CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Metra is starting to think ahead to when people start returning to work in-person and wants to lure them back to commuter trains.
Metra Executive Director Jim Derwinski anticipates more people heading back to work downtown in the coming months as COVID vaccinations become more widespread.
He said Metra plans to host a business summit, probably in March, "to try to make sure that employers are well aware of the fact that now Metra is ready for employees to get back on the trains."
Derwinski said the first sign ridership will be picking up is when restaurants start reopening for dine-in service.
"I anticipate when there’s relaxation on restaurants, we’ll start getting back some of those restaurant workers," he said.
Then, he believes downtown office workers will be returning to the trains.
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The transit agency chief said there’s new rider potential too.
"There’s been a huge real estate shift that’s occurred over the last seven months and we see right now an interesting opportunity, potentially, for some of the people that have moved into the suburbs," Derwinski said.
"Maybe they used to be a CTA rider. Maybe they used to walk to work. If they’re coming to work, even if it’s one or two days a week, maybe Metra becomes that option for them."
Derwinski said the business summit will include human resource officials and others in the hopes they'll inform their employees about what Metra is doing to be COVID-safe.
Trains are sanitized with foggers every day. Train cars, especially high-touch areas, are wiped down with disinfectant every time a train reaches downtown and trains have hospital grade air filters which change the air every four minutes. Of course, mask wearing is mandatory.
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Ridership took a dramatic drop when the pandemic hit and Metra is not even close to recovering. Derwinski said ridership is down at least 85 percent overall from pre-COVID-19 days. Even on the most heavily traveled train run, Derwinski said there are 300 to 320 commuters. That's on the Metra Electric. He said physical distancing is easy to do on those trains.
Derwinski believes January will be 2021's worst month for ridership, but he doesn't know when to expect sizable increases. He said he's hearing everything from spring to Easter-time to summer and September.
Ridership has "been hovering around 20,000 riders a day". At most during the pandemic, there were about 28,000 riders a day.