Is Chicago transit ready for the DNC?
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Denver handled it, and that was before the A, B, G, N, R and W-Lines were built.
NorthShore
Conductor
I think the real concern in Chicago is staffing....and impressions. All the more so since delegates are being encouraged to visit 40 some neighborhoods rather than spending all their money and time downtown. This is, definitely, not a centralized convention, with even McCormick Place and the United Center (let alone parties and hotels) miles apart. As such, they're effectively being asked to commute around town for stuff, just like locals. So, if they experience transit as regular riders do on an everyday basis, will they have a positive experience or a negative one? All the more so since the system may be stressed by service operators getting pulled from regular routes for special convention staffing. I'm guessing CTA will prioritize service in areas where conventioneers are likely to be, and de-emphasize in outlying neighborhoods that they won't visit or see.
cirdan
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I guess they would have thoroughly considered CTA's capability before even bidding to host the convention?
The cynic in me says journalists are trying to build a narrative where there isn't one, which is actually counter productive, as it may create doubt in CTA's ability to cope and so encourage visitors to drive where it would not have been necessary.
The cynic in me says journalists are trying to build a narrative where there isn't one, which is actually counter productive, as it may create doubt in CTA's ability to cope and so encourage visitors to drive where it would not have been necessary.
I still remember the 2005 Rotary International Convention that had about 35,000. We stayed in the Fairmont almost on the Chicago River and took the Metra Electric to McCormick Place. It was a disaster with back trains, a/c breakdown etc. I do hope that doesn't happen for the DNC
As someone who lived in Chicago until very recently, and saw CTA’s ebbs and flows since the turn of the millennium, I’ll say there absolutely is a narrative here. I’m connected with a number of transit supporters who have been organizing for a couple of years to try to put pressure on CTA to improve its undeniably pathetic performance since the pandemic (while also challenging the lies and gaslighting by agency officials about the nature of the service).
In 2022, CTA was essentially missing 3 out of 10 trips, systemwide, on its bus and rail systems. That was averaged over the course of a week and across the entire system, so riders in some areas were actually facing even worse service (Blue Line weekend service, for example was ~20% of scheduled, meaning they were missing nearly 4 out of 5 scheduled trips). While they have recovered somewhat, and also heavily reduced scheduled service in 2023 to make up the gap, they’re still falling short on a regular basis. Based on analysis by someone who is using CTA’s own data feed, the Blue Line is still regularly running only between 70 and 85% of scheduled service on any given day.
As for considering CTA when bidding to host the convention: it’s a multi-year process to decide where the convention will be held, and odds are nobody even thought (or cared) about CTA’s ability to deliver, just assuming service would be fine because the agency itself was pretending everything was. After all, this process would have started back during the pandemic and, if anything, they just assumed everything would snap back into place afterwards.
CTA does have ways of making service available for high-profile events, even recently. You just don’t want to be a transit-dependent rider in some of the less visible parts of town.
NorthShore
Conductor
Here's a news piece on the situation.
On my bus home tonight, I saw a service notice which encouraged riders systemwide to pay attention tp notifications and expect the unexpected in service changes next week.
On my bus home tonight, I saw a service notice which encouraged riders systemwide to pay attention tp notifications and expect the unexpected in service changes next week.
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NorthShore
Conductor
If I recall correctly, for the 1996 DNC, CTA borrowed buses and drivers from other cities to maintain service levels, locally, while also providing special contracted charter service for the convention attendees.
On a side note, I'm wondering where they will fly President Biden and Vice President Harris. In 96, President Clinton was flown in to a baseball field at UIC (University of Illinois, Chicago.) They even had to remove a stadium light post to provide clearance for his chopper. And, noe, the ospreys are even larger.
Do we know why they are having these problems? Shortages of crews? Equipment issues?
Driver shortage.
TransitTyrant
Lead Service Attendant
CTA is short close to 100 train operators from 2019.
MikefromCrete
Engineer
I imagine that most of the delegates will be transported from their hotels to the United Center by private charter buses. The delegates who will traveling around town on their own probably won't break the system, although it has taken the CTA a long time to recover from the COVID crisis. Of course the various demonstrations could affect bus service depending on how big they actually are.
Metra Electric Rider
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This exactly.
I remember the previous DNC in the 90's (what was it, '96 I think) which was also at United Center.
The CTA had the Medical Center station on the Blue Line scraped down and thoroughly cleaned before the convention, yet there was barely an uptick, if any, in ridership that I noticed at the station. Most if not all the delegates had private bus/coach transport from delegate hotels to United Center and back. I'm guessing that is what is going to happen again - especially with the dispersed convention at United Center and McPlace (that's McCormick Place).
The bigger issue is going to be protests blocking streets and potential riots, which I'm hoping there won't be, but there is a possibility that there will be chaos & mayhem manufactured by outside interests.
NorthShore
Conductor
If CTA is pulling 175 buses (and just as many drivers) off the streets and their schedules to shuttle conventioneers, how can such NOT affect regular service?
The other contrast is the neighborhood. In 1996 the city did a huge amount of cleanup in the area to show the convention attendees what a nice city in renewal Chicago really was. (I was of the opinion that blight should have been left clearly visible, so the city could have pointed and said, "See? This is why we need federal money and your help!") Still, no one, locally, wanted to spend any time near the stadium, considering it unsafe. The point was to get in and out asap for a game. In the intervening years, the area has come up a lot. Maybe there's still nothing but parking lots surrounding (not for long, with the propsed redevelopment) but the West Loop is hot now. There's enticing residential to the west and south. You can walk around the old County hospital location (it's now a nice hotel.) The area a few blocks north is for hipsters, and has a brand new L station.
Generally, at Chicago conventions, charter buses do a lot of work to shuttle those attending between hotels and, say, Mc McCormick Place. But, nights you see them walking down Michigan Avenue or going out elsewhere. I'm thinking that the entirely redeveloped (and yet still underappreciated around town and by visitors) since 1996 West Loop restaurant and bar area is going to be particularly hot next week. This is, truly, a different Chicago which people are going to experience than what they might have imagined or have heard in scary stories.
I hope the DNC and O'Hare are promoting the hourly Metra service from O'Hare to Union Station added during the DNC. Has anyone been to O'Hare in the last couple of days -- the new service began the 12th and runs through the 30th -- to tell us if there's signage and/or announcements about the Metra option?
I hope this service is a grand success with travelers beyond the convention attendees and the experiment is continued indefinitely.
I hope this service is a grand success with travelers beyond the convention attendees and the experiment is continued indefinitely.
NorthShore
Conductor
I noticed it on my Transit app the other evening, when I was near Union Station, and thought about taking the trip as part of an alternative route home.
NorthShore
Conductor
Here's the service notice as posted all over the CTA system, on buses and at rail stations.
TransitTyrant
Lead Service Attendant
A positive is that CTA bus operator head count is currently above 2019 levels
Attachments
In the intermodal transit facility there were signs to the Metra station, nothing else. When I boarded the first train from O'hare this Wednesday there were three passengers waiting, including my party of two, plus a homeless person in the station building.
NorthShore
Conductor
It might be foot-dragging by the airport management. That was long the case in Denver until some people retired or moved on.
NorthShore
Conductor
Airport management is the City of Chicago Department of Aviation. So, this would amount to a black eye against the mayor (who appoints the commissioner and to whom this department head reports to) in his city's major convention. (Not a political statement against the mayor, to be clear. Simply what all the press are accurately noting, as how well the convention and safety or transportation issues, for instance, come off ultimately reflect back to the mayor in this very centralised power city.) Considering all the importance given to image of the city, this week, such is not something which should have been overlooked in organization.
It seems emphasis has, instead, been on the L, in this regard. I saw a lot of extra security, volunteer welcome staff, and special information/direction givers, Sunday on platforms, which aren't typically there. Even the often absent foldable paper maps have been well restocked and are readily available at stations.
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The CTA was able to get the new Damen station on the Green Line (Lake St. L) open in time for the convention. Thom of Trains are Awesome has a nice report on this station which looks pretty impressive:
Chicago’s Newest Station: Damen
Chicago’s Newest Station: Damen
NorthShore
Conductor
I'm surprised protesters are not going to the plaza there, as it seems to be just outside the secured area, yet a place that those attending the convention are encouraged to use.
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