Auburn Park Metra Station

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/transportation/ct-biz-new-metra-station-auburn-gresham-20190930-jsholnkb7jd7vnuzjj46nvr2ri-story.html

https://abc7chicago.com/traffic/auburn-gresham-neighborhood-breaks-ground-on-new-metra-station/5579013/

[andrethebusman]

Replacement for the Auburn Park station at 78th closed early 80s for lack of use. Will Hamilton Park and Englewood be next? History is repeating itself here!

[artthouwill]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the demand for the new station there with the 79th Res Line about 3/4 mile away.

[NewFlyerMCI]

26 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the demand for the new station there with the 79th Res Line about 3/4 mile away.

I mean, Gresham and 95th (Beverly) aren't too far away from their Red Line stations, and I suspect Auburn Park's ridership will be similar as well. It'll certainly be faster ride downtown and it would be my preferred option to get downtown (esp. if this cook county subsidization plans is enacted). Whenever I'm home, I already vastly prefer taking the ME downtown over the 3, 4 or Red/Green lines, esp. since I can just Divvy over to 75th. However, the RI isn't the ME and while I wouldn't have advocated for this from the jump, if they have the numbers and they like them, why not?

[andrethebusman]

There is very much a mindset out there that "Metra is better". In many eyes the L is the province of the hoi polloi, the great unwashed masses, while Metra is where the "better" folks go. The suit and tie crowd doesn't think highly of the CTA

 

[Pace831]

2 hours ago, andrethebusman said:

There is very much a mindset out there that "Metra is better". In many eyes the L is the province of the hoi polloi, the great unwashed masses, while Metra is where the "better" folks go. The suit and tie crowd doesn't think highly of the CTA

 

What relevance does that have to the topic?

[Sam92]

9 hours ago, Pace831 said:

What relevance does that have to the topic?

If you read the topic he's obviously answering the question that arose of why people would think metra needs a station on 79th

[Pace831]

3 hours ago, Sam92 said:

If you read the topic he's obviously answering the question that arose of why people would think metra needs a station on 79th

Way to state the obvious. If that’s actually his assertion (I’ll let @andrethebusman confirm or deny), I fail to see how his “evidence” supports it. And it should be clear that I wouldn’t have asked the question if I hadn’t read the topic.

[artthouwill]

21 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I mean, Gresham and 95th (Beverly) aren't too far away from their Red Line stations, and I suspect Auburn Park's ridership will be similar as well. It'll certainly be faster ride downtown and it would be my preferred option to get downtown (esp. if this cook county subsidization plans is enacted). Whenever I'm home, I already vastly prefer taking the ME downtown over the 3, 4 or Red/Green lines, esp. since I can just Divvy over to 75th. However, the RI isn't the ME and while I wouldn't have advocated for this from the jump, if they have the numbers and they like them, why not?

Gresham is about a mile away from  87th street Red Line station and doesn't seem to be doing great.  However,  95th Beverly is 2 1/4 miles away from 95th Red Line.  With only Brainerd, Gresham, and 35fh as stops, that is a much more attractive option.  By the time rider A takes the bus and gets to the Red Line, rider B that takes Metra is at least at 35th already.  Note that the 95th/Vincennes and 103rd/Vincennes stations don't do great, even as rush hour stops.  Compare that to the Oak Park UP-W station where most rush hour trains STOP there.  UP-W does nearly as well as CTA does at the same stop (Harlem Green Line).  

This also speaks for Mayor Lightfoot's opposition to Preckwinkle's subsidy pilot program as the best outcome for the Auburn station is to steal ridership from CTA.  What Iak Park and Hyde Park have that Auburn doesn't is high density.

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

Gresham is about a mile away from  87th street Red Line station and doesn't seem to be doing great.  However,  95th Beverly is 2 1/4 miles away from 95th Red Line.  With only Brainerd, Gresham, and 35fh as stops, that is a much more attractive option.  By the time rider A takes the bus and gets to the Red Line, rider B that takes Metra is at least at 35th already.  Note that the 95th/Vincennes and 103rd/Vincennes stations don't do great, even as rush hour stops.  Compare that to the Oak Park UP-W station where most rush hour trains STOP there.  UP-W does nearly as well as CTA does at the same stop (Harlem Green Line).  

This also speaks for Mayor Lightfoot's opposition to Preckwinkle's subsidy pilot program as the best outcome for the Auburn station is to steal ridership from CTA.  What Iak Park and Hyde Park have that Auburn doesn't is high density.

The addition of Auburn Park isn't going to hurt the RI for time (and I also suspect that the only trains to stop there are ones that would already stop at Gresham). I see your point however, especially in regards to the subsidy pilot program. I also hadn't considered other CTA/Metra pairs, so thank you for that

[andrethebusman]

Auburn Park got closed down what 30 years ago now for lack of business. Basically it did ok until the Ryan L opened. And let's be real, old Auburn Park station was at best rather creepy, especially if there were only a couple people getting on or off the train. The Ryan L tremendously changed travel patterns on the far south side, including dramatically cutting riding on the IC Electric south of Hyde Park to Kensington. Now the pendulum is swinging back. Instead of the half-dead RI commuter cars straight out of the 20s competing with a brand new L, you have pretty nice commuter cars competing with an L that is getting a pretty bad reputation for petty crime.

[NewFlyerMCI]

9 hours ago, thomas88 said:

It remembers me recent Chicago news about Murphysboro Education Association strike on October 3, which they had to announce, but did it not so much clear for people to hear them, I think. (here is the resource: https://chicagomorningstar.com/murphysboro-education-association-announces-strike-on-october-3). Do you really think they gonna get what they demand?

What are you saying and in what relation to the topic?

[Tcmetro]

Construction contract to be awarded in April 2021, with station completion in December 2022.

Page 15 of the Dec 2020 RTA Project Management Oversight update: https://rtachicago.org/sites/default/files/documents/businessandfinance/Project-Management-Oversight-Dec-2020.pdf

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/metra-puts-new-auburn-park-station-construction-contract-out-bid

[artthouwill]

54 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/metra-puts-new-auburn-park-station-construction-contract-out-bid

Metra must think this will be a heavy use station.  The platform will be long enough to berth six cars.  The one thing i forgot was that's just south of where i think the RI tracks fly over the UP tracks  so the tracks are high.  I remembered this after I read the station would have two elevators between street level and the platform.  One can get a good workout using the stairs.  I'm still not sold on this new station 

[NewFlyerMCI]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Metra must think this will be a heavy use station.  The platform will be long enough to berth six cars.  The one thing i forgot was that's just south of where i think the RI tracks fly over the UP tracks  so the tracks are high.  I remembered this after I read the station would have two elevators between street level and the platform.  One can get a good workout using the stairs.  I'm still not sold on this new station 

The 80-spot parking lot lead me to believe they’re banking on park and ride, like Gresham and Wrightwood, as opposed to walk-up ridership like Ravenswood and Rogers Park. And, it’ll still be a faster ride downtown than you’d get on the Dan or on the Red Line. Ultimately, I do agree that the ridership for this station won’t be there. I say it’ll be more than Peterson-Ridge.

Not sure platform length directly corresponds to how busy it’ll be. 35th has full length platforms and will probably be as or less busy than this new station. But 6 car platforms means less dwell time and less time spent on positioning the train.

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

The 80-spot parking lot lead me to believe they’re banking on park and ride, like Gresham and Wrightwood, as opposed to walk-up ridership like Ravenswood and Rogers Park. And, it’ll still be a faster ride downtown than you’d get on the Dan or on the Red Line. Ultimately, I do agree that the ridership for this station won’t be there. I say it’ll be more than Peterson-Ridge.

Not sure platform length directly corresponds to how busy it’ll be. 35th has full length platforms and will probably be as or less busy than this new station. But 6 car platforms means less dwell time and less time spent on positioning the train.

The full length platform at 35th is primarily intended to handle crowds from GRF after ballgames.   

It would seem to me to be waste building a station for 80 riders a day, although if you split them by 4 rush hour trains, 20 additional passengers per train isn't too bad.  But I think Wrightwood pulls from a bigger area, mostly south and some from the west.  Gresham pulls some from the immediate area, but is also attractive to those coming from i- 57 who either can't park at 95th or 103rd, or choose Gresham for the frequency of trains as both mainline and Beverly branch trains stop there.  The question that i have is which peak direction trains will stop there?  My guess is that all non peak trains will stop at Auburn Park.  Will Beverly trains stop at Gresham and mainline expresses stop at Auburn Park or vice versa?  Or will it vary?

[NewFlyerMCI]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

The full length platform at 35th is primarily intended to handle crowds from GRF after ballgames.   

It would seem to me to be waste building a station for 80 riders a day, although if you split them by 4 rush hour trains, 20 additional passengers per train isn't too bad.  But I think Wrightwood pulls from a bigger area, mostly south and some from the west.  Gresham pulls some from the immediate area, but is also attractive to those coming from i- 57 who either can't park at 95th or 103rd, or choose Gresham for the frequency of trains as both mainline and Beverly branch trains stop there.  The question that i have is which peak direction trains will stop there?  My guess is that all non peak trains will stop at Auburn Park.  Will Beverly trains stop at Gresham and mainline expresses stop at Auburn Park or vice versa?  Or will it vary?

I think you misspelled USCellular ??

I don’t know how much it cost just to build the platform (before shelters or anything), but my guess is that it’s on the lower end of the costs for all the things involved in this station. “If it saves time, might as well” is the logic I believe they’re going on.

Pretty sure no express trains are going to stop at Auburn Park, I’d be surprised if they did. If it’s stopping at Gresham, it’s stopping at AP

[Sam92]

13 hours ago, artthouwill said:

The full length platform at 35th is primarily intended to handle crowds from GRF after ballgames.   

It would seem to me to be waste building a station for 80 riders a day, although if you split them by 4 rush hour trains, 20 additional passengers per train isn't too bad.  But I think Wrightwood pulls from a bigger area, mostly south and some from the west.  Gresham pulls some from the immediate area, but is also attractive to those coming from i- 57 who either can't park at 95th or 103rd, or choose Gresham for the frequency of trains as both mainline and Beverly branch trains stop there.  The question that i have is which peak direction trains will stop there?  My guess is that all non peak trains will stop at Auburn Park.  Will Beverly trains stop at Gresham and mainline expresses stop at Auburn Park or vice versa?  Or will it vary?

I’ve actually lived by Gresham a lot. What happens is Gresham gets a lot of people driving to the station and parking on nearby streets (which caused Permit parking requirements for the people that live there). Also maybe someone pressed for time might eat the extra cost and hop on to save time at least I’d do that. most trains that stop there were Beverly Locals ending at Blue Island/Vermont alternating with Mainline expresses that skipped on the way to Joliet (though 1 or 2 did an odd flag stop but also would skip 103rd or 95th) so auburn would likely follow the same. As far as ridership it’s really gonna boil down to how many people are only ending around the financial district or are willing to deal with a transfer to reach further into downtown or up north vs just riding to the red 

[Sam92]

And as you noted wrightwood is far enough west to be more of the metra alternative if people were to seek metra as a better option. Even the ME would probably see a better pick up considering it’s further from the red line and also reaches much of downtown but I’ll avoid becoming Mike Payne not am I advocating for killing the LSD express as a trade off for it ?

[artthouwill]

9 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I think you misspelled USCellular ??

I don’t know how much it cost just to build the platform (before shelters or anything), but my guess is that it’s on the lower end of the costs for all the things involved in this station. “If it saves time, might as well” is the logic I believe they’re going on.

Pretty sure no express trains are going to stop at Auburn Park, I’d be surprised if they did. If it’s stopping at Gresham, it’s stopping at AP

It's more than just a platform.  Didn't the article mention a glass station house with a landscaped area and a possible Kiss N Ride?  Don't forget the two elevators.  I guess we will see how this turns out.

With this,  Peterson, and ME improvements at 107th, 103rd, Chicago State, 91st, and 86th, Metra is pushing to increase the ridership within the CITY limits, competing with CTA.  Both agencies are having a hard time pulling people away from cars and rideshare services.  This will get interesting.   How high will fuel prices need to go for both agencies and Pace to lure riders back?

[MetroShadow]

On 5/28/2021 at 8:51 AM, artthouwill said:

It's more than just a platform.  Didn't the article mention a glass station house with a landscaped area and a possible Kiss N Ride?  Don't forget the two elevators.  I guess we will see how this turns out.

With this,  Peterson, and ME improvements at 107th, 103rd, Chicago State, 91st, and 86th, Metra is pushing to increase the ridership within the CITY limits, competing with CTA.  Both agencies are having a hard time pulling people away from cars and rideshare services.  This will get interesting.   How high will fuel prices need to go for both agencies and Pace to lure riders back?

The last time gas prices were as high as they were was 2012, and that had a direct correlation of ridership for all three agencies (as well as an insane amount of vanpools).