CTA President Dorval Carter Jr., in his appearance before the City Council last month, articulated a goal of serving 2 million CTA riders per day. Considering the CTA is now averaging 836,000 riders per day, down from a prepandemic figure of 1.3 million, this is an ambitious goal — but Chicago is a city built on ambition!
To achieve this goal, the CTA will have to restore bus and rail service to prepandemic levels in terms of frequency and reliability. The Red-Purple Modernization Program on the North Side and the Red Line extension to 130th Street on the South Side, when completed, will boost ridership over time. So would some new infill stations and reconstruction of the Blue Line on the West Side, which now runs so slowly that it’s impractical.
However, whether CTA ridership reaches Carter’s goal partly depends on a factor beyond his control: The city must grow in development and population near “L” stops and along high-frequency bus lines.
The land use around many “L” stops does not support our transit investments. In fact, it discourages transit use. People who intend to be regular riders of transit like to live near it, so they don’t have to walk 10 or 15 minutes simply to access the train or bus. Having parking lots near our transit facilities inhibits transit use. Instead we should have medium- and high-density residential development.
On the North Side, in the densely populated Edgewater neighborhood, the Berwyn stop is fronted by three surface parking lots serving one-story commercial buildings. The Howard station in Rogers Park on the Far North Side faces a strip mall with a vast surface parking lot. There should be apartment buildings instead of surface parking in both these places, so people can live close to the “L” and these businesses.
On the South Side, the 87th and 79th Street stations are surrounded by oceans of surface parking, which means nobody can live nearby. If they do walk to the station from their home several blocks away, they have to surmount dangerous car-dominated uses, including highway interchanges.
Also on the South Side, the Green Line station at Garfield Boulevard sits amid parking lots and vacant land.
Another example on the South Side is the Pulaski Road station on the Orange Line, which is adjacent to the site of the former Miami Bowl, which has been vacant for 20 years. This land is being developed into a fast-food restaurant with a drive-thru and parking lot and a one-story commercial structure with an immense parking lot. This is a missed opportunity to build homes near the “L.” How many people who work at Midway Airport would love to live one stop away?
Automobile-based uses can be anywhere; land near the “L” should be for people who will ride the “L” and may not own cars. We are urging the local alderman to seek residential development for the remainder of this acreage bordered by Pulaski Road, Archer Avenue and 51st Street.
On the West Side, the Polk Street stop on the Pink Line, in the Illinois Medical District, has two giant surface parking lots to the south. This land could be put to residential use, or to use for medical facilities or office space, any of which would benefit from proximity to the “L.”
Even downtown, there’s a surface parking lot next to the Harrison station, and the Jewel store by the Roosevelt stop has a surface parking lot facing the station. All of this could be high-density residential, which would bring passengers to the CTA.
There isn’t even room to mention all the “L” stops surrounded by low-density residential and commercial uses or vacant land.
The city must revise its planning to assure that as property near transit facilities is developed or redeveloped, the result is dense, walkable uses that take advantage of proximity to transit.
People want to live and work near transit — current Chicagoans and prospective newcomers — but in many locations where transit exists, the housing does not.
Build near transit, and you’ll get transit riders. It’s as simple as that.
James R. Anderson is a member of Urban Environmentalists Illinois, a grassroots organization that promotes housing.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
