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Originally Posted by nomarandlee
I alluded to this over in SSC. With the new HOV/HOT lanes does anyone think there will or should be required to be point to point suburb-loop buses as part of the program? Burb to Downtown buses make much more sense with new HOV express lanes as opposed to now where such buses provide no time savings. I remember when I first visited NYC back in the mid-90's and they had nice charter buses from the Meadowlands NJ (though they didn't have dedicated lanes at the time) that seemed to work rather well. There could also be a few drop off points downtown instead of just the West Loop like Metra. Given that there seems to be a capacity crunch on at least some Metra routes it could help as a viable alternative to driving.
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Running buses downtown presents two main problems:
1. the HOT lanes end where the tollway ends (with possible exception of the eventual I-290 widening from Oak Park to Mannheim, with the added lane being HOV/HOT). In short, where the travel time savings would be most needed - the congested urban expressways leading downtown - the buses would have no priority or benefit.
2. Potential to cannibalize ridership of existing commuter and rapid rail services.
I think the more likely scenario resulting from HOT lanes would be some sort of hybrid BRT/Express Bus distribution system to connect to CTA rail terminals, specifically with Rosemont feeding to the I-90 corridor northwest and I-294 north, and Forest Park feeding to I-88 west.
Generally, the only corridors that are strong candidates for enhanced express suburb->downtown commuter service (I-55, southeast suburbs, NW Indiana) don't involve the tollway system and might yet see enhanced commuter rail service.