Random Metra

[TaylorTank1229]

On 7/2/2021 at 9:51 AM, Sam92 said:

I want to say no going off the fact that 63rd the next stop up has one of the lowest riderships in the system  but who knows. 

This was taken today at the old 67th St station on my way to Harvey. They completely re-did the outbound platform, and half of the inbound platform has been take down, likely to place new boarding.

[Policeman]

They could close 63rd but who knows. Or just a new station

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, Policeman said:

They could close 63rd but who knows. Or just a new station

Sounds like a station spacing thing but if there’s nothing on 63rd there’s gonna be even MORE nothing on 67th ??

[artthouwill]

On 7/1/2021 at 9:05 PM, TaylorTank1229 said:

Quick question:

Yesterday when I was coming back from Harvey visiting family, I was on the Metra Electric and going pass the old 67th street station. It definitely looks as if they change the boarding floors for the platform, like it was new. 2 weeks ago when I was heading to South Chicago from downtown they were tearing off the old platform and I figured they were finally tearing the old place down. But now now I gotta ask, are they reconstructing & planning to reopen that station?

Once upon a time,  67th was the transfer platform for early morning and late night trains from the main line to the SC branch.  I don't know if Metra intends to reintroduce that concept.  To reolen the station to 67th street would require the station to be ADA compliant,  while that wouldn't be necessary for a transfer platform. 

I think 63rd station stays in existence for Mt Carmel High School, though the area west of the station is slowly rising.   Until that station is rebuilt, Metra will have a hard time attracting passengers even though Cottage Grove is the closest CTA rail station. 

[Sam92]

27 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Once upon a time,  67th was the transfer platform for early morning and late night trains from the main line to the SC branch.  I don't know if Metra intends to reintroduce that concept.  To reolen the station to 67th street would require the station to be ADA compliant,  while that wouldn't be necessary for a transfer platform. 

I think 63rd station stays in existence for Mt Carmel High School, though the area west of the station is slowly rising.   Until that station is rebuilt, Metra will have a hard time attracting passengers even though Cottage Grove is the closest CTA rail station. 

At that point point they’d still need a frequency boost to compete with the 6 and 28 close by. Ironically the few people I know using the metra pilot are catching trains for the service and using it for the fare reduction to not have to stay in the city in the week when they are working 

[artthouwill]

2 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

At that point point they’d still need a frequency boost to compete with the 6 and 28 close by. Ironically the few people I know using the metra pilot are catching trains for the service and using it for the fare reduction to not have to stay in the city in the week when they are working 

I know CTA said they had a jump in ridership.   I wonder if that will happen with pilot ridership on the ME and RI.  

Because there is no transfer between CTA and Metra,  I think any potential new ridership from 67th or 63rd would have to come from residents immediately around those stations or within walking distance from WEST of those stations where it's more convenient to take ME than the 6 or 28 unless those people are willing to take a bus to transfer to the 6 or 28.  The latter may be a safer option until Metra rebuilds those stations.  I would rather see that than a new Auburn Park RI station 

[NewFlyerMCI]

12 hours ago, Sam92 said:

At that point point they’d still need a frequency boost to compete with the 6 and 28 close by. Ironically the few people I know using the metra pilot are catching trains for the service and using it for the fare reduction to not have to stay in the city in the week when they are working 

 

19 hours ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

This was taken today at the old 67th St station on my way to Harvey. They completely re-did the outbound platform, and half of the inbound platform has been take down, likely to place new boarding.

IMG_3659.MOV

 

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I know CTA said they had a jump in ridership.   I wonder if that will happen with pilot ridership on the ME and RI.  

Because there is no transfer between CTA and Metra,  I think any potential new ridership from 67th or 63rd would have to come from residents immediately around those stations or within walking distance from WEST of those stations where it's more convenient to take ME than the 6 or 28 unless those people are willing to take a bus to transfer to the 6 or 28.  The latter may be a safer option until Metra rebuilds those stations.  I would rather see that than a new Auburn Park RI station 

I thought I posted this the other day, but I never pressed send lol

What's the point in rebuilding the platforms if the street level entrances are still bricked off? I can only imagine this is a place to stage maintenance equipment or something of that nature. I feel like any reopening of the station would have to start with actually opening the entrance

[Sam92]

4 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

 

 

I thought I posted this the other day, but I never pressed send lol

What's the point in rebuilding the platforms if the street level entrances are still bricked off? I can only imagine this is a place to stage maintenance equipment or something of that nature. I feel like any reopening of the station would have to start with actually opening the entrance

I mean wouldn’t be safe to open the entrance till the rest is safe to walk on. Plus neglected concrete stairs need to be redone I’d imagine 

[artthouwill]

51 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

 

 

I thought I posted this the other day, but I never pressed send lol

What's the point in rebuilding the platforms if the street level entrances are still bricked off? I can only imagine this is a place to stage maintenance equipment or something of that nature. I feel like any reopening of the station would have to start with actually opening the entrance

As I stated before,  it's possible Metra could be reinstating a transfer platform at 67th to facilitate transfers between short turn SC trains and mainline trains, especially considering that the sC branches off just south of 67th.  That wouldn't require an ADA rebuild, but now that you mentioned it,  the entrance should be unbricked  for an emergency exit.

111th waste storage platform.  Unlike the other mainline flag stops in the city, that platform was not shortened,  but a partition was built to restrict passenger loading to two cars.  The rest of the platform was for storage.   I suppose with 111th due for a rebuild, it's possible 67th could be a storage platform,  but it would have to be extended.   If the canopies are removed. 63rd could be used too, but I don't think they would use that station 

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/facilities/news/21234939/il-federal-board-resolves-twoyear-dispute-between-metra-and-amtrak-over-union-station-rent

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-amtrak-metra-union-station-rent-20210818-6k7y7hlxlvde5ib2nkxciisvhm-story.html#:~:text=A federal board has upped,Union Station%2C which Amtrak owns.

[Policeman]

Metra train number 8321 (2:40 pm) to 93rd street South Chicago had it's emergency brakes pulled

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-most-stressful-train-stations-and-metros-around-the-world/
 

Apparently Elgin station is the most stressful station in the US (outside of the NYC MTA). The article makes no distinction btwn commuter rail, light rail, heavy rail, etc.

Personally, I can name about 3-5 CTA stations alone that are more stressful imo and even some other Metra stations (despite years of going thru Union Station, trying to orient yourself inside is an exercise in futility every time. Or better yet, trying to find which pedway entrance will take you to Millennium station lol)

[artthouwill]

46 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-most-stressful-train-stations-and-metros-around-the-world/
 

Apparently Elgin station is the most stressful station in the US (outside of the NYC MTA). The article makes no distinction btwn commuter rail, light rail, heavy rail, etc.

Personally, I can name about 3-5 CTA stations alone that are more stressful imo and even some other Metra stations (despite years of going thru Union Station, trying to orient yourself inside is an exercise in futility every time. Or better yet, trying to find which pedway entrance will take you to Millennium station lol)

I can think of several CTA stations more stressful than Elgin.  

The pedals to Millennium station is easy, though Millennium is probably the worst of the downtown Metra stations in my opinion.

What causes stress?  Safety?  Volume of passengers?  Finding the track for your train before it leaves you?  In Union Station,  falling debris and leaky roofs?  Mass crowds leaving trains trying to fit on small escalators and stairways?  Explain to me how Elgin is more stressful than any downtown Metra station?

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

I can think of several CTA stations more stressful than Elgin.  

The pedals to Millennium station is easy, though Millennium is probably the worst of the downtown Metra stations in my opinion.

What causes stress?  Safety?  Volume of passengers?  Finding the track for your train before it leaves you?  In Union Station,  falling debris and leaky roofs?  Mass crowds leaving trains trying to fit on small escalators and stairways?  Explain to me how Elgin is more stressful than any downtown Metra station?

So apparently this was a write-up of another article, but the work was done through a tool that analyzed sentiment and emotion in  google maps reviews. Elgin is sitting at 3.4 w/49 reviews, which I will admit is a lot of reviews for a Metra station. It does seem like Elgin is particularly disliked, I checked all the other terminal stations + Waukegan, Crystal Lake, Rt 59 & Naperville, and all of them are scores of 4 and better with under ~27 reviews. Exceptions to this are Joliet (209 reviews) and Naperville (over ~70), probably b/c of Amtrak and Aurora, which had over 80 reviews as well (I expected that because of the station building, which might be the biggest outside of the 4 downtown ones).

All that said, I still wouldn't put Elgin down as a top stress-causing station, not btwn only Metra stations, any stations in the Chicagoland area or the entire country ?

[strictures]

8 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-most-stressful-train-stations-and-metros-around-the-world/
 

Apparently Elgin station is the most stressful station in the US (outside of the NYC MTA). The article makes no distinction btwn commuter rail, light rail, heavy rail, etc.

Personally, I can name about 3-5 CTA stations alone that are more stressful imo and even some other Metra stations (despite years of going thru Union Station, trying to orient yourself inside is an exercise in futility every time. Or better yet, trying to find which pedway entrance will take you to Millennium station lol)

Clybourn & Rogers Park are dumps.  On the CTA, don't walk up the stairs at 18th, Indiana, Paulina or Cicero/Lake.  They're insanely high due to railroad tracks the L has to cross. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

2 hours ago, strictures said:

Clybourn & Rogers Park are dumps.  On the CTA, don't walk up the stairs at 18th, Indiana, Paulina or Cicero/Lake.  They're insanely high due to railroad tracks the L has to cross. 

Both of those Metra stations aren't bad. At a bare minimum, they're better than almost everything on the ME except SC branch.

Hard agree about those CTA stations. Honorable mention to California Green for making you have to walk up and additional set of stairs to reach the westbound platform (CTA could really use some ventra-accessible reversible turnstiles)

[strictures]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Both of those Metra stations aren't bad. At a bare minimum, they're better than almost everything on the ME except SC branch.

Hard agree about those CTA stations. Honorable mention to California Green for making you have to walk up and additional set of stairs to reach the westbound platform (CTA could really use some ventra-accessible reversible turnstiles)

Several Green Line stations are like that.  Ashland, 43rd, 51st.

[artthouwill]

14 hours ago, strictures said:

Several Green Line stations are like that.  Ashland, 43rd, 51st.

43rd and 51st are not like that.   Rhe station house and fare control us on street level.  There are stairs to each platform  past the turnstiles.   I think Kedzie and Laramie are like that though.  Morgan,  Central Park,  and Pulaski have fare controls on both sides and Cicero  and stations west of Laramie have island platforms.   On the SSM,  all stations south of 35th to Garfield and the Ashland branch have street level station houses and fare controls.  Cottage Grove and King Drive have platform level fare controls on the inbound side only with no outbound access at King Drive. 

Back on topic,  what makes Elgin so stressful?  And, aren't there two stations in Elgin?  Is it Big Timber or National St?

[NewFlyerMCI]

4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

43rd and 51st are not like that.   Rhe station house and fare control us on street level.  There are stairs to each platform  past the turnstiles.   I think Kedzie and Laramie are like that though.  Morgan,  Central Park,  and Pulaski have fare controls on both sides and Cicero  and stations west of Laramie have island platforms.   On the SSM,  all stations south of 35th to Garfield and the Ashland branch have street level station houses and fare controls.  Cottage Grove and King Drive have platform level fare controls on the inbound side only with no outbound access at King Drive. 

Back on topic,  what makes Elgin so stressful?  And, aren't there two stations in Elgin?  Is it Big Timber or National St?

No clue. There are two stations in Elgin, but only the main one (on National St) is referred to as Elgin, Big Timber Rd is referred to by name. Big Timber Rd doesn't have much a much better rating either, but not nearly as many reviews, and of the written ones, they were mostly mundane complaints about the hassle of leaving the parking lot (which happens when you have a mass exodus, short roadway and a light mixed together, something that really isn't Metra's fault).

With Elgin, at least 2 of the big negative reviews aren't actually for the station, but some sort of apartment or house somewhere nearby and they mistakely put their review at the train station. The other complaints seems to be about the train itself (so still wrong place) or about the waiting room and/or platform (which are in the right place). 

That all said, Elgin doesn't seem to be any different from any other Metra station. From personal experience, it's not worse than Waukegan (or better). Same for both Blue Islands, 93rd St-SC & Univ. Park.  It's hard for any end terminal to beat Aurora. But idk what about Elgin that seems to attract such (relative) dislike lol

[artthouwill]

10 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

No clue. There are two stations in Elgin, but only the main one (on National St) is referred to as Elgin, Big Timber Rd is referred to by name. Big Timber Rd doesn't have much a much better rating either, but not nearly as many reviews, and of the written ones, they were mostly mundane complaints about the hassle of leaving the parking lot (which happens when you have a mass exodus, short roadway and a light mixed together, something that really isn't Metra's fault).

With Elgin, at least 2 of the big negative reviews aren't actually for the station, but some sort of apartment or house somewhere nearby and they mistakely put their review at the train station. The other complaints seems to be about the train itself (so still wrong place) or about the waiting room and/or platform (which are in the right place). 

That all said, Elgin doesn't seem to be any different from any other Metra station. From personal experience, it's not worse than Waukegan (or better). Same for both Blue Islands, 93rd St-SC & Univ. Park.  It's hard for any end terminal to beat Aurora. But idk what about Elgin that seems to attract such (relative) dislike lol

Aurora has a big station house which also has a Greyhound ticket agent and i think it is a Welcome Center.     Maybe Joliet Union Station comes close but I haven't been there since its been opened at the new location. 

[Smolensk]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Aurora has a big station house which also has a Greyhound ticket agent and i think it is a Welcome Center.     Maybe Joliet Union Station comes close but I haven't been there since its been opened at the new location. 

Greyhound discontinued service to Aurora in 2011. 

In 2015, they established a bus stop at the Rt 59 Metra station.  They run a federally subsidized small bus service to several Western Illinois towns and Davenport from there.  It is just a bus stop, no agents or waiting room.  Burlington Trailways still has a bus stop in the parking lot of the main Naperville station.  Greyhound does list BTW buses as connecting service on its web site, so you will see Naperville if you look at the Greyhound web site.

People are surprised to hear that Greyhound also discontinued service to many other suburban points including Skokie and Rockford.  (BTW still serves Rockford.)

 

NIU Greyhound Connect service adds Naperville/Aurora Metra stop

 

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, Smolensk said:

Greyhound discontinued service to Aurora in 2011. 

In 2015, they established a bus stop at the Rt 59 Metra station.  They run a federally subsidized small bus service to several Western Illinois towns and Davenport from there.  It is just a bus stop, no agents or waiting room.  Burlington Trailways still has a bus stop in the parking lot of the main Naperville station.  Greyhound does list BTW buses as connecting service on its web site, so you will see Naperville if you look at the Greyhound web site.

People are surprised to hear that Greyhound also discontinued service to many other suburban points including Skokie and Rockford.  (BTW still serves Rockford.)

 

NIU Greyhound Connect service adds Naperville/Aurora Metra stop

 

Times have truly changed.   I remember when the Greyhound stop was in North Aurora before it moved to the Aurora train station.  I hadn't paid attention that Greyhound had stopped using that station, though I know about the Connect service.  Greyhound used to have a downtown Dekalb station, but moved the stop to zHSC on the NIU campus.  I remember when they introduced the 24 pax vehicles on the route too.

Naperville makes sense.  

[Smolensk]

On 8/27/2021 at 7:07 PM, Smolensk said:

People are surprised to hear that Greyhound also discontinued service to many other suburban points including Skokie and Rockford.  (BTW still serves Rockford.

 

A correction:  Greyhound Connect now serves Rockford and Elgin, effective Sept 2019.   Burlington Trailways has discontinued service to Rockford as of June 2020.

 

https://burlingtontrailways.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Discontinued-Service-Freeport-Galena-Rockford-and-Stockton-IL.pdf

 

https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Greyhound-Connect-Line-takes-travelers-through-the-Heart-of-Illinois-559972271.html?jwsource=cl

[artthouwill]

On 8/28/2021 at 11:08 PM, Smolensk said:

A correction:  Greyhound Connect now serves Rockford and Elgin, effective Sept 2019.   Burlington Trailways has discontinued service to Rockford as of June 2020.

 

https://burlingtontrailways.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Discontinued-Service-Freeport-Galena-Rockford-and-Stockton-IL.pdf

 

https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Greyhound-Connect-Line-takes-travelers-through-the-Heart-of-Illinois-559972271.html?jwsource=cl

So if i understand the Greyhound Connect in your post, the route goes from Chicago  to Elgin, then Rockford. From Rockford it goes to Rochelle  then Bloomington.  I suppose there are connections to be made in Rockford,  Rochelle,  and Bloomington. 

Van Galder (Coach USA) has the O'Hare- Rockford-Janesville - Madison route on lock.   It appears Burlington Trailways gave up these cities although I believe they weren't all on one route since their service seems to be geared towards Iowa.

If my route is correct,  I don't understand it.  I thought Bloomington was served by Greyhound buses heading to St Louis from Chicago.  Greyhound service to Iowa goes through Dekalb to Rochelle.   The presser seems to make the Conbect service a single route and it may not be.

[Smolensk]

15 hours ago, artthouwill said:

If my route is correct,  I don't understand it.  I thought Bloomington was served by Greyhound buses heading to St Louis from Chicago.  Greyhound service to Iowa goes through Dekalb to Rochelle.   The presser seems to make the Conbect service a single route and it may not be.

According to the Greyhound system timetable, there is one bus a day in each direction that serves Rockford.

 

Bus 4563:

Chicago 6:45 am

Elgin 7:35

Rockford 8:35

Rochelle 9:05

Oglesby 10:15

Bloomington Normal 11:25

Champaign 12:20

Danville Tramsit 1:40 pm

 

Bus 4562:

Danville Transit 11:40 am

Champaign 12:20 (Note:  North and Southbound buses arrive at the same time)

Bloomington Normal 1:30

Oglesby 2:40

Rochelle 3:35

Rockford 4:05

Elgin 5:05

Chicago 6:25 pm