juelzkellz Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 I always wondered why there is no stop on the Pink Line at Madison for United Center events. When I go to and leave events at the UC, it just seems silly to unload off of and wait for packed buses when a near empty Pink Line train just rolls on by less than a block away. Also from a daily operations perspective, the Madison Pink Line station could take sizable number of riders off the #20 west of the Pink Line and free up capacity east of the Pink Line on the #20 for the growing West Loop area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 The impression I got was that that section was rebuilt on the cheap, i.e. Kruesi said that somehow $30 million was left over from the job parallel to 21st. Then putting the Pink Line on it was an afterthought. Hence, nobody put 1+1 together to figure out maybe to apply for $40 million to build it, even though it has been bantered about (compared to the cost of the Morgan station, see here; maybe Wirtz/Reinsdorf interests have already sucked up the TIF money?). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juelzkellz Posted November 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 The impression I got was that that section was rebuilt on the cheap, i.e. Kruesi said that somehow $30 million was left over from the job parallel to 21st. Then putting the Pink Line on it was an afterthought. Hence, nobody put 1+1 together to figure out maybe to apply for $40 million to build it, even though it has been bantered about (compared to the cost of the Morgan station, see here; maybe Wirtz/Reinsdorf interests have already sucked up the TIF money?).Ahh, classic CTA mismanagement. So let's not build a station that will draw 20,000+ riders a few days out of every week for a station that's a block and half/two blocks from an existing station that more or less serves the same purpose. That's genius! (sarcasm and the new Cermak station on the Green Line is what I'm referring to.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Ahh, classic CTA mismanagement. So let's not build a station that will draw 20,000+ riders a few days out of every week for a station that's a block and half/two blocks from an existing station that more or less serves the same purpose. That's genius! (sarcasm and the new Cermak station on the Green Line is what I'm referring to.)Which again raises the TIF money issue, as CTA didn't build that, CDOT did. Your comparison raises the issue that Madison was not on the King of Id's priority list, while Cermak was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juelzkellz Posted November 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 People just check the plans for improvement, like the Circle Line, http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/planning/Circle_Line_-_Screen_3_Presentation_9-29-09.pdfand you could see that the CTA and the city have no thoughts to build a station at Madison, today, tomorrow, or at any time.Which, You'd have to admit is pretty shortsighted. But hey, I'm not running the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I always wondered why there is no stop on the Pink Line at Madison for United Center events. When I go to and leave events at the UC, it just seems silly to unload off of and wait for packed buses when a near empty Pink Line train just rolls on by less than a block away. Also from a daily operations perspective, the Madison Pink Line station could take sizable number of riders off the #20 west of the Pink Line and free up capacity east of the Pink Line on the #20 for the growing West Loop area. Now that the Advocate Center (Bulls training facility) has been built and put to use, any dream of a Madison Pink Line is gone. I don't see them eliminating any parking lots to build a station between Madison and Warren. I suppose if you consider 41 Bulls home games, 41 Blackhawk home games, the circus, McDonald's All American game, and Disney on Ice, the sum of those only come up to events being at the UC 1/3 of the year. Concerts don't add many more dates, so perhaps the thinking is the cost is not justified . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 The United Center neighborhood, albeit small, does not have access to rapid transit, despite having the Green and Pink lines run through it. Lake/Damen or Lake/Western would also be good be benefits to the neighborhood. The walk from United Center to Illinois Medical District Blue Line isn't all that egregious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Now that the Advocate Center (Bulls training facility) has been built and put to use, any dream of a Madison Pink Line is gone. I don't see them eliminating any parking lots to build a station between Madison and Warren. I suppose if you consider 41 Bulls home games, 41 Blackhawk home games, the circus, McDonald's All American game, and Disney on Ice, the sum of those only come up to events being at the UC 1/3 of the year. Concerts don't add many more dates, so perhaps the thinking is the cost is not justified . Basically, though, it depends how far the footprint would have to extend away from under the L. If you are talking about parking under the L, that's CTA property, not Wirtz's.The United Center neighborhood, albeit small, does not have access to rapid transit, despite having the Green and Pink lines run through it. Lake/Damen or Lake/Western would also be good be benefits to the neighborhood. The walk from United Center to Illinois Medical District Blue Line isn't all that egregious. Supposedly Ashland/Lake serves that neighborhood. The question is whether the United Center audience would use the L compared to the 19 bus, and as art implies, the 19 bus over driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThirdRailVision Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 There used to be a Madison station, used by the Metropolitan West Side L from 1895 to February 1951. Then it was a hot dog station until the 90's. http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/madison-paulina.htmlHere's an interesting article published last year, addressing a similar opinion as Juelzkellz:http://chi.streetsblog.org/2014/04/22/training-for-the-big-game-why-is-there-no-l-stop-at-the-united-center/ Notice, it mentions the idea of a Green Line Station at Damen/Lake-- a "seven minute walk" to the entrance of the UC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 ...Notice, it mentions the idea of a Green Line Station at Damen/Lake-- a "seven minute walk" to the entrance of the UC. As I implied above, unless the neighborhood has really improved, I don't think the average UC patron wants to make that 7 minute walk. As usual, Streetsblog quotes someone who has no clue where a source of the money (and they say how much money Morgan cost) is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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