Do you think the CTA/METRA will come back after Covid or will it become obsolete? (live, warehouse)

[Master Jay]

Good morning,

This past Saturday afternoon, for the first time since COVID, I took the Brown Line in Lincoln Square to connect with the Red Line, in order to go to Chinatown.

And I agree both trains (in particular the Brown Line) seemed WAY less occupied than in the past.

I imagine this summer they will pick up, especially with school out of session, as well as out of town visitors (like myself)

[Chigal777]

Why would they close stations? Makes no sense. That would mean that people who live in those highly populated areas will have no means to get to work and 1. would either have to move or 2. would buy a car, which would result in loss of revenue for the city. It doesn't cost anything for the train to stop at all the train stop. Closing them would cost money as well.

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

Public transportation will not go away. Schedules will just be more limited and you might see some station closures in the future. Less bus stops and routes and less train cars. Most ridership is due to the daily commute and with remote work this will be cut in half. But it won't go away completely.

[Chigal777]

I take the blue line and transfer to orange line and it's scary as hell to be on the train now.

Originally Posted by Master Jay

Good morning,

This past Saturday afternoon, for the first time since COVID, I took the Brown Line in Lincoln Square to connect with the Red Line, in order to go to Chinatown.

And I agree both trains (in particular the Brown Line) seemed WAY less occupied than in the past.

I imagine this summer they will pick up, especially with school out of session, as well as out of town visitors (like myself)

[Chigal777]

Especially downtown where the jobs are in the service industry- hotels, restaurants, bars...Or city employees, county, state employees who have to actually see people to issue a marriage license and verify info prior to issuance or law firms, who meet with clients and have court hearings. Now, lawyers do zoom court hearings but everyone hates it. People are over zoom and the glitches, etc. We are social beings, we like having contact with other people. We need to get out of the house to socialize, even if at work. Those who have kids at home, want out. They spent a whole year at home with their kids and are over conversations with toddlers and want to talk to those in closer age group and have happy hours.

Originally Posted by Marv95

The majority of the working public do not work remote.

[dtcbnd03]

Originally Posted by Chigal777

Why would they close stations? Makes no sense. That would mean that people who live in those highly populated areas will have no means to get to work and 1. would either have to move or 2. would buy a car, which would result in loss of revenue for the city. It doesn't cost anything for the train to stop at all the train stop. Closing them would cost money as well.

Chicago has closed stations and demolished entire L lines in the past including the Humboldt Park branch. That area is now a transportation dead zone. So why did they close it let alone demolish it in such a populated area? Declining ridership.

"The Humboldt Park branch was a rapid transit line which was part of the Chicago "L" system from 1895 to 1952. The branch served the West Town and the Humboldt Park neighborhoods of Chicago and consisted of six elevated stations. It opened on July 29, 1895, and closed on May 4, 1952."

Humboldt Park branch stations
Western Avenue and North Avenue
California Avenue and North Avenue
Humboldt Blvd. and North Avenue
Kedzie Avenue and North Avenue
St. Louis Avenue and North Avenue
Lawndale Avenue and North Avenue"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbol...tation_listing

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

Chicago has closed stations and demolished entire L lines in the past including the Humboldt Park branch. That area is now a transportation dead zone. So why did they close it let alone demolish it in such a populated area? Declining ridership.

"The Humboldt Park branch was a rapid transit line which was part of the Chicago "L" system from 1895 to 1952. The branch served the West Town and the Humboldt Park neighborhoods of Chicago and consisted of six elevated stations. It opened on July 29, 1895, and closed on May 4, 1952."

Humboldt Park branch stations
Western Avenue and North Avenue
California Avenue and North Avenue
Humboldt Blvd. and North Avenue
Kedzie Avenue and North Avenue
St. Louis Avenue and North Avenue
Lawndale Avenue and North Avenue"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbol...tation_listing

Declining ridership was a factor, true, but don't forget that some of the early 1950s CTA L contraction was because it was predicted at the time that we'd become more and more car dependent. Berwyn lost its L service (what is now the Pink Line) for this reason. However, despite this prediction, and despite the fact that the City's population shrunk considerably from 1950 on, CTA ridership increased from 594,000/weekday in 1960 to about 760,000/weekday in 2016. The CTA also got rid of the A/B "skip stop" service they implemented in the late 1940s by the mid-1990s to accommodate increased ridership. So I think comparing the CTA in 1950 to today is an apples to oranges comparison.

[BRU67]

This is a very interesting dataset...

https://data.cityofchicago.org/Trans...tals/w8km-9pzd

It was last updated in August 2019, which was well before the Covid took us, so it will not reflect the impact of that. Regardless, it shows that ridership decreased pretty drastically from 1988 to 1993 by nearly 150 million rides, which is interesting because there was gentrification going on at that time. It hit the low point in 1997 and then started climbing back up again. It went over 500 million in 2008 and stayed above that mark until 2016, when it started going down, to 468 million by 2018. That's still above 1997's 440 million, but a decline from the 546 million 2012 peak.

Bus ridership seems to have declined more or less steadily since 2012, hitting an all time low in 2018. Rail seems to have fared better, eclipsing 200 million in 2009 and never going below that, even in 2018.

[dtcbnd03]

Originally Posted by Chigal777

Especially downtown where the jobs are in the service industry- hotels, restaurants, bars...Or city employees, county, state employees who have to actually see people to issue a marriage license and verify info prior to issuance or law firms, who meet with clients and have court hearings. Now, lawyers do zoom court hearings but everyone hates it. People are over zoom and the glitches, etc. We are social beings, we like having contact with other people. We need to get out of the house to socialize, even if at work. Those who have kids at home, want out. They spent a whole year at home with their kids and are over conversations with toddlers and want to talk to those in closer age group and have happy hours.

Disagree. Zoom does have its glitches but I'll take a few audio glitches which get ironed out pretty quickly vs putting on a suit, hopping on a plane or train for an hour, walking into court and wasting a half a day or more for what could be done in an hour in the comfort of my own home.

Parents at home can send their kids to daycare...same thing they would be doing if they had to go into the office. Yet they now have more time to drop off and pickup and spend more time with kids instead of commuting.

Remote work is a million times more efficient and that is why it will win out.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

Disagree. Zoom does have its glitches but I'll take a few audio glitches which get ironed out pretty quickly vs putting on a suit, hopping on a plane or train for an hour, walking into court and wasting a half a day or more for what could be done in an hour in the comfort of my own home.

Parents at home can send their kids to daycare...same thing they would be doing if they had to go into the office. Yet they now have more time to drop off and pickup and spend more time with kids instead of commuting.

Remote work is a million times more efficient and that is why it will win out.

Anecdotally, I have two friends currently working from home whose employer has essentially said everyone will be needing to get their butts back into the office by May 3. I personally think this is going to happen a lot more than you think.

[Atlanta_BD]

I don't think transit will go away anytime soon. It's still going like normal during COVID. The L runs like clockwork 24 hours a day. I live next to the tracks so I know LOL.