Random Metra

[Tcmetro]

Ravenswood was the third busiest non-downtown Metra station (after Route 59 and Naperville) in 2018, so I imagine Peterson-Ridge will be quite successful. Rogers Park was the 26th busiest station, which is still above average for Metra. 

For high-paid downtown workers, the direct access to the West Loop outweighs the fare difference. The Brown/Purple Line is a roughly 30-35 minute ride to Wells St, while Metra is only 15-20 mins.

[strictures]

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I had the same thought about ridership when I first saw the station location. The cemetery alone would mean the surrounding area would need to be way more dense in exchange and it's simply not. The allure for Rodgers Park & Ravenswood is the walkability. In additions, Ravenswood has a lot of mixed-use zoned areas, while alternative transit options in Rogers Park is a 290 headed away from downtown and the infrequent 96 to the Red Line, all of which makes the Metra stations more attractive. None of that is there for Peterson/Ridge. Hell, idk if 81 to Metra transfers are a thing now, but I bet if they aren't, that dynamic won't be matched nearly as much with a 84 to Metra.

I will say that it's possible Peterson/Ridge is only served weekdays, or only weekday peak. I'm not sure the price tag justifies that though. I'll wait to see if it'll do better than Auburn Park (which, between the two stops, is the one I wouldn't have picked to be built).

I will also add, that the C&NW closed two stations near there around 1960, when the C&NW closed dozens of stations on all three lines in the city & a few in the nearby suburbs, such as Dempster in Evanston.  The first was Kenmore, which was at Ridge & the second was Rosehill, which was at the cemetery entrance.  Kenmore was just a rickety old wooden platform, but Rosehill was an architectural  masterpiece, designed by WW Boyington, [the architect of the Water Tower], which the C&NW destroyed in the early 1970s, along with the Rogers Park Station House, which was similar to the Main Street station house.  All that remains are the stairs on the west side of the embankment & a small building also on the west side, which I have no real idea what it is, but may be the old elevator for coffins.  Where the Rosehill station house was, is now a garden planted by the local residents.

[NewFlyerMCI]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

If o were a betting man  my money would be on Peterson   if only because it would have a direct link to the West Loop area  which Red Line service doesn't unless you transfer to the Brown Line.   Even with reduced fares.the RI only goes to LaSalle and VA Buren. That may only attract a small group of people.   Unless there is a reverse commuter market  which i doubt, i don't see Auburn Park being successful.   Also consider the Edgewater area demographic may more likely pay a Metra fare than Auburn Park paying a CTA fare for infrequent setvice.

I had the same thoughts. This also brings up the point that LaSalle street station would be so much better utilized with a direct pedestrian connection to the Blue Line. Or maybe a 125-like service to LSS. Something more than what's there now. I used to think OTC was the worst placed terminus for years, but I see its LSS.

[NewFlyerMCI]

3 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

Ravenswood was the third busiest non-downtown Metra station (after Route 59 and Naperville) in 2018, so I imagine Peterson-Ridge will be quite successful. Rogers Park was the 26th busiest station, which is still above average for Metra. 

For high-paid downtown workers, the direct access to the West Loop outweighs the fare difference. The Brown/Purple Line is a roughly 30-35 minute ride to Wells St, while Metra is only 15-20 mins.

And Rodgers Park was #26 (with a difference of about ~600 passengers). However, the area around Peterson/Ridge isn't nearly as dense and walkable as it is around Ravenswood (or even Rodgers Park) and a huge swath of land has no housing at all. I'll be surprised if the station even gets over 500 weekday boardings, adjusting for the pandemic.

[strictures]

4 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I had the same thoughts. This also brings up the point that LaSalle street station would be so much better utilized with a direct pedestrian connection to the Blue Line. Or maybe a 125-like service to LSS. Something more than what's there now. I used to think OTC was the worst placed terminus for years, but I see its LSS.

LaSalle Station once had a direct connection to the Loop L.

[strictures]

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

And Rodgers Park was #26 (with a difference of about ~600 passengers). However, the area around Peterson/Ridge isn't nearly as dense and walkable as it is around Ravenswood (or even Rodgers Park) and a huge swath of land has no housing at all. I'll be surprised if the station even gets over 500 weekday boardings, adjusting for the pandemic.

1. No 'd' in Rogers Park.

2.  I doubt if there will be 500 boardings a week at Peterson.  The sole bus is the every 20 minutes 84 Peterson bus & prior to the pandemic, it could be extremely overcrowded.  Rogers Park has the every 20 minutes 96 bus, but also the every 10-12 minutes 22 bus is just a block away & is how I usually get to & from the station, instead of a 20 minute walk.

[MetroShadow]

35 minutes ago, strictures said:

1. No 'd' in Rogers Park.

2.  I doubt if there will be 500 boardings a week at Peterson.  The sole bus is the every 20 minutes 84 Peterson bus & prior to the pandemic, it could be extremely overcrowded.  Rogers Park has the every 20 minutes 96 bus, but also the every 10-12 minutes 22 bus is just a block away & is how I usually get to & from the station, instead of a 20 minute walk.

If folks are willing to walk the for blocks at Clark (or the whole mile from Bryn Mawr), I wouldn't rule it out. The boardings won't be as much as Ravenswood, but it should even things out.

[strictures]

13 hours ago, MetroShadow said:

If folks are willing to walk the for blocks at Clark (or the whole mile from Bryn Mawr), I wouldn't rule it out. The boardings won't be as much as Ravenswood, but it should even things out.

It's not "blocks" at Lunt & Clark to the Metra station, it is one very short block, not even the 300' length of a football field.  Clark is a quarter mile [1320'] from Ravenswood Ave., where the tracks are.  Bryn Mawr/Clark is about 1600' from Ravenswood, except there never was a station at Bryn Mawr/Ravenswood.

[MetroShadow]

On 5/4/2021 at 11:26 AM, strictures said:

It's not "blocks" at Lunt & Clark to the Metra station, it is one very short block, not even the 300' length of a football field.  Clark is a quarter mile [1320'] from Ravenswood Ave., where the tracks are.  Bryn Mawr/Clark is about 1600' from Ravenswood, except there never was a station at Bryn Mawr/Ravenswood.

You've misread the first half of the statement. Rogers Park is really close to Clark, less so with Peterson/Bryn Mawr. I only mentioned the new station in this case. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

Took a look at the ridership stats for Metra now that I see the December 2020 data has been released. Some general observations:

• The busy lines were still busy (as much as they could be). Top 5 were still the BNSF, UPNW, UPN, ME & RI.
• In Dec 2020, the BNSF, UPNW & UPN were the only lines to crack 70k+ riders. NCS & HC didn't make it over 5k and SWS just made it over 10k
• By contrast, in Dec 2019, the BNSF had 1m+ riders and all the UP lines had more than 600k+ riders.
• Obviously, there was a steep reduction in ridership from 2019 to 2020
  • BNSF had a 93% decline
  • UPNW had a 90% decline
  • UPN & RI had 89% decline
  • ME had a 87% decline
  • UPW & MDW had a 91% decline
  • MDN & SWS had a 93% decline
  • NCS had a 97% decline
  • HC had a 95% decline
• In Dec 2019, A-E was the most popular trip, with over 1m riders. Zone E has some of the busiest stations in the system, with Downers Grove (Main St), Lisle, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, 80th Ave (Tinley Park), Arlington Heights & Arlington Park. Their concetration in Zone E is what helps it be #1, as none of these stations have monthly ridership over ~2.5k vs Rt 59 (G) and Naperville (F) having over ~4k passengers, but being the only busy stations in their zones (Palatine & Schaumberg as well in F, and Barrington in G, but these stations all have ~1k ridership)
• Next busiest trips were A-D, then A-C.
• In Dec 2020, A-E, A-D & A-C were still the busiest trips in that order, but whereas in 2019 there was about a ~150k difference btwn each one, it's shrunk to about ~3k between each one (between ~52k to ~58k for each category)
• In both years, there were more AA trips than AJ trips. Considering that 5 (VB, 11th, 18th, McC, 27th) of the 11 (35th, Halsted, Western, Western Ave, Kedzie & Clybourn) non-terminal stations located in zone A are on the ME, I'm wondering if they account for the bulk of that ridership. Ironically, having made that observation, 18th & 27th are among some of the least busiest stations in the system.
• There were ~158k trips listed as intermediate in Dec 2019, down to ~16k in Dec 2020. I wonder where the bulk of these trips are going. My guess is that the majority of these trips are on the UPN & ME lines, as they hit dense urban centers before they reach the loop (downtown Evanston & downtown Hyde Park respectively). I'm also curious to see how many, if any, Metra/CTA transfers listed as intermediate (such as UPNW riders to Blue at Jeff Pk, UPN riders to Purple in Evanston or UPW riders to Green at Oak Park. Maybe even RI riders to Red at 35th?)

[artthouwill]

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Took a look at the ridership stats for Metra now that I see the December 2020 data has been released. Some general observations:

• The busy lines were still busy (as much as they could be). Top 5 were still the BNSF, UPNW, UPN, ME & RI.
• In Dec 2020, the BNSF, UPNW & UPN were the only lines to crack 70k+ riders. NCS & HC didn't make it over 5k and SWS just made it over 10k
• By contrast, in Dec 2019, the BNSF had 1m+ riders and all the UP lines had more than 600k+ riders.
• Obviously, there was a steep reduction in ridership from 2019 to 2020
  • BNSF had a 93% decline
  • UPNW had a 90% decline
  • UPN & RI had 89% decline
  • ME had a 87% decline
  • UPW & MDW had a 91% decline
  • MDN & SWS had a 93% decline
  • NCS had a 97% decline
  • HC had a 95% decline
• In Dec 2019, A-E was the most popular trip, with over 1m riders. Zone E has some of the busiest stations in the system, with Downers Grove (Main St), Lisle, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, 80th Ave (Tinley Park), Arlington Heights & Arlington Park. Their concetration in Zone E is what helps it be #1, as none of these stations have monthly ridership over ~2.5k vs Rt 59 (G) and Naperville (F) having over ~4k passengers, but being the only busy stations in their zones (Palatine & Schaumberg as well in F, and Barrington in G, but these stations all have ~1k ridership)
• Next busiest trips were A-D, then A-C.
• In Dec 2020, A-E, A-D & A-C were still the busiest trips in that order, but whereas in 2019 there was about a ~150k difference btwn each one, it's shrunk to about ~3k between each one (between ~52k to ~58k for each category)
• In both years, there were more AA trips than AJ trips. Considering that 5 (VB, 11th, 18th, McC, 27th) of the 11 (35th, Halsted, Western, Western Ave, Kedzie & Clybourn) non-terminal stations located in zone A are on the ME, I'm wondering if they account for the bulk of that ridership. Ironically, having made that observation, 18th & 27th are among some of the least busiest stations in the system.
• There were ~158k trips listed as intermediate in Dec 2019, down to ~16k in Dec 2020. I wonder where the bulk of these trips are going. My guess is that the majority of these trips are on the UPN & ME lines, as they hit dense urban centers before they reach the loop (downtown Evanston & downtown Hyde Park respectively). I'm also curious to see how many, if any, Metra/CTA transfers listed as intermediate (such as UPNW riders to Blue at Jeff Pk, UPN riders to Purple in Evanston or UPW riders to Green at Oak Park. Maybe even RI riders to Red at 35th?)

My experience has been CTA Zto Metra transfers are usually customers not originating downtown transferring at Harlem to UPW outbound.or Jefferson Park ro UPN outbound.

What I'm curious about is the Cook County pilot program that reduced Metra fares on the ME and RI.  WEknow its early, but what effect, if any, will this have on ridership on those lines?  We know pre-pandemic an increase in service was to accompany the fare reduction,  but the pandemic put the brakes on that.  I guess CTA and Pace ridership in those areas have to be studied as well, with the County pledging to make up any shortfalls as a result of the pilot.

[NewFlyerMCI]

47 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

My experience has been CTA Zto Metra transfers are usually customers not originating downtown transferring at Harlem to UPW outbound.or Jefferson Park ro UPN outbound.

What I'm curious about is the Cook County pilot program that reduced Metra fares on the ME and RI.  WEknow its early, but what effect, if any, will this have on ridership on those lines?  We know pre-pandemic an increase in service was to accompany the fare reduction,  but the pandemic put the brakes on that.  I guess CTA and Pace ridership in those areas have to be studied as well, with the County pledging to make up any shortfalls as a result of the pilot.

I imagine ridership difference will be negliable until late 2021/early 2022 and by then there will only be a year left on the pilot. The ME has its expanded service now, but the RI doesn't. I do wonder why only the 352 was selected to receive a schedule boost. 349, 381 and 364 are all busy routes as well.

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I imagine ridership difference will be negliable until late 2021/early 2022 and by then there will only be a year left on the pilot. The ME has its expanded service now, but the RI doesn't. I do wonder why only the 352 was selected to receive a schedule boost. 349, 381 and 364 are all busy routes as well.

Besides limited resources   the Chicago Heights area was undeserved with the 352 being the only direct access to the city.  If the 349 was really busy, CTA could reinstate the 49A that it eliminated.   The same could be true with extending all 95 trips to 87th and Damen.  I don't know if it still does, but the 364 used to interline with the 350 at the Hammond Transit Center.    The 364 is a long route compared to the 350, but it does connect with the 352 and the ME.  I'm not sure which end of the route is busier  but with a finite number of CNG buses and additional resources going to the 352, unless SW an help out. I think nothing will happen. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

Besides limited resources   the Chicago Heights area was undeserved with the 352 being the only direct access to the city.  If the 349 was really busy, CTA could reinstate the 49A that it eliminated.   The same could be true with extending all 95 trips to 87th and Damen.  I don't know if it still does, but the 364 used to interline with the 350 at the Hammond Transit Center.    The 364 is a long route compared to the 350, but it does connect with the 352 and the ME.  I'm not sure which end of the route is busier  but with a finite number of CNG buses and additional resources going to the 352, unless SW an help out. I think nothing will happen. 

• Unless I missed something, all 95 trips currently end at 87th/Damen.
• The 364 interlining with the 350 seems weird. With the 352 & 352 being the only routes to run through Harvey TC, I feel like it would've made more sense to interline with something else, like the 358 or 356. I can't currently see anything like that in the timetable though, and I don't think that would've worked weekends, as a lot of Saturday trips end at river oaks and all weekend trips end at Hegewisch
  • Also based on the schedule, I can't visibly tell which half of the route is busier, no trips short end. I'm inclined to say it's the eastern half, since it's more dense
  • As it stands, while the 364 is consistently in the Pace top 10, it is still nowhere as busy as the 352, and seeing how it only runs hourly on Sundays, I can't accurately say it needs more assistance without public corroboration or data. I guess the FTSC addressed everything.

[artthouwill]

36 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

• Unless I missed something, all 95 trips currently end at 87th/Damen.
• The 364 interlining with the 350 seems weird. With the 352 & 352 being the only routes to run through Harvey TC, I feel like it would've made more sense to interline with something else, like the 358 or 356. I can't currently see anything like that in the timetable though, and I don't think that would've worked weekends, as a lot of Saturday trips end at river oaks and all weekend trips end at Hegewisch
  • Also based on the schedule, I can't visibly tell which half of the route is busier, no trips short end. I'm inclined to say it's the eastern half, since it's more dense
  • As it stands, while the 364 is consistently in the Pace top 10, it is still nowhere as busy as the 352, and seeing how it only runs hourly on Sundays, I can't accurately say it needs more assistance without public corroboration or data. I guess the FTSC addressed everything.

Maybe I'm out of touch.  I thought when the 85 became one route, the idea was every other trip would go all the way to 87th and Damen with the 381covering the times when the 95 short turned at the Red Line.   The reasoning was that the route east of the Red Line was heavier and the Western portion had the 381 and 112 with supplemental service.  Maybe all trips do go through  now.

The 364 and 350 used to interline Monday through Friday only.  The idea was to run a short route after a long one and vice versa

  Even though the 350 is short.it was a busy route  plus it was easy to do driver reliefs in Harvey.   I wasn't sure if they still had the interline. But maybe nowadays it wouldn't make sense.  

The 352 is the route least likely to have transfers to ME  OR Less transfers than the other routes that serve Harvey TC.  But I think the 352 is the main beneficiary of Harvey TC transfers.  With the lower fares, ME is still more expensive but much more competitive.

 

[NewFlyerMCI]

2 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Maybe I'm out of touch.  I thought when the 85 became one route, the idea was every other trip would go all the way to 87th and Damen with the 381covering the times when the 95 short turned at the Red Line.   The reasoning was that the route east of the Red Line was heavier and the Western portion had the 381 and 112 with supplemental service.  Maybe all trips do go through  now.

You weren't the only one that thought that on the forum. The 95 combination brought a lot of weird changes (such as 381 no longer making limited stops from Western to the Red Line). But yes, all 95 trips (except the morning runs that start at 95th/Stony) run the full length of the route.

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

You weren't the only one that thought that on the forum. The 95 combination brought a lot of weird changes (such as 381 no longer making limited stops from Western to the Red Line). But yes, all 95 trips (except the morning runs that start at 95th/Stony) run the full length of the route.

 

8 hours ago, artthouwill said:

My experience has been CTA Zto Metra transfers are usually customers not originating downtown transferring at Harlem to UPW outbound.or Jefferson Park ro UPN outbound.

What I'm curious about is the Cook County pilot program that reduced Metra fares on the ME and RI.  WEknow its early, but what effect, if any, will this have on ridership on those lines?  We know pre-pandemic an increase in service was to accompany the fare reduction,  but the pandemic put the brakes on that.  I guess CTA and Pace ridership in those areas have to be studied as well, with the County pledging to make up any shortfalls as a result of the pilot.

95 was always damen to Buffalo full time from start. The assumption that half trips would end at the red line was bought up by busjacks repeated argument of coordination to ideas of combining before it actually happened. These are 2 distinct markets one suburban and one in the city part of 95th. Anyone riding the 381 from the city is mainly riding for the college or Chicago ridge 95 handles everything else because of the new one seat ride. As far as RI ridership increasing from the pilot I doubt it unless they use the rush hour routing more. Using the Beverly branch means you’re relying heavily on ridership west of roughly ashland to feed the branch and even then it’s not so attractive seeing as you’re promoting a line most likely won’t run on a competitive not supplemental frequency to the red line south and just doesn’t really connect to anything downtown and necessitates a transfer to reach a lot of areas downtown. 

[Sam92]

ME stands more of a chance because it reaches grant park and people would be willing to deal more with a transfer to/from magnificent mile to finish the trip.. east side is a bit denser so the main branch could help catch a few red line riders from the East possibly and might even give more of a reason to push for an 83rd street route to feed into the two ME 83rd stations or as someone else suggested, route the north end of the 30 onto 83rd. 

[MetroShadow]

On 5/13/2021 at 1:47 PM, NewFlyerMCI said:

I imagine ridership difference will be negliable until late 2021/early 2022 and by then there will only be a year left on the pilot. The ME has its expanded service now, but the RI doesn't. I do wonder why only the 352 was selected to receive a schedule boost. 349, 381 and 364 are all busy routes as well.

The 352 is still the busiest route in the Pace system and connects to 95th. The frequencies just got a bump so it's attractive for those who don't or can't use Metra to get to the Red Line.

And where the essential employees use it, the objective was to get them from CHT and Harvey to the Red Line.

[NewFlyerMCI]

Does Metra have plans to introduce fare payment via Ventra card to the system? With SEPTA's Key rollout on their Regional Rail, and plans for OMNY to be completed on the LIRR & MNR by 2023, and CalTrain accepting the Clipper Card, Metra should be next in line. Because of the fragmentation of the system, I imagine it would be easier than elsewhere to rollout as well, as self-contained pilots can start on the ME, the RI or the UP lines, since their downtown terminals are served exclusively by metra trains and faregates could easily be placed. Would also make for easier integration from Metra to CTA/Pace, especially for when the pre-pandemic ridership starts to return

[MetroShadow]

23 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Does Metra have plans to introduce fare payment via Ventra card to the system? With SEPTA's Key rollout on their Regional Rail, and plans for OMNY to be completed on the LIRR & MNR by 2023, and CalTrain accepting the Clipper Card, Metra should be next in line. Because of the fragmentation of the system, I imagine it would be easier than elsewhere to rollout as well, as self-contained pilots can start on the ME, the RI or the UP lines, since their downtown terminals are served exclusively by metra trains and faregates could easily be placed. Would also make for easier integration from Metra to CTA/Pace, especially for when the pre-pandemic ridership starts to return

Could someone refresh my memory as to when the old ME turnstiles were gone? I remembered they were around until the early 2000s...

I could see Metra do a tap-on/tap-off function like GO or Caltrain, just need 5-600 readers. 

[Smolensk]

49 minutes ago, MetroShadow said:

Could someone refresh my memory as to when the old ME turnstiles were gone? I remembered they were around until the early 2000s...

 

Nov 18, 2003.

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, MetroShadow said:

Could someone refresh my memory as to when the old ME turnstiles were gone? I remembered they were around until the early 2000s...

I could see Metra do a tap-on/tap-off function like GO or Caltrain, just need 5-600 readers. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-11-19-0311190405-story.html#:~:text=The turnstiles%2C which do not,of mechanisms prone to jamming.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,648549

This led me to doing my own research, because the first year I took the ME was sometime between 2010-2013, I had no clue faregates even existed in the stations. If you want some laughs, that trainorders forum discussion was absolutely ridiculous. Especially the posts by user "galenadiv"

[Sam92]

On 5/18/2021 at 8:47 PM, NewFlyerMCI said:

Does Metra have plans to introduce fare payment via Ventra card to the system? With SEPTA's Key rollout on their Regional Rail, and plans for OMNY to be completed on the LIRR & MNR by 2023, and CalTrain accepting the Clipper Card, Metra should be next in line. Because of the fragmentation of the system, I imagine it would be easier than elsewhere to rollout as well, as self-contained pilots can start on the ME, the RI or the UP lines, since their downtown terminals are served exclusively by metra trains and faregates could easily be placed. Would also make for easier integration from Metra to CTA/Pace, especially for when the pre-pandemic ridership starts to return

 

2 hours ago, MetroShadow said:

Could someone refresh my memory as to when the old ME turnstiles were gone? I remembered they were around until the early 2000s...

I could see Metra do a tap-on/tap-off function like GO or Caltrain, just need 5-600 readers. 

Wasn’t the ventra app supposed to help? Maybe if you gave conductors a special code to charge you as a cta/metra type ride for integration purposes it could help (similar to the special code self check out has when we need help by a store worker?) integration might be real critical to help metra survive because depending on how many office workers come back downtown their main market (commuters) might very well be toast. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

 

Wasn’t the ventra app supposed to help? Maybe if you gave conductors a special code to charge you as a cta/metra type ride for integration purposes it could help (similar to the special code self check out has when we need help by a store worker?) integration might be real critical to help metra survive because depending on how many office workers come back downtown their main market (commuters) might very well be toast. 

Well, it's half a step. You can purchase tickets and passes on your phone now, and present them to the conductor as POP, but this doesn't really integrate the system. Since the Ventra readers can accept contactless payment (apple wallet, modern bank cards, whatever android uses, the actual ventra cards themselves, etc), Metra stations and conductors would also need to be outfitted with Ventra readers in order to truly integrate the system.

However, this would end up like where SEPTA is now, with their Key system, where one wallet can pay for all trips, be it subway, bus, trolley or commuter rail, but transfers to/from commuter rail are basically still non-existent, despite all modes being able to be paid for with one card. Relating to Philly, specifically, I believe this wasn't a big focus because bus to train connections for the regional rail aren't big in the suburbs, since most passengers are walk-up or park & ride, but also because the three downtown stops for the regional rail allow the majority of ridership to walk to their jobs, unlike New York, where MNR riders are packing on the 4/5/6 to reach Lower Manhattan, or DC, where Amtrak/VRE/MARC riders consistently made Union Station on the Red Line the busiest station in the WMATA system for years before the pandemic (MARC even has a combo monthly pass/smartrip card) because Union Station is located downtown adjacent or even Chicago, where some people might be able to walk, but routes like the 125 exist for valid reasons.

So in order for something like this to work, you'd have to transform Ventra from the card and the app, to making them effectively one and the same thing, if that makes sense? You would be able to use your Ventra card, but from your phone if you wanted to, while still retaining the ability to pay for tickets, passes, or add value to the card from the app. You'd still be able to use the card as a valid form of fare media (hence the scanners conductors would have). You would also have to provide incentives to encourage transfers. There's already a CTA/Pace pass, so why not CTA/Metra, Metra/Pace or an all-systems pass. Free transfers from Metra to CTA/Pace even? Zone passes could come with free CTA or free Pace included depending on the zone? Things of that nature are possible with full integration.