The Trib spotlights the South Shore

So the South Shore has had a 10% increase in paying fares, the great majority of them of the full fare, day tripper variety, and they still need our two percent fare increase? Is John Parsons telling us that the South Shore was looking at a double digit revenue shortfall now to justify this fare increase? Or is he just trying to take advantage while he knows that ridership is in a no win situation with either taking the train or driving the Dan Ryan? I would say that once again we are taking the shaft as the NICTD looks at an unexpected revenue windfall, and they are still looking at taking more of our money, while adressing none of our needs, problems, and questions.

I encourage everyone to go to the fare increase meetings and ask the tough questions and more of Parsons and the NICTD.


> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0604240127apr24,1,4476867.column?coll=chi-news-hed

Jon Hilkevitch

South Shore trains feeling the strain
As more and more passengers take advantage of rail line, one official says `we simply don't have the capacity.'

Published April 24, 2006


The South Shore Line, known for most of the past century as "The Little Train That Could," is facing its biggest test in many years.

The familiar trains sporting an orange stripe on the outside are crowded, often standing-room only during even some non-rush hour runs on the 90-mile line between South Bend, Ind., and downtown Chicago. The ridership gains would be more welcome if only customers were not so unhappy about the cramped quarters and if the railroad could promise when new train cars would on the way.

"I think that if you have to stand the whole way, you shouldn't have to pay," Marie Tinsley of Lansing said after boarding the South Shore one morning last week at the Hegewisch station to go to her job downtown as a customer service representative.

"It's beginning to take a toll on my back," added Tinsley, 44, a 10-year South Shore rider who said she always used to be able to find a seat.

South Shore officials say they hope to buy more cars and eventually expand the line deeper into Indiana to carry even more passengers. But the only thing on the immediate horizon is a fare increase.

Jobs, museums, shopping and restaurants in Chicago are among the draws attracting more South Shore riders than the electric-powered rail line has carried since 1961, according to the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates the passenger service.

Since 1908, the South Shore has operated in the middle of the street for 2 miles in Michigan City. Closer to Chicago, it trundles past landfills and gasoline-storage farms. Trains stop--but few passengers board or exit--at the crossing about a mile from Gary-Chicago International Airport, which has no scheduled commercial airline service.

The South Shore winds near the back yards of well-kept homes in Hegewisch, and the trains carry many former Chicago-area residents who moved to Indiana to take advantage of lower housing costs and taxes and, until recently, less traffic congestion.

The orange trains go past dilapidated dwellings in Hammond and Gary that are marked by abandoned junk cars on the front lawns and families inside living below the poverty line--the very people who would benefit from regional development.

The South Shore is essential to the economy and to helping prepare for growth in a region that has more than its share of poverty. It links thousands of people from the South Side, the south suburbs and other states to downtown Chicago.

Nearly 10% climb in 2006

South Shore ridership increased 7 percent in 2005, when a record 3.8 million rides were provided, the railroad reported. Ridership rose about 10 percent in the first quarter of this year, it said.

The 10 percent boost came before many drivers traded their car keys for train passes at the start of the Dan Ryan Expressway reconstruction this month and the steep rise in gasoline prices. Daily rider increases have ranged from 15 to 30 percent higher this year than normal during rush periods and to more than 70 percent higher in off-peak hours, officials said.

Although Metra and the CTA have experienced moderate gains in riders since the Ryan project began, and they carry the majority of transit commuters each weekday, the ridership increases on the South Shore have been nothing short of explosive. "We are seeing the kind of ridership numbers that we normally experience only during the Taste of Chicago," said South Shore spokesman John Parsons. "We simply don't have the capacity."

The South Shore provided an average of 11,905 rides a day in the first three months of 2005, jumping to 13,019 rides a day in the first quarter of 2006, according to the railroad. The numbers swelled to 16,890 rides daily during the first week of April when lanes were reduced by 50 percent on the Dan Ryan. The South Shore numbers settled to an average of 14,122 rides a day last week--still well above 2005's 12,959-ride daily average.

Word has also spread about the new clean, futuristic Millennium Station at Randolph Street, which serves South Shore and Metra Electric District commuter trains. The South Shore Line shares tracks with the Metra Electric starting at 115th Street in Chicago going north to the Loop.

Many visitors from southern Michigan, eastern Indiana and northwest Ohio travel to South Bend to catch the South Shore instead of driving or flying to Chicago. "The passenger traffic at our South Bend station is growing almost exponentially," said Bill O'Dea, the South Shore's terminal superintendent at the Millennium Station. "People gravitate to it, using the parking at the South Bend [Regional] Airport. It really is a regional stop for people coming to Chicago."

But the packed trains are becoming a daily grind for regular commuters riding to Chicago.

"I've become way more aggressive when I get on the train. I go straight to my piece of standing room in the vestibule, and I protect it," said Amelia Solorio, 40, of Calumet City. "You can't even read the paper. That is how tight it is on the train."

The South Shore owns 68 passenger cars, although several are typically out of service for maintenance.

Plans are in motion to acquire about 12 more cars, but funding has not been lined up, Parsons said. The railroad is seeking about $39 million for the cars from the State of Indiana and a recently created regional development authority, he said.

The South Shore is conducting engineering studies to determine whether to buy more single-level trains or to buy double-deck Highliner trains that are already in production for the Metra Electric, Parsons said.

The South Shore has struggled to operate with unpredictable funding for years. Unlike Metra and CTA, which receive a portion of sales tax receipts in the six-county Chicago area to subsidize transit operations, the South Shore has no local or regional funding sources.

The South Shore has been able to cover about 50 percent of its operating costs through fares, with another approximately $10 million coming from the state, Parsons said.

Indiana has historically underfunded its transportation infrastructure compared with neighboring states, according to data tracked by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The state is now trying to catch up on years of neglect by leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a private consortium for $3.8 billion.

Some of the money from the 75-year toll road deal would go toward expanding and repairing other forms of transportation. No specific amounts have been earmarked for the South Shore, officials said.

Further fare hikes proposed

The South Shore last raised fares in 2003, citing a ridership slump that paralleled the sluggish economy at the time. Now, despite ridership gains, more fare hikes are being proposed--a 2 percent boost in August and another 2 percent boost in 2007. Public hearings on the plan are set for May. South Shore fares, like Metra's, are based on distance traveled.

Meanwhile, studies are under way on long-sought plans to extend the South Shore from South Bend to Valparaiso and Lowell, Ind. The studies are intended to determine potential ridership levels and travel-time savings that the new service would generate.

A cost estimate is also being refined. The most recent projection was $340 million in 1999, Parsons said. The railroad plans to submit its application to the federal government this year, he said.

Companies and employees in Indiana want better access to jobs and business in Chicago's collar counties, which outpace Chicago in job creation.

The South Shore extensions are viewed as a catalyst for decades of economic growth.

The extensions represent "an opportunity to impact the geographic pattern of Chicago's growth in Northwest Indiana's favor," concluded an analysis conducted for the South Shore Line by Policy Analytics, an Indianapolis research firm.

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Contact Getting Around at jhilkevitch@tribune.com or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Read recent Getting Around columns at www.chicagotribune.com/gettingaround