Politically, extending the Red Line probably has to happen. At least part of that project has to happen anyway, in order to increase frequency of trains on the Red Line since the 95th yard is at capacity and part of the extension to 130th - and a big chunk of the cost of that project - is to create a new, larger yard so that the Red Line can run more trains to serve the demand along the North Main. I also think that if demand continues to climb along the North Main route that the CTA will put some effort into running more Purple Lines, perhaps all day service, 7 days a week. Their occasional tests of extending the Purple Line hours haven't been successful largely, in my opinion, because it's not run like a traditional express - it's more like a local with one big jump midway between the outer and inner stations.

With Wilson, Loyola, and perhaps one more transfer express station added in, and if it ran express between Belmont and Fullerton and then into the Subway instead of over the top, I think it would become integrated into peoples' habits and become a valuable tool for the North Lakefront and for Evanston. What I would suggest, personally, is to run both the Purple and the Yellow express into the Loop. Make the Purple like a true express after Howard and south of Belmont have it stop at Fullerton and then into the Subway. That would improve times into the Loop.

Then take the Yellow Line, enable it to run at least 4, maybe even 6 cars, and route it on the express tracks but south of Belmont run it like the Purple Line currently does, local stops and onto the top Loop tracks. That would be especially useful if the Yellow were extended to Old Orchard as has been proposed. For the Yellow, it could be a rush hour only schedule like the Purple is currently, but the Purple it could run at least every 15 minutes between 6am and Midnight, maybe even as late as 2am on weekends.

And I do think that a Clinton subway needs to happen, both to add a useful station at Division/Larrabee to serve the Cabrini Green re-development, and to service western River North, but also to serve the West Loop and, depending on how it's routed, parts of the South Loop, hopefully the new developments along the river. I also think that the City needs to revist re-extending the Green Line to Jackson Park. I know it's a hot potato, especially because of the history, but it really needs to happen. Ideally there would be a stop at University (optional, but I think a good idea as Woodlawn gentrifies), at Dorchester, and then a hook north immediately west of the Metra tracks with a final stop spanning the Midway. That gives better access to Woodlawn and to Southeast Hyde Park, including the Obama Library and MSI, with the Dorchester station providing reasonable connections to the 63rd Street stations for both Metra Electric and the South Shore Line. Staying west of the Metra tracks saves some money from having to span over them, which would be a lot of money for not very much benefit.