Do you think the CTA/METRA will come back after Covid or will it become obsolete? (Chicago: employment, buses)

[TBideon]

Security, not price cuts, is all we want. The red and blue lines are completely unacceptable - price cuts don't address any of the real issues.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Your last sentence is dead on. Full remote isn't happening in large scale to the degree we thought/hoped it may, and corporate is eager to bring back the arcane nonsense of in person. I hate it and am looking for jobs that are full remote, but for the time being things will go backwards. Covid just didn't last long enough for true cultural and institutional change.

Bet it depends on the job. Companies may find the productivity of working together over working separately. Also, missing are the support staff from security to maintenance to cafeteria workers that need their old jobs back. Probably need the tech support to fix your computer. In many cities watch if it returns to normal schedule with some enhancements on busy routes.

[lepoisson]

CTA will be here but until they address the safety issues, ridership will still be low. I rode the red line for the last time almost a year ago after a fight broke out and I almost got hit by the three teenagers fighting.

[emathias]

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.

I agree with this. I hope that by 2022 numbers approach pre-pandemic numbers. Getting people back into offices will help a lot.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Your last sentence is dead on. Full remote isn't happening in large scale to the degree we thought/hoped it may, and corporate is eager to bring back the arcane nonsense of in person. I hate it and am looking for jobs that are full remote, but for the time being things will go backwards. Covid just didn't last long enough for true cultural and institutional change.

I hate full remote and among my peers most of them agree. Maybe it's a generational thing (I'm 47), and I like some flexibility, but most of the time I have a strong preference for working with a visible team. The social aspect is important to me.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by BRU67

My work commute has doubled in time since this post! Bah!! Clearly, employers are making people come back to the office. In some ways I was hoping you were going to be right.

It's been a couple weeks and my work commute stayed the same. Double in time compared to the pandemic. Today it was triple on the way home. My commute is a car one but it shows that the prediction that people were going to stay working remotely is dead wrong.

So I anticipate that CTA/Metra ridership will continue to increase, and probably somewhat exponentially, over the summer, before hitting pre pandemic levels by August or so.

[dtcbnd03]

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that 50-60 percent of his company’s employees to continue working from home after the pandemic. Despite hefty real estate investments in recent years, including opening the 61-floor Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in 2018 and a 60 story tower in Chicago set to open in 2023. “The past is gone,” Benioff said. “We’ve created a whole new world, a new digital future, and you can see it playing out today.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/07/sale...from-home.html

For every Morgan Stanley CEO demanding employees return to the office there are 1-2 enacting remote work. On top of that employees are quitting in person jobs in favor of remote options. Your car commute is triple because Chicago is back to 100% open but the reduced percentage of people still going into the office are scared to ride public transportation. New and used car sales reflect increased demand from people wanting an alternative way to get to/from work.

[NoHyping]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that 50-60 percent of his company’s employees to continue working from home after the pandemic. Despite hefty real estate investments in recent years, including opening the 61-floor Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in 2018 and a 60 story tower in Chicago set to open in 2023. “The past is gone,” Benioff said. “We’ve created a whole new world, a new digital future, and you can see it playing out today.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/07/sale...from-home.html

For every Morgan Stanley CEO demanding employees return to the office there are 1-2 enacting remote work. On top of that employees are quitting in person jobs in favor of remote options. Your car commute is triple because Chicago is back to 100% open but the reduced percentage of people still going into the office are scared to ride public transportation. New and used car sales reflect increased demand from people wanting an alternative way to get to/from work.

Seems like some want a new CLASS of people. Those who choose a job by a ability to stay home. I would think newer entry level employees would be required the in-house office and work up to and promoted to split home and work till ultimately if their goal..... work from home.

Still committing to offices space in a major tower is not cheap. Perhaps expansions mean gradually needing the space even in a NEW partial workforce home and office?

Still those saying OH IT IS GOING TO BE WFH as a NEW normal for maybe 1/2? We do not really know yet. For our cities. These buildings half empty with leases or owned..... are not just going to left dormant. Difficult for some to be re-purposed to residential. Then the reason most were near downtown was to be near WORK which meant the office..... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Either way.... hard to believe a new CLASS of Professionals will be HOME BODIES and guess like a Teacher who chose to teach having a summer off...... might choose a type of profession they can sit at home in jammies and play like me....a early retiree on da puter.

No more gossip by the water-cooler (was that ever a real thing?)
No finding a nice fellow office worker to ask for dinner and ......
Forget the latest style of officeware.... just blast that air in a sunbelt city and be nakid.

What ever happened to Blue Collar folk LOSING JOBS FIRST TO ANIMATION FIRST? You know.... robots take over....
(OK it was Covid and would anyone have guessed ever....)

I for one hope 60 -70% + of the workers return.... and can support most of those catering to them in restaurants etc. and keep downtown's vibrant as before....

Maybe Conventions are obsolete too now ? No more FREE AIR MILES and food tabs paid for ....

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that 50-60 percent of his company’s employees to continue working from home after the pandemic. Despite hefty real estate investments in recent years, including opening the 61-floor Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in 2018 and a 60 story tower in Chicago set to open in 2023. “The past is gone,” Benioff said. “We’ve created a whole new world, a new digital future, and you can see it playing out today.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/07/sale...from-home.html

For every Morgan Stanley CEO demanding employees return to the office there are 1-2 enacting remote work. On top of that employees are quitting in person jobs in favor of remote options. Your car commute is triple because Chicago is back to 100% open but the reduced percentage of people still going into the office are scared to ride public transportation. New and used car sales reflect increased demand from people wanting an alternative way to get to/from work.

The commute is triple because people are going to and from work. This is during rush hour. Yes they might currently be scared to get on public transit, which is why there are so many cars on the road. But I think that will subside pretty soon when people get sick of sitting in traffic for 2 hours each way.

[ChicagoMeO]

I worked downtown just about all my life, and since i cant handle the rigors of a commute on the Metra, (seriously, i have walking and standing problems), so i moved closer to be able to walk to work. Then the shutdown happened March 2020. We have adapted systems for everything to online rather than documents on paper. now we are starting to trickle back to work and in September everyone should be back in the office.. however, i asked my supervisor if i can work 100% full time, and she said yes.

I am very happy with that, as i have been able to leave chicago and the idiot mayor. Lightfoot is no longer my mayor -HALLELUJAH! I feel like I'm not even working at times, though i work extremely hard. but its so pleasant.. I now live in the suburbs and its so wonderful. no having to commute for 1.5 hours like i did before i moved downtown. Suburbs is where my heart is and so easy to get around in my car.

When i was in the office, i tended to be a kind of loner, i didn't care to socialize much, I actually did not have time to socialize by the water cooler, our dept was so busy most of the time, I'm almost ready for retirement, so i feel like i am on pre-retirement.

They still have a rule that we have to wear masks and social distance at work (maybe till the fall). they said no fans (and i loved my fan because the office can have stagnant air). i much rather be at home. I wil be happy here working from home for the next few years when i will retire.