Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
^I can't imagine a Green Line restored to Stony Island would attract more than 100 new riders a day.
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The most successful presidential libraries (Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton) attract about 1000 visitors on the average day. That plus the ~4000 daily visitors at MSI gives you 5000 daily museum goers in Jackson Park.
Many of these visitors will be suburbanites in minivans or school groups in buses, but even if only 10% of visitors take public transit, that's 500 potential riders who would probably prefer a rail ride from downtown over a bus, no matter how express.
I still don't know if it's worth building 1 mile of new rail line for only 500 riders initially, but in the long-term I still think it's a good idea to bring rail to these major attractions and establish a Jefferson Park or Davis St-esque transfer from Metra to CTA. Woodlawn is already showing promising signs of redevelopment that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, even as other South Side neighborhoods like Bronzeville, Washington Park and South Shore stagnate or decline. A new transit hub could really kick Woodlawn into high gear.