only to the tunnel itself, that's a big reduction. Hopefully they can also reduce station construction costs, etc. That would potentially bring their bid in at under a billion dollars. If that happened, then three-legged deep tunnel system from the Medical District, past the two west Loop Commuter stations and on to the Watertower Area and also connecting those both to McCormick and the Reese site suddenly starts looking like a two billion dollar project instead of a six billion dollar one, which starts to make sense and would do amazing things for Central Chicago connectivity and be a huge selling point. So that's what I'm most excited about - seeing if they really can cut 90% of costs out of a significant chunk of their proposal.

I'm sure, but my cost of living is half what it would be in NYC.

The criteria show why Chicago tops New York in their rankings. It's a little flawed in that they are apparently ignoring international destinations and frequencies which is where New York easily tops Chicago.

Direct destinations: Number of domestic destinations at each metropolitan area
Key word here being domestic. Chicago has non-stop service to more domestic cities than New York does. New York obviously destroys us on number of international destinations.

Frequency: Number of domestic flights operated out of each metropolitan area
Again, domestic. Also, ORD + MDW combined have more flights than EWR + JFK + LGA. New York does have more passengers because the average plane size is much larger.

Competition: Combined percentage of domestic traffic share of the largest carrier within each metropolitan area
This one is probably a wash.

Price: Average one-way fare in and out of each metropolitan area
This one also likely favors Chicago given it's central location and equal competition.

Don't know if this is the intention, but looks to me like this could be implemented as something close to an on-demand service rather than pure scheduled train. Full cars at peak times, closer to empty off peak. With speed as a primary goal, that can make sense.

And with advances in technology, I could imagine something like this evolving into a taxi service able to transfer from tunnel to city streets and take riders to their final endpoint (or alternatively pickup from), eliminating the step of transfering at a terminal. Not that I don't love train terminals.

I mean, maybe. But if the pods are multi-occupant and have to stop at multiple hotels (or apartments, etc) then riders are going to be frustrated by the slow, meandering routes downtown. I used to hate that on airport shuttles. On the other hand, if the pods are single-occupant, then why even build a tunnel at all? We have the Kennedy.

Apparently Elon Musk isn't a fan of having frequent stops along the tunnels if they slow the overall usage, as seen in the footnote for the image of his proposed LA "subway". This probably means his O'Hare express proposal will only have a few intermediate stops at most.

https://i2.wp.com/scng-dash.digitalf...2C9999px&ssl=1
Source: Daily Breeze

Is a giant zipline between O’hare and the Sears Tower feasible?

Let's crawl inside Elon's head and imagine a world where we just hyperloop everything and we get rid of the airport altogether. Think it over and get back with me in 2684.

I really don't like the idea of the car tunnel system. Ideally for me an express train would orginate at the Block 37 Super Station the preceed west under Washington Street, then north under Canal Street, then follow the Blue Line alignment from Lake Street onward in a seperate tunnel. Stations would be State, LaSalle, Canal and Ohare. The 17 mile route should use conviential trains. CTA's current stock is deisgned to reach up to 70 mph that's plenty fast for an express train.

The problem with the "Block 37 Super Station" is that Block 37 isn't actually central for tourists. It's ok for business travel, but office development is shifting west too.

Chicago would be better off with express trains departing from Ogilvie/West Loop or North Michigan Ave. If it could make all 3 stops, then run express to the airport, then we'd really be in business.

What I suggested covers Ogilvie

Block 37 is not a bad place for a major train depot, though, because it's a good, central location that balances out various needs. If you're headed to State St, East Loop hotels & office, Millennium Park and the Mag Mile it's not too bad of a walk. If you're going into the central and West Loop office district it's also not a bad walk.

It's a good, balanced location if you ask me.

Sure, if we eventually migrate to a system of networked pods that quickly and efficiently move large number of riders between the CBD and O'Hare, then some of the utility of a point to point train might be lost. So let's say that is far in the future but that driverless taxis have become common.

In that case, assuming tunnel capacity, imagine both single and multi-party options where the single party tunnel "taxi" has access to at least a limited CBD area and can use several tunnel entry/exit points that bypass the terminal(s). Voila, speed and convenience combined.

Anyway, I am not saying this is how it would be implemented, my point is more that I would expect Musk's proposal to have some interesting ideas for how a system could evolve and hopefully take into account the full experience (travel time, connections and so on). After all, the city's goal is to get people from point A to point B, not just to construct a train line

Eh I'm skeptical that Musk's proposal will pencil out anyway. I think more likely is a conventional rail system on the CSX line between downtown and O'Hare. Limited conflicts with other trains, a decently high speed alignment with only a handful of grade crossings, and a freight railroad that seems at least partially willing to play ball.

We'll probably end up with a Musk proposal that charges a very high fare for a very quick trip time, or a conventional proposal that charges less for a longer trip. Hopefully the city is not seduced by Musk's gadgetbahn; in the event of Musk's company failing, we get stuck with a narrow diameter tunnel and a weird maglev system that's vendor-locked. In the event of a conventional rail system failing, we end up with a system that anybody (Metra, Amtrak, etc) can operate and maintain.

I wonder if there's a way to use Carroll Street to bring an O'Hare Express train close to Michigan/Wacker, which is really the epicenter of downtown hotels? Maybe even connect the terminal to Trump Tower in a vanity play to leverage Federal support?

They're not building express service from O'Hare for tourists.

With a central area as large as Chicago's, you're also not looking to dump people within walking distance of everything, which would be impossible. You're looking to dump there in a spot with a good number of walkable destinations, but excellent transit ties to other areas. Block 37 has excellent transit tie-ins.

Now that would be a blast!! A new tourist attraction as well.:yes: