The Official Illinois and Chicago Transportation Thread

[Azn_chi_boi]

Live near the loop if you have the money, all of the cta trains are there(beside yellow), and most of the buses are there.

If you are on a budget, living by 35th-Archer(Orange Line) isnt that bad.. at least you have the orange line and many buses transfer there.

or you could live by, Howard, 3 train lines. Yellow going to Skokie, local purple going to Evanston and beyond. Red is going to loop, when the express purple is going expressly to loop. Many buses go there.

[pottebaum]

Do you think having a thread with a "Do you own a car" poll would be a good idea? I don't really want to start one if nobody else thinks it'd be interesting, though.

[itsnotrequired]

Originally Posted by Azn_chi_boi

no, not that surprising. Everyone near Chinatown/Bridgeport ride in a car, thats why the Ashland station(Orange Line) have nearly no one there, and you will rarely see a chinese person at Cermak-Chinatown(red line).

The northsiders use more Public transportation than the southside(unless they aregoing to the LOOP)

What are you basing this on? Rail or bus or a combination of both? Rail ridership is higher on the north side because it is more dense and there are more trains. But take a look at bus ridership. Lots of bus riders on the south side. Hell, the 79th St. and 87th St. buses combined have more weekday riders than the entire Brown and Purple line combined!

[Azn_chi_boi]

just the orange line at ashland and red line at Chinatown.

The south-south (maybe south of 55th), lots of people uses the rail and buses, but not by archer ave.

The north side's rail ridership is higher because of density, as you said.

[pottebaum]

What percent of Chicago residents use masstransit on a daily basis, to work, school, etc?

[wickedestcity]

idont know about percents but its supposed to be somthing like 1.5 mill /day i think, or was that just for the el?

[pottebaum]

I think that's the entire system, but it also includes people from the suburbs.

[The Urban Politician]

Originally Posted by itsnotrequired

What are you basing this on? Rail or bus or a combination of both? Rail ridership is higher on the north side because it is more dense and there are more trains. But take a look at bus ridership. Lots of bus riders on the south side. Hell, the 79th St. and 87th St. buses combined have more weekday riders than the entire Brown and Purple line combined!

^Ahhh, but as density and growth, along with gentrification, continues to move southward into Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Bridgeport and beyond, so will rail/bus usage. I was recently in Chicago and saw plenty of "Asians" boarding a bus on Archer St, and a couple (not a lot) of people boarding the Red Line 'L (a few elderly Asian men, as well). BTW, that Station is very nice, have you guys seen the Gargoyles by the stairwell? I'd give the south side a good 2 decades and we'll see quite some major changes.

Speaking of Chinatown, is somebody eventually going to develop those ugly parking lots?

[itsnotrequired]

Originally Posted by The Urban Politician

^Ahhh, but as density and growth, along with gentrification, continues to move southward into Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Bridgeport and beyond, so will rail/bus usage. I was recently in Chicago and saw plenty of "Asians" boarding a bus on Archer St, and a couple (not a lot) of people boarding the Red Line 'L (a few elderly Asian men, as well). BTW, that Station is very nice, have you guys seen the Gargoyles by the stairwell? I'd give the south side a good 2 decades and we'll see quite some major changes.

As the south side continues to grow, ridership can only go up. I was just pointing out that the south side contributes HUGE amounts to overall ridership.

Originally Posted by wickedestcity

^idont know about percents but its supposed to be somthing like 1.5 mill /day i think, or was that just for the el?

1.5 million is about the average weekday total. This includes bus and rail. Also, this total represents total rides, not riders. Most people commuting take two trips a day (one there and one back) so there are more like 700,000 people a day using it. And yes, this does include people from outside the city using the system (i.e. Metra from the suburbs to downtown and then bus to final destination).

So in a city of a little under 3 million people, I would say 500,000 actual city residents use it every weekday or about 15%.

[pottebaum]

Hmmm... I had always thought it was higher than 15%, but I guess that sounds about right. I guess that figure is higher in the areas closer to the loop.

I wish Chicago would try to promote usage of mass transit more, or does it already? I wonder if that percentage will increase in the upcoming years.

[The Urban Politician]

Originally Posted by itsnotrequired

So in a city of a little under 3 million people, I would say 500,000 actual city residents use it every weekday or about 15%.

Ahhh, but there are many ways to really look at that information. 15% city rail ridership sounds bad, but that's only if you see it in that light. One could also argue that among 6-700,000 jobs in Chicago's central area, 55% are accessed by transit. Thus most of Chicago proper residents either work in the suburbs, another neighborhood in the city, or are among the 45% who walk, drive, cab, or carpool to work downtown. My guess, however, is that most of those 45% who work downtown but don't use transit are suburbanites.

Downtown jobs are expected to grow, and as the flux of jobs shifts to the west loop, near the major rail stations, rail ridership will even increase, although as a proportion to driving it will likely stay unchanged.

[pottebaum]

TUP, I thought the 15% was for all of the CTA, not just ridership.
----
Yep, the 1.5 million number includes 1 million for buses, and 500,000 for trains.

[ThirdCoast312]

Originally Posted by The Urban Politician

My guess, however, is that most of those 45% who work downtown but don't use transit are suburbanite

i've actually walked through garages in the loop noticing that many cars are in fact from chicago, you can tell this by checking if a car has a City Sticker Permit (very useful). From my experience i'd give a rough estimate taht about 1/3 of cars in any given garage in the loop are from the city. This shows that there are plenty of potential riders in the city for the CTA, and perhaps the CTA should focus it's captital investement in this market inter-city automobile commuters rather than extending lines to serve the suburbs.

[Azn_chi_boi]

Originally Posted by The Urban Politician

Speaking of Chinatown, is somebody eventually going to develop those ugly parking lots?

Not only are not proabably going do that, they made a new on at Archer/Wentwroth. Across the street from the orginal parking lot.

At the chinatown square(the chinese mall bordered by Archer/Princeton/Wentworth/China St), they are making new condos connected to the mall. Who in the heck makes condos next to an mall and connects into a mall? Thats like making houses connected to Woodfield Mall.

[aion26]

4:00pm... how nice, when we are all at work. Bastards.

CTA to give riders a say on cuts, fares

By Jon Hilkevitch
Tribune transportation reporter
Published March 24, 2005


The Chicago Transit Authority will hold a hearing April 7 to receive public comments about major service reductions and fare increases set to start in the summer if state mass-transit subsidies to the agency are not increased, the CTA said Wednesday.

The hearing will begin at 4 p.m. at CTA headquarters, 567 W. Lake St., Chicago.

Written comments may be submitted through April 8 to the CTA at P.O. Box 7567, Chicago, IL 60680, Attention: CTA board assistant secretary Gregory Longhini.

E-mail comments also may be submitted until April 8 to ctaboard@transitchicago.com.

The CTA board is scheduled to vote April 13 on a plan to increase fares and/or cut service in July if the General Assembly does not change a 22-year-old Regional Transportation Authority formula that provides about half of the operating funding to the CTA, Metra and Pace. CTA officials contend the formula is outdated and must be altered to enable the transit agency to eliminate a projected $55 million deficit in 2005.

Service cuts planned would affect more than 130 CTA bus routes and all seven rail lines, eliminating some service entirely while reducing the frequency of the remaining service and the hours of operation.

Three of the fare options the CTA board will consider for approval involve fare increases without service reductions, at least initially, CTA officials said. One option combines fare increases with service cuts. Transfers or passes issued by Pace and Metra for use on the CTA might also be eliminated under the board action.

The proposed fare restructuring calls for increasing the $1.75 base fare to a minimum of $2.50, and as high as $3.40 to ride trains at peak hours. Transfers would double in cost, to 50 cents.

Charges for paratransit riders and reduced-fare riders would also rise significantly, as would the cost of 30-day passes and visitor passes.

Although the CTA board is expected to decide on a plan April 13, the July service cuts and fare increases would be called off if the General Assembly resolves the transit funding issues, CTA officials said.

Unlike the CTA, Metra and Pace are not actively advocating funding boosts. Metra officials in particular are on guard against any funding increase granted to the CTA that would come at the expense of the commuter railroad.

The proposed CTA service and fare scenarios are detailed on the CTA's Web site, www.transitchicago.com.

[pottebaum]

I was reading over the plans, and I think one of the lowest drop in riderships of all the plans was around 12%!!!! Maybe I'm misunderstanding it...so, does that mean the number of people using mass transit drops by 12%??

If the state doesn't bail the CTA out, will be soooooooooo depressed.

[itsnotrequired]

Originally Posted by ThirdCoast312

i've actually walked through garages in the loop noticing that many cars are in fact from chicago, you can tell this by checking if a car has a City Sticker Permit (very useful). From my experience i'd give a rough estimate taht about 1/3 of cars in any given garage in the loop are from the city. This shows that there are plenty of potential riders in the city for the CTA, and perhaps the CTA should focus it's captital investement in this market inter-city automobile commuters rather than extending lines to serve the suburbs.

Isn't it a rule that if you have to have a city sticker if you routinely park in a city garage? I seem to remember some stink about that a couple years ago.

[Kevin J]

Originally Posted by itsnotrequired

Isn't it a rule that if you have to have a city sticker if you routinely park in a city garage? I seem to remember some stink about that a couple years ago.

The rule is that Chicago residents must have a city sticker for their cars. A lot of people who live in the city, but keep their cars in private garages where they live, have been able to skirt this requirement because it's only enforced if you're stopped for a traffic violation or if you get a parking ticket on a city street. The stink a few years ago is that the city got wind of this practice and threatened to start checking private garages for sticker scofflaws. The scofflaws are safe for the time being because the city has no legal right to speculatively search private property without probable cause.

[mypetrobot]

delete

[simulcra]

Even if the CTA does get a bail-out, I feel that it has to make huge strides in cutting down costs. It has to figure out exactly what needs it needs to serve. It can't just be "public transit for everyone in the tristate area"; that's a failed business model as history as shown. There are probably huge inefficiencies that need to be cut out, and this sort of panic is bringing out the nonessentials. I'm not saying they should cut everything anyway, I'm saying that they shouldn't just breathe a sigh of relief and say "well, that's over! back to business as usual."