Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
The Gray Line is just an idea suggested by an ordinary citizen. It has no agency support.
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Nor will it have agency support as long as CTA and Metra continue to bicker stupidly. To have a world-class transit system, all we really need to do is work on inter-agency cooperation. This includes things like fare integration between CTA, Metra, and Pace.
Also, as much as Metra hates it, they will eventually have to start seriously providing service to inner-city areas. Metra's rail lines run to many places that aren't well-served by CTA rail, and it would be terribly wasteful to duplicate service. Metra Electric serves the South Lakefront, South Shore, an area that will begin to really increase in population over the next 30 years and will need vastly better transit access. The Milwaukee District lines serve neighborhoods on the Northwest Side that aren't even remotely close to the Blue or Green Lines. SouthWest Service runs through areas of the South Side, while the Rock Island serves Beverly/Morgan Park and other areas.
Eventually, either Metra's management will change their thinking about serving the City of Chicago, or they will be forced to by some frustrated planners and politicians. Then perhaps they will begin to add frequent stops in the city and start running trains on a 10-15min schedule to city stops only, with suburban trains running express to the city limits. This should preserve some separation between city and suburban riders and ease concerns about crime and safety.