Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
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95th seems like it's less justified, mainly because the project appeared out of nowhere as a political sop to South Siders who won't be getting their Red Line extension anytime soon. ...
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I would guess that the 95th station reconstruction came up when they realized that the dramatic decrease in travel times on the Red Line would (hopefully) dramatically increase the ridership of the south Red Line. A portion of the ridership decline might be due to population decline, however much of the North Side did not gain population nearly as quickly as ridership rose - the ridership gains were largely driven by changes in mindset and demographics, and not raw population increases. Therefore it's reasonable to project that a dramatic increase in service quality will result in an increase in utilization even with the population loss. Standards for providing a high level of service in 2012 are different from when the Dan Ryan branch was first constructed, so if they're planning on dramatic ridership gains in the next few years, it's not illogical to reconstruct the station that at one time accounted for over 25% of the branch ridership.
If the Dan Ryan branch in general and 95th St station specifically "caught up" to the rest of the system in terms of ridership growth, 95th could end up with three times its current ridership numbers in as little as a decade. I don't know about you, but I think that warrants making sure the infrastructure can handle it.
Some supporting facts:
NOTE: Sources include online ridership reports for 2000-2012 numbers and paper report "Rail System Weekday Entering Traffic Trends, PSP-x01013, published 9/16/01 (supercedes PSP-x99021)", plus some tables from an unnamed report for the 1978-1980 numbers
95th St Station annual ridership:
2000___4.4 million annual riders
2012___3.9 million annual riders (-11.4% ridership decline)
95th St Station weekday ridership:
1980___26,450 daily ridership
1990___23,450 daily ridership
2000___13,508 daily ridership
2012___12,705 daily ridership (-6% decline since 2000; -52% decline since 1980)
NOTE: By comparison, Wilson only had 6,500 riders per weekday in 2012, and only had 3,700 riders per November weekday in 1978. If anything, 95th deserves the rebuild far more than Wilson does going strictly off the numbers.
Dan Ryan Branch annual ridership:
2000___16.5 million riders
2012___16.7 million riders (1.2% ridership increase)
NOTE: Ridership gains from 47th St station and north have offset declines or stagnation for stations south of there.
Red Line totals:
2000___61 million riders
2012___83.5 million riders (36.9% ridership increase)
NOTE: 50.1% increase for the non-Dan Ryan portion of the Red Line
CTA 'L' system totals:
2000___147 million annual riders
2012___231 million annual riders (57% ridership increase)
1978___558,250 weekday riders in November
2000___499,173 weekday riders in November
2012___725,355 weekday riders in November (45.3% increase from 2000; 118% increase from 1978)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin_Chicago
My hope for the extension of the subway north under the redline/purpleline modernization plan was destroyed after the announcement of the Wilson Ave reconstruction project
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It was removed from the alternatives analysis list before they announced funding for the Wilson Rehab. I was disappointed it wasn't considered, too, though. A subway there would have solved a number of problems and been faster to Howard from Belmont than the current Purple Express is, and probably been less expensive to maintain (although more expensive to build).
Quote:
Originally Posted by k1052
They surely understand at this point that the extension is a longshot and are getting two (or three if you count the extensive work done to the Green line recently) major projects that will greatly reduce travel time. So in a couple years when other major initiatives that focus on high ridership corridors (northside), downtown, and more infill stations in gentrifing areas there will be a minimal of political squealing from the south side since they just got theirs.
I would like to see Rahm start leaning on Metra to improve it's city services.
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I agree on both points, particularly your last one.
I also wish the RTA would begin considering electrification of at least the UP routes.