(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Metra says ridership is up, especially on lines used by people who could normally choose to drive the Kennedy Expressway, which is under construction.
Metra is seeing post-pandemic ridership highs on all four of the lines that would be alternatives for people driving the Kennedy and Edens expressways, according to agency spokesman Michael Gillis.
Ridership is up on the U-P North and Northwest lines, the North Central Service and Milwaukee North. Gillis says, however, ridership is still well below what it was before the pandemic.
“There’s plenty of capacity on all our lines for people who want to flee the ‘carmageddon’ on the Kennedy. We can’t say all the increase we’ve seen since March is due to the Kennedy construction, but it’s certainly a contributing factor.”
Gillis says that, on Tuesday, Metra systemwide had the highest ridership since the pandemic started — 161,000 passenger trips. That is 58% of where Metra was before the pandemic. The U-P North line was at 75% of what it was before COVID.
Gillis says the U-P Northwest line had a record high of nearly 26,000 passenger trips April 12, which was about 65% of where it was before the pandemic.
“The trend is up. We haven’t plateaued yet, which is good,” Gillis said. “Kennedy construction certainly helped us keep our momentum and, maybe, added a little oompf to it.”
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