Chicagoist: CTA Ridership Highest in 16 Years

chillsnthrills

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:06:47 -0600

I ride Damen to O'Hare at least once a week. 32 mins door to door....and consistently so. Definitely shaved 10 mins on that route in the past year. It almost makes it worth it to not take a cab. You can always check gcmtravel.com to see what inbound Kennedy travel times are and then decide. http://gcmtravel.com/gcm/traveltimes.jsp?location=GATEWAY.IL.KENNEDY

Kaonashi

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:05:44 -0600

The O'Hare branch is a LOT faster now than it was a year ago. It used to be incredibly slow between Belmont and River Road, and now it just flies (especially between Jefferson Park and Harlem, which for some odd reason used to take forever). Does anyone even know what's going on with the commuter tunnel at Washington connecting the pedway systems with the subway, or are they just not working on that anymore?

Tower18

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:56:26 -0600

Wow, $100 a month including parking? It would cost me about $400 a month in JUST parking in order to drive to work (parking at apartment + parking downtown). I'm assuming you don't work downtown...in which case, I'd probably drive too, unless I worked in my own neighborhood.

matilda

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:13:26 -0600

Turk: Thanks. What really sucks now is that despite the increased demand for mass transit, a demand that will be there for at least a few more years (high jobless rates makes mass transit more attractive, for instance, and more people are thinking green, and oil is sure to rise once the global recession eases), the short-sighted thinking all across the US over the last 30 years has left mass transit in a woeful shape. That means improvements that could have helped keep riders, and convinced more of them to stay way from driving, are not there. Seriously, I can't blame anyone for staying away from the CTA, and I say that as one who willingly gave up a car years ago.

turkchgo

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:06:39 -0600

matilda: insurance was not factored in. If you have the car for other travel you have insurance. My analysis is/was based soley on mothly fule and parking costs. With gas at this price point I can drive to work 5 days a week for about $100 a month which includes parking. My Chicago Card monthly pass costs $75 (soon $89). So the difference now is about $10 - $20 a month however with gasoline at $2.50 - $3.50 a gallon the difference is in the hundreds of dollars a month.

joshie

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:33:01 -0600

Matty must be my neighbor. I get on at Division every day. The O'Hare trip isn't bad now. . . it's a vast improvement over what it was. I didn't clock it so I can't give you an exact time. I have occasional problems with the Blue Line, but nowhere near as many as I had when riding the Red Line.

matilda

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:56:41 -0600

Turk: Did you factor insurance and wear-and-tear? Just wondering what formed the basis for your cost-analysis. Of course, the convenience factor is hard to put a dollar amount on, I would guess.

turkchgo

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:52:21 -0600

And now that gasoline is back down to $1.43 a gallon they can look for ridership to once again decline. The cost of me driving my car and parking it at work vs. riding the bus is about equal again.

Tower18

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:42:54 -0600

It didn't peak in 1992, it was just that it was last that high in 1992. I believe you can blame continued outmigration in the 90s, as well as IIRC there were large service cuts in 1993.

Sinep

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:22:17 -0600

I'd like to know what economic, demographic, etc.. factors resulted in ridership peaked in 1992?

Navin

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:15:59 -0600

I'll dutifully send in my report once I reach my destination and have internet. It'll be from Western stop to O'hare.

Stealth

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:09:33 -0600

Anybody care to comment on what the Blue Line trip to O'Hare is like these days? I'm flying next Friday and want to give myself enough leeway for any CTA shenanigans. I haven't been out to O'Hare on the cta since spring. They just posted signs on the train and ran an article in the paper touting the new "45 minutes to O'Hare" deal. You are my guinea pig. Let me know how that works...

tecki

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:01:42 -0600

We first visited Chicago in March 2007 to get a look at the city before moving. The ride from O'Hare was slooooooooooowwwwwwww. Terrible. It took 90 minutes to get to Jackson.(Made even worse by the team of out-of-town high schoolers who took over our car with their suitcases and engaged in the usual noisy high-school chatter) But anyway, I had to go to O'Hare back in August (or early September?) and it was much, much faster. From Clinton (blue) to O'Hare in exactly an hour. I can only guess it is faster now.

Navin

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:56:54 -0600

Sweet thanks guys!

matty

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:51:00 -0600

I'm leaving to o'hare in a couple hours. I'll let you know!

matilda

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:50:58 -0600

Navin: I took it last weekend and was amazed at how fast it was compared to my last such trip a few months ago. I did not time it, though, but the train was flying between Jeff Park and Rosemont at least.

Navin

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:45:39 -0600

matty

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:34:55 -0600

I love huberman. I took the 56 milwaukee for years just because it was so much faster than the slow zone plagued blue line but now I can from division to downtown in 15 minutes.