Elon Musk wins bid to construct high speed passenger train from downtown to O'Hara (Chicago: how much, neighborhood)

[ToriaT]

There will be a 25 dollar fee to ride it. This ensures that the L line riff raff stays off and you can ride in clean and safe comfort. Yay Elon!!

[Nodpete]

This pipe dream will never happen ! It it no more than a campaign issue for the mayor. In today's Tribune it states that they would need 4000 people a day to use it for it to pay for itself. I doubt that there has ever been 4000 people going to O'hare from the loop in a single day ever. And please, when has the promise of " It won't cost the taxpayers a penny" ever been true. Certainly not from any Chicago politician.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by Nodpete

This pipe dream will never happen ! It it no more than a campaign issue for the mayor. In today's Tribune it states that they would need 4000 people a day to use it for it to pay for itself. I doubt that there has ever been 4000 people going to O'hare from the loop in a single day ever. And please, when has the promise of " It won't cost the taxpayers a penny" ever been true. Certainly not from any Chicago politician.

You don’t think more people would go to the Loop if it were 12 minutes from O’Hare? O’Hare gets 20k travelers a day. Only 20% would need to go to/from downtown.

[Berteau]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

You don’t think more people would go to the Loop if it were 12 minutes from O’Hare? O’Hare gets 20k travelers a day. Only 20% would need to go to/from downtown.

Why would that affect going to the loop and where would you go instead? Are you just going to skip your business meeting or trip downtown and hang out at Ohare? Describe that situation. Either you need to go downtown or you don't. 30 extra minutes won't affect that.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by Berteau

Why would that affect going to the loop and where would you go instead? Are you just going to skip your business meeting or trip downtown and hang out at Ohare? Describe that situation. Either you need to go downtown or you don't. 30 extra minutes won't affect that.

I just posed the question. One situation I can think of is someone who would otherwise stay at a hotel close to the airport, but might consider the Loop/downtown if it was only a 12 minute trip. Hell, if I had a long layover at O’Hare, I might even consider trekking downtown if it was that short of a trip. Yeah, it’s 40 bucks round trip but I might consider it money well spent if I got to do something fun.

Also, don’t you think more people would take it up to the airport rather than driving/uber/taxi from somewhere outside the Loop? My understanding is 4000 passengers either way - to or from the airport.

[japster28]

I think some people are missing the possibility that people in the North/Northwest suburbs or even in the far Northwest Chicago neighborhoods would rather drive into O'Hare to take this express line over sitting in traffic for an hour.

Someone in Bensenville could be in The Loop in half or a third of the time it would take to drive downtown during rush hour. From a cursory Google Maps search someone could potentially cut their 1 hour drive from Northbrook to the Loop into a 30-45 minute affair. This commute would also be fairly painless compared to driving.

I'm not saying this will work, but if it does, there's a chance it could be successful.

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by Berteau

Why would that affect going to the loop and where would you go instead? Are you just going to skip your business meeting or trip downtown and hang out at Ohare? Describe that situation. Either you need to go downtown or you don't. 30 extra minutes won't affect that.

Business travelers from all over the country and the world book around (i.e. avoid) O'Hare for all kinds of reasons. The most important is probably bad weather but inability to get downtown is also very significant. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes and sometimes it takes two hours. You can't plan ahead or catch a flight with uncertainty like that.

Chicago is having a bit of a rough time competing with the coasts and Texas; why put up more obstacles? I support the plan, knowing that it might not succeed, because we have to experiment with different solutions to a growing problem.

[dtcbnd03]

I take the Heathrow Express every time I go to London instead of the very convenient but slow Tube. Clean, quiet and nice seats. Shaving off 30 minutes is HUGE for business and non-budget travelers. And I know a lot of business travelers that take uber because they don't want to deal with the el.

I can't believe all the negative comments. Talk about pessimistic people. Privately funded. Truly high speed rail. I can't wait to see it completed. Excited for Chicago.

[beaniemac]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

You are thinking about this far too narrowly. If this works and similar systems can be constructed, we are talking about potentially replacing elevated and surface routes along segments of the Blue and Green lines altogether. How does that help? Well, the Kennedy and Eisenhower are a mess and adding capacity by widening to the outside is not easily accomplished due to dense development. But with the tracks on the inside removed, highway lanes can be added in their place.

On the Eisenhower, can anyone explain why the area for the train tracks in the middle appears to be 2-3 times wider than the amount of soon you need to accommodate the trains? The red line on the fan Ryan does not have anywhere close to that footprint. Only the blue line on 290.

[bobsell]

Currently, Chicagoans can ride to the airport for $5 on a Chicago Transit Authority train, taking about 40 minutes.

That's from O'hare airport to downtown. To the airport, the fare is $2.50. Clearly this article has out of date information.