CHICAGO — Only about 2,400 people rode Metra’s shuttle service between O’Hare International Airport and Chicago Union Station during the special service operated in August during the Democratic National Convention, the commuter operator says. That’s only about 120 per day during the Aug. 11-30 operation.
Still, Metra would like to make the service permanent.
Metra spokesman Michael Gillis told the Chicago Sun-Times the O’Hare operation was “sort of gutted” by bus service for the approximately 50,000 delegates. In an email to the newspaper, he said the operator wants a permanent version of the O’Hare shuttle service “because we are trying to develop new markets to build ridership, and it would be beneficial to Metra and the region to have fast, frequent connectons between the region’s two largest job centers (O’Hare and downtown).”
Metra has previously discussed the O’Hare concept with Trains [see “On the radar: Metra service to O’Hare airport,” Trains.com, Dec. 18, 2023]. Making the operation permanent would require operating agreements with CPKC and Canadian National, which either own or dispatch the majority of the route. While they agreed to the operation during the convention, significant infrastructure improvements would likely be required before the freight operators would agree to a full-time service with trains every 20 to 30 minutes, which Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski has said is ideal.
Metra has received some funding to address issues with its current O’Hare Transfer station, located behind the building that houses the airport’s rental-car facilities, as well as long-term parking and the terminal for the people mover to the airport. The commuter operator has received a $750,000 grant to explore ways to improve the station, as well as funding to improve the pedestrian connection from the station to the people mover. Currently, it’s about a 1,000-foot outdoor walk from the station to enter the rental-car building near escalators and stairs to the people-mover platform. That wasn’t a big problem in August, but in January, it can be a different story.
Twenty-one years since the start of Metra North Central, there is still no Saturday – Sunday – Holiday service. Could be that’s what this corridor most needs.