Why Chicago still hasn't fixed the Loop

If you want better transit in your city: forms.gle/VDADCMabA13qiTL37 EDIT #2: at 13:48, Steve is actually referring to the service cuts of 1980-83, not those in the 90s. It's a bit out of order as a result - sorry for the error :/ EDIT #1: this topic (and all of transit) is very nuanced! The goal of this video is not to put Chicago down or make definitive claims on what’s right vs wrong; it’s to explore the history of 3 proposals that didn’t happen - naturally a complicated story that requires far more than 25 mins to cover fully. You’re ofc welcome to disagree about any views shared - please just be respectful about it to others :)

I am a native Chicagoan who loves transit. I enjoyed your video. Here are my 'pipe dreams' for transit in our region: 1. Convert Metra to a fully electrified [EMUs] system that is ADA compliant with 15 to 20 minute headways (ie, regional rail). 2. Connect all Metra downtown Chicago terminals via electric rail transit. 3. Build the circular Metra rail line [with EMUs] connecting Metra lines in the suburbs 4. Extend CTA rapid transit lines so their terminals connect with Metra 5. Build a CTA Crosstown line connecting the Green, Blue, Pink. Orange and Brown lines. Too bad I don't have the trillions of dollars to do it.

I think you hit the mark here “the issue is never a lack of money, just that it’s spend very inefficiently” that speaks to overall North American public infrastructure spending scheme

FINALLY a video that breaks down how bad Chicago transit is outside of the Loop. As a native Chicagoan, it infuriates me when people who aren't from the area think that Chicago has good transit because they visited the Loop once. So much of Chicago's inequality, crime, and failure to live up to its potential is due to a lack of density/transit/TOD and it's infuriating how incompetent the CTA/government is relative to other similar US metros

Fun fact: in the 60s Chicago ripped out 100 stops. That’s about the size of the entire system in Montreal…which they started to build in the 60s.

Nothing hooks me into your videos more than when you talk about funding and I mean that sincerely

As an Illinois resident who used to work for IDOT, I loved your video. I did think you missed out by not mentioning or exploring the movement to combine the CTA, Metra and PACE.

If you don't get at least 100 thousand subscribers very soon, there is a serious problem with youtube's algorithm.

CHICAGO MENTIONED 🎉🎊🥳

So simple to fix. Extend Ravenswood line via subway under Lawrence to Kenton & turn south to intersect with Montrose station on O'Hare line. Continue south & pop up to run elevated on old rail line a few blocks east of Cicero Avenue all the way to Midway, intersecting with Lake, Congress and Douglas lines along the way. Continue south to 63rd Street, then turn back east to run in a subway to the end of the Englewood line at Ashland. Now you have an outer loop. All you need is a transfer station with the Dan Ryan at 63rd and all lines connect with the outer loop. Won't ever happen because as a Northwestern graduate with a master's degree in transportation & former planner with CTA for 13 months of my life I'll never get back, I can tell you that people in charge of CTA have always been & will continue to be complete idiots.

Not sure which is worse, the traffic or the clip of the White Sox signing Benitendi!😂😢

the "train to nowhere" argument is nonsense in the context of an orbital line, because the point isn't to provide a service to the neighbors of that line, the point is to connect the existing radial lines to one another

Native Chicagoan here, the L is actually pretty decent compared to every other American city. Busses fill in the gaps, sure, but a service that runs 24/7, goes straight to downtown and o’hare? It’s pretty convenient

Loop lines are such an important thing

CTA buses are not just a "social" service between the train lines as you mentioned early on. Buses in Chicago are generally used to travel shorter distances or where train service isn't present, and trains help you go farther faster in the city. Most people avoid taking the bus to go across town if the train will do the same thing and get you there faster. There are quite a few vibrant neighborhoods that do not have train service but do have bus service and their economies depend on them. And many of us here know that where the train ends and the bus continues, you can keep on going if you need to. In my mind, the best way to complete the Chicago transit system is to connect O'Hare Airport to Midway Airport via a western train line on mostly existing track. This allows you to connect southwest and northwest sides of the city, and also allows everybody to get to almost any part of the city by rail. And it would spur a lot of development on the west side of the city, though there may be some unintended consequences like higher rents and higher taxes.

Most of the North American city rail and transit systems are a radial design and were effective at the time of conception. The designers were short-sighted about the future expansion of a system, and so most older North American cities like NYC,Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Toronto suffer from the design failure and the correction is difficult and expensive to do. The necessity for urban areas to revive the surface transit systems with light rail is a viable alternative to fill on the gaps of the transit deserts that exist after the trolley systems were abandoned and replace with buses.

Watching this while having lunch right next to the green line tracks. Great video man

Chicago still needs a “mid-city” orbital rail transitway of some sort. Fingers crossed it comes back to the table in…2040 or so.

Chicago Native as well. I'm glad, as mentioned in the video, an agreement is being met, and the redline is extending further South. Metra, CTA, and RTA lines to merge. Therefore, some of what is displayed here may finally come alive. It's desperately needed. The majority of the street before repaving still has the old rail lines and stone/brick streets, which are in prestine condition. I always wondered why a decision was made to no longer use it.

dude i absolutely love the little baseball inserts everywhere. makes it all easier to understand for a dumb baseball fan like me