Sunrise Express is early success
Metra riders take crack-of-dawn train on reverse commute
By Richard
Wronski
Chicago Tribune
December 27, 2007
Every day before dawn, with rush hour already
building, an increasing number of early-rising Chicagoans climb aboard a train
in an effort to get to jobs at schools, hospitals and companies as far north as
Lake County by 7 a.m.
They're riding Metra's Sunrise Express, a
"reverse commute" train that in just nine months has far exceeded ridership
expectations -- a sign, advocates say, of the need for more alternatives to the
area's congested highways.
Average ridership on the train has grown from
about 60 passengers a day from its start in April to more than 300 passengers in
early December, Metra reports. That ridership is more than triple the initial
predictions, officials said.
The line's popularity has buoyed its
supporters at the Lake County Commuter Coalition, a group of municipalities,
chambers of commerce, businesses, schools, hospitals and legislators that worked
with Metra for more than two years to make the new train possible.
"We
were true believers," said state Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest), a co-chair
of the coalition. "We actually believed once it was on the tracks, the commuters
would take advantage of it, and it turned out to be true."
The route's
success may someday be duplicated elsewhere.
Metra is planning reverse
commute lines to serve northwest Cook, McHenry, DuPage and Kane Counties, but
the commuter rail agency's wish list of projects will require billions in
federal funds and a significant investment of matching money from the state, a
tough prospect these days.
About 83 percent of the Sunrise Express riders
are Chicago residents traveling to suburban jobs, according to an on-board
survey of riders conducted by Metra. Their employers range from big Lake County
companies such as Abbott Laboratories to local schools.
Almost
one-quarter of those surveyed are administrators or teachers who need to be in
classrooms extra early.
The Union Pacific North Line train leaves the
Ogilvie Transportation Center at 5:40 a.m. and arrives in Waukegan at 6:48 a.m.,
serving Evanston, Highland Park, Great Lakes and other stops in
between.
To put the Sunrise Express in position necessitates an even
earlier train headed into Chicago. It leaves Waukegan at 4:20 a.m. and arrives
at Ogilvie at 5:23 a.m.
Ridership on this train, used by many financial
markets traders and analysts, has also shown steady growth. With fewer than 50
riders a day in April, ridership has risen to more than 100 a day in early
December, Metra reports.
The typical rush-hour travel time between
Lake-Cook Road and the Circle Interchange, using the Edens, Kennedy or Dan Ryan
Expressways, can be 75 minutes.
"It's important that we have new options
for people to be able to travel reverse directions, from city to suburbs," said
Tom Murtha, senior planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. "For
our region to prosper, people and goods need to be mobile, and they're
not."
The Sunrise Express was inaugurated with a $250,000 federal grant
specifically intended for reverse-commute programs, and matched with state
funds.
The grant comes up for renewal in 2008, but reapproval is "not a
foregone conclusion" due to increasing competition for federal dollars, said
Diane Palmer, a spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation
Authority.
Some officials predict a bleak future for mass-transit
service, including cuts on bus and train lines, unless the General Assembly
overcomes its monthslong stalemate and approves additional operating funds and a
new capital program.
Nevertheless, officials expect the Sunrise Express
to remain on track.
"People can argue all they want about what to do
about mass transit," Garrett said. "But here's a real success story."
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