CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Metra said ridership is slowly increasing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and that service increases are likely over the next couple of months on six lines.
Metra Executive Director Jim Derwinski said ridership one day this week was up to 93,000 passenger trips, the highest daily total since it hit 90,000 trips a day in November. Pre-pandemic, Metra had nearly 280,000 passenger rides a day.
“Omicron completely crushed ridership that we saw in November, all the way down to 15% as we began the year in January. Since then, we saw a slow, steady rise,” Derwinski told Metra board members this morning.
Derwinski said ridership numbers will continue to be monitored and that plans call for increasing service on the BNSF on March 28, on the UP North and Northwest Lines on April 11 and on the Metra Electric, Southwest Service and North Central Service in May.
For now, it appears that ridership comeback may not be a Monday through Friday thing as many employers allow employees to work from home some days, especially Fridays. Derwinski said ridership is down 10% on Mondays and 20% on Fridays compared to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
“More and more we’re hearing from businesses that they’re telling people to come back to the office, however, we have no idea are they saying 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We’re pretty sure it’s not five days a week,” he said.
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Metra is also planning messaging to motorists tired of sky-high gasoline and downtown parking prices to entice even more riders.
Derwinski said ridership has increased at a higher rate on the weekends than it has on weekdays.
He also said many riders defy the federal government’s masking requirement for trains.
“Masks are continuing to be a big issue on our trains. Mask compliance. There’s a lot of customers out there who are challenging the mask compliance,” Derwinski said. “This just really isn’t fair to our conductors but, at the end of the day, we all know that the rules continually change.”
He pointed out the federal government has indicated the mask requirement is likely to be lifted on April 18.
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