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Originally Posted by Crawford
The author of that NY Times "expose" was Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. In other words, fakenews.
Chicago-area transit is having a crisis of its own, with Metra continually cutting service and raising fares, and with overall transit ridership experiencing major ridership declines.
In any case, the L, while functional, and reasonably extensive, with third highest ridership in U.S., is probably the least pleasant major urban rail system in the U.S. Running outdoors on rickety wood platforms and in the middle of freeways, it's basically Exhibit A on how not to build urban rail.
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Metra has been raising fares, but the fares were far lower than other commuter rail systems (MTA, SEPTA, MBTA) on a per-mile basis. As with CTA, Metra has a backlog of deferred maintenance and capital needs, and hasn't been able to rely on state government funding.
There have been zero service cuts. Metra Electric revised its schedules to prioritize Hyde Park over the rest of the South Side, but the same number of trains are running. Other lines (Rock Island, for one) have actually seen increases in service.
Metra's weekday ridership has been amazingly steady (in absolute numbers) since the 1979 creation of Metra out of the former private railroads. CTA rail ridership is at or enar an all-time high. The decline, to the extent we have one, is concentrated on the bus system. Much of that is based on the ongoing depopulation of the South Side, as well as increasing road congestion and gentrification shifting riders from buses onto trains.