Metra Service resumption and expansion

[strictures]

10 hours ago, jtrosario said:

Thanks for mentioning the new schedule. Here's the link if anyone needs it:

https://metra.com/alternate-schedules#Union_Pacific_West

Finally, no more of that skipping stops at River Forest, Maywood & Melrose Park.  What a disaster that is!

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

Finally, no more of that skipping stops at River Forest, Maywood & Melrose Park.  What a disaster that is!

I don't recall River Forest being skipped, but I got the idea.  One could argue that those stations had low volume passenger loads so to speed up service, trains would either stop at Melrose Park and River Forest or Maywood

  Remember that Pace has high frequency service to Harlem Green Line along Lake St which runs parallel to the UP.   BY my eye test, River Forest does well.  It's a higher income suburb compared to Maywood,  Melrose Park, Bellwood, and Berkeley.   I would have thought that the latter two could have been included in the Skip stop service as those stations aren't busy either.  I suppose those passwords west of Berkeley will have to spend an extra few minutes on the train

Amazing that Oak Park is a very busy station.  I'd bet some of the riders walk from Forest Park and River Forest seeing that Harlem Avenue separates downtown Oak Park from River Forest  and the Green Line abuts Forest Park.  Even most of the express trains stopped at Oak Park before whizzing to Elmhurst.

 

[Busjack]

20 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

One could argue that those stations had low volume passenger loads so to speed up service, trains would either stop at Melrose Park and River Forest or Maywood

RTAMS has a Metra Ridership by Station - Boarding & Alighting Survey (1979-2018). Melrose Park had about 86 boardings and 107 alightings in 2018; River Forest 448/441; Maywood 87/69. Compare to Oak Park 991/1106; Elmhurst 2540/2347; Lombard 1502/1472. So, if the aim were anything other than rebuilding ridership, Maywood and Melrose Park wouldn't be worth the 4 minute delay per stop.

By comparison, there were 3376 entries at the Harlem/Marion CTA station in Dec. 2018, so while Metra had good ridership, 3 times as many took CTA.

 

[renardo870]

19 hours ago, Railguy said:

Still miss serving weekend markets with 2 hour gaps and horrible outbound evening service.  going to concerts, plays , sports weddings etc is difficult.   Either need to rush out of event or sit around in not very friendly environments.  Driving is an alternative at that point.

Definitely needs better service Sat midday like 9am - 6pm EB  and 10am - 7pm with 2 Express trips EB and 2 Express trips WB. 

Maybe instead of 2 hr weekend service, maybe try 60 or 90 min weekends service on Metra Lines.

Edited November 24, 2022 by renardo870
Added additional info

[strictures]

On 11/24/2022 at 12:16 PM, Busjack said:

RTAMS has a Metra Ridership by Station - Boarding & Alighting Survey (1979-2018). Melrose Park had about 86 boardings and 107 alightings in 2018; River Forest 448/441; Maywood 87/69. Compare to Oak Park 991/1106; Elmhurst 2540/2347; Lombard 1502/1472. So, if the aim were anything other than rebuilding ridership, Maywood and Melrose Park wouldn't be worth the 4 minute delay per stop.

By comparison, there were 3376 entries at the Harlem/Marion CTA station in Dec. 2018, so while Metra had good ridership, 3 times as many took CTA.

 

If you skip/stop stations, of course they have lower boarding numbers.  When a train stopped at Maywood, it usually skipped River Forest & Melrose Park.  Even though Maywood has the 331 bus to Hines Hospital, Loyola Hospital & Triton College.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, strictures said:

If you skip/stop stations, of course they have lower boarding numbers.

Backwards cause and effect. They wouldn't skip stops that have high ridership.

On the other hand, zone trains were historically run on the Burlington/BNSF, but you don't see ridership hurt; that's the highest ridership route. The Milw. N also ran skip stop in rush hours.

As @artthouwill indicated, the populations around Maywood and Melrose Park were not Loop office types.

On your other point, 308 goes from Forest Park to Hines and Loyola, and there is very little need for reverse commuting to Triton.

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, strictures said:

If you skip/stop stations, of course they have lower boarding numbers.  When a train stopped at Maywood, it usually skipped River Forest & Melrose Park.  Even though Maywood has the 331 bus to Hines Hospital, Loyola Hospital & Triton College.

Other than the former feeders and Oace routes in the outer suburbs, people aren't going to transfer from Metra trains to Pace buses if alternative routing using CTA IS available.   For instance,  why take UP-W  to Maywood when I can take the Green Line to Oak Park (Harlem) and take the 318 to 5th Ave and take a short walk to Triton?  Or I can take the Blue Line to Forest Park and take the 301 or 308 to Hines?  Since I don't know C&NWs history of service. I would think that skip stop would have been implemented by Metra because of low ridership and not low ridership because of skip stop.  But here's our chance to see if this plan can grow ridership at Maywood and Melrose Park 

 

[renardo870]

I wonder if there will be other added or restored service (runs) on the MILW-N, MILW-W, NCS and SWS in the New Year? Has ridership improved on those lines since the last update for more service?

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, renardo870 said:

I wonder if there will be other added or restored service (runs) on the MILW-N, MILW-W, NCS and SWS in the New Year? Has ridership improved on those lines since the last update for more service?

Maybe.  The only exception might be NCS  because CN is unwilling to let Metra expand service on its tracks.

[renardo870]

19 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Maybe.  The only exception might be NCS  because CN is unwilling to let Metra expand service on its tracks.

Metra should be allowed to restore pre-covid service levels on all lines especially on the NCS. Service was downgraded due to the pandemic and restoring service to normal levels shouldn't be considered expansion. 

[artthouwill]

16 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

Metra should be allowed to restore pre-covid service levels on all lines especially on the NCS. Service was downgraded due to the pandemic and restoring service to normal levels shouldn't be considered expansion. 

I don't know what agreement Metra has with CN. So I can't say for sure.  It would seem like Metra should be able to restore service to pre-cpvid levels, but that could depend on the agreement.   I don't see rush hour restoration necessarily being an issue.  Midday restorations. If any, could be a problem if CN decided to use the allotted time frames for its freight service.   NCS already has a train that has to use MDN tracks to get downtown because CN won't let that train run the full route . You know its bad that Metra can promise double tracking along the route and CN still wouldn't allow any expansion of NCS service, weekday or weekend 

 

 

 

[Busjack]

This article, while dealing with restaurants, gives the reason why there isn't going to be a quick restoration of Metra service.* If the return to the office is so slow that restaurants can't afford to open for lunch, it's too slow to fill Metra.

 

______________

*Also explains @andrethebusman's point about service being cut on LaSalle express routes.

[renardo870]

On 11/27/2022 at 3:12 PM, renardo870 said:

I wonder if there will be other added or restored service (runs) on the MILW-N, MILW-W, NCS and SWS in the New Year? Has ridership improved on those lines since the last update for more service?

Well, I guess my question was mostly answered....

Friday, December 02, 2022

Body

Metra will upgrade the schedules of four lines on Dec. 12, including the Milwaukee District North, Milwaukee District West, North Central Service and Heritage Corridor.

“These changes are part of our commitment to My Metra riders to continue to make changes to their schedules in response to ridership trends and rider feedback,” said Metra Executive Director/CEO Jim Derwinski.

The new schedules can be viewed here. Added trains are highlighted, although customers are advised to review the new schedules to determine if their current trains are affected or if new trains better meet their needs. Metra will monitor customer feedback and operations and make future schedule adjustments as necessary.

Milwaukee District North
    The new schedule will increase service on the line to 52 trains from 38 trains. It will:

Increase midday service to hourly

Add a rush-hour trip to increase capacity

Improve reverse-commute service

Improve late evening options

Milwaukee District West
The new schedule will increase service on the line to 52 trains from 40 trains. It will:

Increase midday service to hourly

Add rush-hour trips (including before 6 a.m.)

Improve reverse-commute service

Improve late evening options

North Central Service
    The new schedule will add two trains, to 14 from 12. It will:

Add one train in each direction

Extend all trains that now terminate and originate at Buffalo Grove to Antioch

Heritage Corridor
The new Heritage Corridor schedule provides for later departures of two trains:

Train 915 will depart 25 minutes later at 3:50 p.m. to provide an option to riders whose workday ends at 3:30 p.m. and to improve on-time performance

Train 919 will depart 5 minutes later at 5:30 p.m., to allow a bit more time for riders to catch the last outbound train of the day on the line.

Edited December 5, 2022 by renardo870

[renardo870]

On 11/27/2022 at 3:12 PM, renardo870 said:

I wonder if there will be other added or restored service (runs) on the MILW-N, MILW-W, NCS and SWS in the New Year? Has ridership improved on those lines since the last update for more service?

Metra to upgrade SWS schedule on Jan. 16

Publication Date

Thursday, January 05, 2023

Body

Metra will upgrade the SouthWest Service Line schedule on Jan. 16, increasing the number of weekday trains on the line to 30 from the current 12 as part of a major service redesign pilot.

“As we have done on other lines, we are adjusting the schedule on the SouthWest Service to meet increasing demand and to meet the need for more flexibility from My Metra riders,” said Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski.

The new schedule can be viewed here. All customers are advised to review the new schedule to determine if their current trains are affected or if new trains better meet their needs. Metra will monitor customer feedback and operations and make future schedule adjustments as necessary.

The new schedule is a major service redesign, including:

Increasing the number of trains on weekdays to 30 trains from 12.

Introducing an express train in each direction

Providing for consistent headways

Adding later evening departures from Chicago Union Station

Providing better service to outlying stations than pre-COVID schedules

Syncing off-peak times better with other lines for transfer opportunities at Union Station

The SouthWest Service Line does not currently operate on weekends.

[renardo870]

2023.01.16_SWS_web_0-1.pdf

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, renardo870 said:

2023.01.16_SWS_web_0-1.pdf 260.22 kB · 9 downloads

It almost seems pointless that Metra built the extension to Manhattan. 

When did Metra cut Saturday service on SWS?

[renardo870]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

It almost seems pointless that Metra built the extension to Manhattan. 

When did Metra cut Saturday service on SWS?

Saturday service was cut when the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic started along with the other Metra service systemwide. 

[Busjack]

Metra is increasing service on the UP-NW line, to offer an alternative for Kennedy Expressway construction, and meeting demand to McHenry and Arlington Heights (Press Release).

[artthouwill]

On 1/6/2023 at 5:42 PM, renardo870 said:

Saturday service was cut when the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic started along with the other Metra service systemwide. 

Roo bad Metra didn't consider an expansion in the Milwaukee District North Line as well or even the UO North Line.  Traffic in the Edens is affected by the Kennedy Expressway construction as well.

[renardo870]

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Roo bad Metra didn't consider an expansion in the Milwaukee District North Line as well or even the UO North Line.  Traffic in the Edens is affected by the Kennedy Expressway construction as well.

Maybe it will be updated a few weeks later...like April 17th or 24th.

[strictures]

8 hours ago, renardo870 said:

Maybe it will be updated a few weeks later...like April 17th or 24th.

UP North is already every 30 minutes all day long except for those bizarre 1 hour breaks in the schedule.  NB no trains from 12:32 PM to 1: 32 PM & SB, no trains arriving downtown from 10:23AM to 11:23 AM

[Busjack]

Sun-Times/WBEZ column on how Metra wants to come back from COVID.   Although it and PART recognize that a downtown-centric isn't the best, at least this discussion reflects Metra's view that leisure ridership can be encouraged, although neither suggests a departure from the radial pattern. It also recognizes that some Metra schedules are beholden to the freight railroads, as opposed to PART's infeasible suggestion that Metra follow Boston and just buy up the freight tracks.

[renardo870]

https://metra.com/newsroom/metra-launches-survey-get-rider-input-about-current-and-future-service-needs

A survey on improving existing services near-term and long-term. 

[renardo870]

Good evening. I was just wondering if there were any information on full weekday restoration of the NCS line and restoration of Saturday service on the SWS? It seems pre-Covid service has been restored on most lines and some have even expanded (BNSF and UP-N & NW). I believe there was a survey posted about improving service this past Spring. I'm just curious on what the results were and what's coming in the future. 

[Sam92]

16 hours ago, renardo870 said:

Good evening. I was just wondering if there were any information on full weekday restoration of the NCS line and restoration of Saturday service on the SWS? It seems pre-Covid service has been restored on most lines and some have even expanded (BNSF and UP-N & NW). I believe there was a survey posted about improving service this past Spring. I'm just curious on what the results were and what's coming in the future. 

NCS might be wrestling with CN over tracks 😮‍💨