The Official Illinois and Chicago Transportation Thread

[david_gla]

Hope this isn't too off topic but here goes. I'm visiting Chicago next March and I've got tickets for a Bulls game at the United Center. What L stop would you recommend I use? Medical Center or Ashland? I've read that the area around UC isn't the best so what would you recommend safety wise, ie quickest to get to, more used, best lighting etc? Thanks!

[Northsider]

They're pretty much equidistant from the UC. The area is more devoid of anything rather than dangerous. I would say the majority of people use Ashland though. When the game lets out there's tons of people walking to the L stops. There'll be some guys trying to hustle people into cabs or asking for money, but they're pretty harmless.

[CHI-SKY21]

You can also take the Madison bus if you want. OR I like to go to the bars on Madison and then most of them have a free shuttle over to the stadium.

[david_gla]

Thanks for the tips! I might go for the bus out as we plan on getting there early to get a good look round the arena, see the jordan statue, get a beer etc so hopefully traffic will be light. The el might be good for the way back to town as I imagine traffic will be busier then.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by krnboy1009

Seriously, theres L tracks right across the parking lot of UC, and I have to walk far longer to the Blue Line station.

No offense Chicagoans but your mass transit system, while big, is poorly designed.

No connection to Union station, or any other commuter rail hub with POSSIBLE exception to LaSalle and even there theres no direct indoor connection.

No service to Soldier Field, have to walk a good distance, and although Metra station is closer even there you have to walk considerably.

Only good services are to Wrigley and US Cell.

I am guessing you mean UIC when referring to the Blue Line, and I am not sure I know what parking lot you are talking about.

While there should be indoor direct connections to the rail stations to the El stations, Union has a Blue Line station two blocks south of it, OTC has a Green Line stop three blocks from it, and the LaSalle obviously has one right outside of it.

I do however agree with you about Soldier Field, there should definitely be a line that runs off either the Loop or from the Red Line subway tunnel over to Soldier Field which would give a spur to send an El line down to Hyde Park and possibly down to South Shore.

I would definitely love to see Chicago take on expanding their rail lines as well as adding new stops to make for more efficient commuting.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Dralcoffin

New York's building a new line under Second Avenue, Washington is building a line to Dulles, and several cities are building new light rail lines. But then, New York is always an exception, and light rail is far easier to build than a long elevated or subway line.

I'd rather see Chicago spend money on maintaining the oldest mass transit system on the continent and fixing the last of the slow zones than plunking down a new line anyway. The Circle Line would be nice, but it's not a necessity.

Also Seattle is in the process of tunneling a portion of their light rail line under Capitol Hill and the University District.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by svicious22

I have commuted on the CTA for twelve years straight. Commutes are often HELL. Trains are far more overcrowded than they used to be and how does the CTA respond? By gutting seats and creating "cattle cars" that in actuality don't even help. Delays and slow downs are common on the brown line (though nowhere near as bad as a few years ago during rebuilding) and there are many stops where any backup will cause commuters to wait for many trains because there is no room. Buses continue to "bunch" because the drivers like to socialize at end-route-layovers and buses can be MIA in off hours.

It's poorly designed for the reasons the poster ahead of me stated. My main issue there is they need to extend brown to blue for airport access. And the antiquated propulsion systems on the el make for a jerky ride like no other.

You sound like a Chicago apologist. Get a clue.

Looking at the Brown Line, I would think that line is due for an express line where it stops at a limited number of high traffic stops to shorten commute times. Would definitely be nice to see the next move for CTA be that with the Brown Line, creating a Brown Line Express.

[Northsider]

I'd rather see Blue get one first. It's way more crowded than Brown and the distances much father.

[honest86]

It is an intesting debate between whether the blue or brown should get express service, and I just wanted to offer a few observations from my perspective.
1. The blue line is currently faster. If you clock a trip from the Montrose stop on the blue line, and the end of the brown line, to the loop the blue line gets downtown in 22 minutes vs 33 minutes for the brown line.
2. Either option would be very expensive since the majority of both lines are only double tracked, so express service would be hard to implement.
3. The brown line currently has about a 1.7 mile segment where it runs with both the red and purple lines where there is already track for express services.
4. If the end of the brown line was extended to meet the blue line, how much would ridership increase from ohare with better service on the north east side(in August there was 11,400 boardings at ohare, or 1/8th of blue line ridership)?

My personal opinion is that we should extend the brown to the blue, and then change express on the brown and purple, so that the purple does local while the brown is express near the loop where the express track exists, and then also add a few skip stops on the brown line further out so that it becomes at least as fast as the blue line when traveling from montrose to the loop. In addition I think the increased ridership from Ohare travelers on the east side who now use the brown and blue to get to the airport has the potential to increase boardings at the ohare stop by 30%, while decreased travel times on brown line(up to 33% faster if it becomes the same as the blue line), as well as better access to the blue line will boost ridership on both lines significantly.

Anyway, it is late here... very late, and i am going to bed. I might articulate my thoughts better in a few days when I have more time.

[Northsider]

The blue line is currently faster. If you clock a trip from the Montrose stop on the blue line, and the end of the brown line, to the loop the blue line gets downtown in 22 minutes vs 33 minutes for the brown line.

It's an interesting comparison for sure. Why Montrose-Blue against end of the Brown line? That's ~8 miles vs ~9 miles respectively. If you go from Jeff Park-Blue to downtown (which for sake of argument is Clark/Lake, but more importantly, the same distance as Kimball to the Mart), it's about 27 minutes. In my opinion, pretty negligible. Brown is also 19 stops vs 12.

I'd also love a return of skip stops. :-]

[dean43]

So brown should be an express line to ohare? Have fun getting that passed.

[stevevance]

Originally Posted by honest86

My personal opinion is that we should extend the brown to the blue, and then change express on the brown and purple, so that the purple does local while the brown is express near the loop where the express track exists, and then also add a few skip stops on the brown line further out so that it becomes at least as fast as the blue line when traveling from montrose to the loop. In addition I think the increased ridership from Ohare travelers on the east side who now use the brown and blue to get to the airport has the potential to increase boardings at the ohare stop by 30%, while decreased travel times on brown line(up to 33% faster if it becomes the same as the blue line), as well as better access to the blue line will boost ridership on both lines significantly.

An enforced, dedicated bus lane on Irving Park from the Blue Line to Brown Line and then to Wilson Red Line could serve the same purpose as extending Brown Line to Blue Line, and be implemented faster with a lower cost. (Dedicated bus lane on Montrose probably wouldn't work because it has 1 lane in each direction for most of its length between Blue and Brown Line stations.)

[Northsider]

On the "BRT" bandwagon, ehh? They already nixed the x80 years ago.

[HomrQT]

Dang

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...eases-cta-fare

[tpe]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Dang

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...eases-cta-fare

The price for the 30-day pass is a little bit cheaper than the 30-day in NYC. But that is no comfort, I suppose.

[FabriFlorence]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

I am guessing you mean UIC when referring to the Blue Line, and I am not sure I know what parking lot you are talking about.

While there should be indoor direct connections to the rail stations to the El stations, Union has a Blue Line station two blocks south of it, OTC has a Green Line stop three blocks from it, and the LaSalle obviously has one right outside of it.

I do however agree with you about Soldier Field, there should definitely be a line that runs off either the Loop or from the Red Line subway tunnel over to Soldier Field which would give a spur to send an El line down to Hyde Park and possibly down to South Shore.

I would definitely love to see Chicago take on expanding their rail lines as well as adding new stops to make for more efficient commuting.

Two blocks is not a long way but do it with baggage while it's raining or snowing can be uncomfortable.
The 90% of big metropolis in the word have a central railway station served by subway or el with direct indoor connections.

[Andrewjason]

Not just is the Chicago area public transit improperly designed with an absence of coordination between systems, but it's poorly run as well. Commutes can be hell about the CTA and Metra seems untimely regardly as not, and quite possible with regard to schefuled stops for being bypassed due to overcrowding.

[jpIllInoIs]

TheGetAwayTrain

Ann Arbor to Chicago in under five hours!
Midwest Entertrainment is here to create an affordable way to travel to and from Chicago from hot-spot Michigan locations that is not only faster than the traditional train or driving, but is more enjoyable with music, food, and drinks for riders.

Some of Illinois' and Michigan' rail investments are paying off as a private tour service is launched to offer weekend only service from Ann Arbor to Chicago. Service begins in Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon with limited stops including Kalamazoo and arrives in Chicago Friday night. revers trip leaves Chicago Sunday Noon.

Target market is college and 20 somethings seeking a fun in the City.

[mgk920]

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

TheGetAwayTrain

Ann Arbor to Chicago in under five hours!
Midwest Entertrainment is here to create an affordable way to travel to and from Chicago from hot-spot Michigan locations that is not only faster than the traditional train or driving, but is more enjoyable with music, food, and drinks for riders.

Some of Illinois' and Michigan' rail investments are paying off as a private tour service is launched to offer weekend only service from Ann Arbor to Chicago. Service begins in Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon with limited stops including Kalamazoo and arrives in Chicago Friday night. revers trip leaves Chicago Sunday Noon.

Target market is college and 20 somethings seeking a fun in the City.

IMHO, we would be seeing much, much more of this sort of service if North America's railroads were operated like how roads and civil aviation now work, where vehicle operations and the physical infrastructure are separately owned and maintained.

The freight railroad operating companies, who own most of the continent's track infrastructure, are still zealously protective of their respective 'turfs' and very, very reluctant to allow anyone else onto them. Just think of the hoops that that operator who is planning that Los Angeles-Las Vegas service is having to jump through to satisfy Union Pacific enough for them to be able to run their trains.



Mike