^^ I think it can work. I'm always amazed at the number of Cub fans that ride the UP-NW to Irving Park, or to Ogilvie and then walk to the Red Line. Of course, Cub fans are demonstrably insane, unlike Sox fans who - while they're definitely not fairweather fans - are more realistic. If the team is failing miserably, they won't keep dropping money on tickets when watching the game at home or in a bar is so much cheaper.

Also, the ballpark environs play a role. The long list of bars in Wrigleyville is a big reason for fans to take transit - the drinking can continue after the game, and once plastered, the inconvenience of a long CTA ride followed by a wait and then a long Metra ride, isn't too bad. But there's nothing near the Cell to keep fans around after the game ends.

CTA Oakton Station

I wonder why they chose to evoke a Gothic cathedral with those "rib vaults"?

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7...skokiecta3.jpg
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/997/lnskokiecta2.jpg
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/3...skokiecta1.jpg

Didn’t realize it was so long in comparison to the trains—is that just due to long ADA ramps, an over-generous waiting room, or Skokie anticipating longer trains in the future. I know the Yellow Line extension only anticipates two-car trains with the one-track segment is short enough to allow for 7.5-minute headways, and I doubt the Yellow Line will ever have demand for much more than that.

I suppose if they extended to Old Orchard and after the north main rebuild, if and had a small yard at Old Orchard (which I don't think is the plan, though), they could run the Red Line as split branch between Evanston and Skokie.

None of the above. Skokie wanted entrances at both Oakton and Searle. It's like an at-grade version of the Eisenhower median stations with the long ramps... most of the length is just a walkway. The actual platform is only about 2/3 the length of the longer stationhouse, although if in some distant future situation CTA wants longer trains, it's easy to extend the platform northward towards the Searle entrance.

The Yellow Line Extension is pretty much dead... transit dollars are scarce enough that the CTA will not waste resources on a expensive suburban project that the community rejects.

New RI station is off to great start...

Fans ‘join hands’ for the Sox Train
BY STEVE METSCH smetsch@southtownstar.com Apr 8, 2011 01:16PM

Yes, the Rock Island Line is a mighty fine line — especially if you had a ticket to Thursday’s home opener for the White Sox.

Dozens of Sox fans brimming with enthusiasm climbed aboard the Metra train when it stopped at Tinley Park’s Oak Park Avenue station at 10:51 a.m.

It was the first game day for the train that takes fans to U.S. Cellular Field, whisking them to a new station at 35th Street, just a couple of Paul Konerko fly balls from the ballpark.

Besides the thrill of Opening Day, riders were happy they didn’t have to sit in traffic or fork over $23 to park.

------
Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said Metra is “excited to have the line open and very anxious to see how many people use it. We hope a lot do.”

An estimated 1,200 rode to the game Thursday, he said.


Full article and a additional video:http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/47...sox-train.html

Take that, Mr Downtown !

And congratulations to Mr Downtown for the shout-out to him by Geoffrey Baer on Chicago Tonight the other day.

Well, there is the novelty factor. Will those fans enjoy the experience and use transit repeatedly to get to the game? Or will the ridership fall off after the novelty wears off?

The news today is encouraging, though.

With an old tradition like the White Sox, it's not just novelty factors that come into play, but deep-set habits. If people are used to driving, they may not even want totry taking the train until other people have tested the waters. I think it's just as possible for the numbers to increase significantly as to go down significantly.

FWIW, Metra Electric carries a lot of passengers going to Bears games and even sees a spike in traffic for the Chicago Auto Show—of course that’s using decades-old stations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Metra continues to pull at a few hundred passengers per game (especially since, based on this map, the Sox have strong support in the south suburbs).

I’m curious how this will affect travel to IIT—again Metra Electric serves a number of passengers commuting to jobs at the U. of C. However, that relationship was cemented during the 1950’s-’70’s, when a lot of faculty and staff moved out of the south side and to suburbs further down the line—I wonder if, in ten years, suburbs along the Rock Island line will have a greater share of IIT faculty and staff than they do now…

That map also shows the reason I live in New Orleans. :cool:

Man, it's funny to see where the fans have spread out. So New Orleans has a lot of Cubs fans? I wonder how that came to be.

I know this is completely o/t, but, living in urban Connecticut, I've noticed a lot of people wearing White Sox hats. It might have something to do with Obama, or maybe the White Sox culturally resonate with a segment of the population of the whole country? I don't know, but it always kind of makes me smile when I see someone her supporting the other Sox team (...and especially not the Yankees).

Man, I have no idea. It's not terribly widespread or prominent, but people here consider themselves Cub fans for some reason. There's at least two Cubs bars in the city...

South Side Transit gets city's attention
 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...3523647.column

South Side transit gets city's attention

CDOT forum expected to elicit several proposals that could provide quick solutions

Jon Hilkevitch
Getting Around

7:07 p.m. CDT, April 10, 2011


Whether at bus stops or inside local transit think tanks, there is no shortage of ideas to improve public transportation on Chicago's South Side.

Yet minimal progress has been made over the years to capitalize on the most beneficial ideas that would enhance economic vitality and the quality of life.

The most ambitious proposals either lack government funding (specifically the Chicago Transit Authority's more than $1.4 billion plan to extend the Red Line from 95th Street to 130th Street) or acceptance among transit agencies (most notably a concept to transform the Metra Electric District commuter line into a CTA-style rapid-transit service, especially on the South Chicago Branch of the Electric).

So what are the answers? And how much longer must South Siders wait for results?


Acknowledging the need for improved transit service, the Chicago Department of Transportation is launching a study aimed at improving public transportation for residents of 13 South Side communities: Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Oakland, Kenwood, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, South Shore, South Chicago, Washington Park, Avalon Park, Calumet Heights, Greater Grand Crossing and Burnside.

The area extends from the Stevenson Expressway (Interstate Highway 55) on the north to 95th Street on the south and from the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate Highways 90/94) and Cottage Grove Avenue on the west to Lake Michigan on the east.

The goal is to come up with several recommendations no later than early 2012 — some that can be implemented quickly, others that will take some time and additional funding.

An important public meeting on the South Lakefront Corridor Transit Study will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the atrium of University Technology Park at the Illinois Institute of Technology, 3440 S. Dearborn St.. The study was initiated by CDOT and the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development.

At the meeting, officials will review early findings about the travel market and existing conditions and, here's the important part, take comments from the public on potential improvements.

"We expect a lot of ideas," said Richard Hazlett, coordinating planner at CDOT. "At the end of the year, we will narrow down the range of alternatives to three or four final ideas and do further analysis. They will then be reviewed by our commissioner, the city plan commission and the new mayor."

The chosen final plans will be incorporated into a grant application to the Federal Transit Administration to compete for funding as a "new starts" project.

But in light of budgetary belt-tightening at the federal and state levels, officials said they will focus on developing improvements that are cost-effective and offer strong benefits. The study would be a failure, they said, if it ended up producing unattainable proposals that would end up on a shelf.

"We are being very upfront with the public about scarce resources," said Heather Tabbert, a planning manager at the Regional Transportation Authority, which is providing 80 percent of the money for the $450,000 study. Chicago is paying the remainder.

"You can come to us and say that you want a new rail line or new stations, but that may not happen," Tabbert said. "What we have heard so far is the need to improve the existing system so it serves the residents properly."

There is a lot that can be accomplished — and should already have been done — that doesn't require huge investments. Many people will avoid using public transit in any part of the city and the suburbs if they fear for their safety at dimly lit rail stations, for instance. Infrequent service can also be easily addressed for workers going to their jobs or traveling home from late-night shifts.

Some improvements to South Side transit service are in the works. The CTA is finalizing plans to test a form of bus rapid transit along Jeffery Boulevard from 103rd Street and Stony Island Avenue to Jefferson Street and Washington Boulevard west of the Loop. The experiment will use bus-only lanes and onboard technology that communicates with traffic signals to allow buses to pass through busy intersections ahead of other traffic, shortening commuting times on the crosstown trips.

A separate CTA project involves eliminating slow zones on the south branch of the Red Line in the median of the Dan Ryan.

Much more can be done, and residents who turn out at Wednesday's public hearing will likely offer a laundry list for the CTA.

In addition to bus service that is too infrequent in some neighborhoods, the CTA should look at where it is running too much bus service from end to end on some routes. Reliable transfers from one bus to another is also critical, particularly along routes where the scheduled time between buses is 20 minutes.

"The CTA needs to stick to its schedule and operate the lower-density routes with a great deal of more care," said Adam Kerman, a transit activist who heads the Transit Riders Authority. "People on the Far South Side tend to have the longest commutes in the whole area, and it's not uncommon for them to make three or four transfers to get to a job."

Contact Getting Around at jhilkevitch@tribune.com or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Read recent columns at chicagotribune.com/gettingaround

Anybody remember this? There hasn't been any news recently... but how long can it possibly take to do engineering work on a $24 million project?

(I'm assuming construction can't proceed until Washington and Madison are re-opened across Wacker, meaning 2012 at the earliest)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...0,365627.story

Daley spells out idea for bullet train to O'Hare
New elevated tracks required; no homes razed, he says

Still making big plans as his tenure winds down, Mayor Richard Daley on Monday fleshed out his concept for an ultra-fast train between downtown and O'Hare International Airport.

The bullet train would run on new elevated tracks along one of two undisclosed public routes that would not require razing any homes, Daley said. But it's unclear who would pay for it and whether it would work in Chicago.

"It has to go from the downtown area right to the airport, and you process everything downtown," Daley said. "You go through one security check. The train is completely secured. It goes right to the airport. And you go right up to the plane."

The outgoing mayor talked about the idea while discussing the benefits to the city of his recent 12-day trip to China to promote Chicago as an economic partner. In recent years, he has frequently spoken with admiration of China's rapid economic expansion and the public projects that have fueled that growth.


His most recent trip, billed as the start of the "Chicago-China Friendship Initiative," was taken with Chicago architecture and business leaders, the Chinese consulate general to Chicago and Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino. The aim was to make Chicago the "most China-friendly city" in the nation.

It came about two months after Chinese President Hu Jintao came to Chicago at Daley's invitation, following an official state visit in Washington. In China, Daley and Chicago business leaders met with Hu.

Daley again rode on a train with a top speed higher than 200 mph. "We have not built any of these trains," he said. "So you have to go, you have to go to China and listen to them and to their operations and their technology, and that's what we have done."

FWIW, while in Toronto this weekend the two sports teams that weren't the Leafs or Habs which had the most representation on the streets were.... the Blackhawks and the White Sox.

It's "The Emperors New Clothes" all over again; everybody knows this will never work or happen, but nobody dare tell "His Honor".

On its face it seems like an unduely expensive copycat scheme by Daley driven again by recent envy of what he saw in China. Over 17 miles how much could a bullet train really get up to speed and save on time over traditional rail?

I also get a chuckle that a supposedly contorted Blue Line track express idea was at one point deemed to be a great leap forward while Quinns Amtrak proposal according to Daely would be too slow.

I am curious about what the two potential routes would be the articled referred to though.

If Daley wanted better airport access from downtown, he shouldn't have closed Meigs Field. (somebody had to say it...)

The only two possible corridors - UP-NW (splitting off at the Kennedy) or MD-W (splitting off at Mannheim or I-190).

I just don't understand why Daley is so adamant about providing access to the airport while the rest of the transit system is a joke by international standards. Hell, Tehran has a better train system than we do.

If Da Mare is this out of touch with the needs of real Chicagoans, then I'm glad he's leaving. At least his dad spent billions giving the city an expressway system, three new transit lines, and a major university (among other things). What have we gotten from the son? A paintjob on the CTA , some bike lanes, and some plants and wrought-iron fencing. That sh*t has no magic to stir my blood.