Sept. 24, 2021 4p
(WGTD)---Riding the Metra rails between Kenosha and Chicago isn’t what it used to be. The number of trains in and out of Kenosha is half of what it was before the pandemic.
System-wide, Metra ridership is at just 25% of pre-pandemic levels. Metra spokesperson Meg Riley says rail commuter systems nationwide are experiencing comparable drops. It’s due in part to the characteristics of the ridership demographic. Riders tend to be white-collar with more transit options to begin with, she said. The double-whammy is that many of those riders are the same ones that were more likely to be afforded opportunities to work from home.
At the moment, ten trains come and go from Kenosha each weekday. The number of departures and arrivals used to be 20.
Riley says ridership is slowly picking up, but she says it may take many months for the numbers to get back to normal.
She says Metra executives plan to analyze the changing work patterns and service trends and add service incrementally and strategically. "As people return, we are going to be returning service but our promise with this is we are not just going to automatically put back the train that was there before. We're going to try to look at how people are using our services," Ryan said.
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