Quote:
Originally Posted by untitledreality
No.
If they could keep the OHare branch in tip top shape and prevent delays, I dont think the amount of time to ride the Blue from downtown to OHare is unreasonable.
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I don't they will ever attempt to keep it in tip top shape. The blue line has to be the worst line to ride in the city. Even many of the locals I know that use it everyday passionately complain how awful it is.
I take the blue line regularly to the airport, and if it weren't for the fact that I fly out around rush hour, I'd take a taxi regardless of cost. I'm embarrassed for my city when I board the train at O'Hare. There's bums panhandling, the cars stink of urine, the station smells like lysol covering up urine, the floors are full of trash, seats have who knows what on it. The travelers wrinkle their noses and try to scout out a clean seat and decent smelling car. They are then treated with slow moving trains and delays that can take up to an hour to reach downtown. 30 minutes should be standard.
The blue line is one of the system's best assets, but we treat it likes it's our worst and don't even run our newest vehicles on it. People may argue that we have to fix what's broken, but the blue line seriously needs improvement.
There's got to be a way to work in sidings and overtakes to permit express service to downtown with limited stops without using alternative routes. I've actually been on two blue trains that for whatever reason ran express and only stopped 5 times from downtown to O'Hare. It was incredible. I think 2013 price range sans a downtown station would be in the half billion dollar range. It seems like a reasonable investment to me to boost ridership and make the O'hare branch way more attractive to travelers. Meanwhile they'll spend $1.5 billion on the red line extension? You gotta be kidding me.