Without looking it up, isn't Metra's daily ridership up over 350k a day or so? Would that system work with that many people?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

They need to do something about the metra middle aged lady gangs.

This.

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I witnessed a new member being brought in today. The leader was telling her which train they take in the afternoon and where they sit. I got the feeling it was less an offer and more an order.

+10000000000

Some lady was with her group and got a phone call, she talked for 15 minutes yelling and carrying on into the phone. When she was done one of her 'train friends' told her she would be flipping out if someone else did that. She replied "Yeah but this was ME doing it so its OK". They all laughed and I just wished for a meteor to hit the train.

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While I'm sure there is a need for repairs and fleet upgrades, it seems that Metra is always hiding behind "modernization" as a way to sell fare increases to pay for higher salaries and pension costs. Their latest bulletin showed a breakdown of the budget, and most of the projected increase is labor costs. But "capital improvements" sounds better than "raises."

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How about some Wifi on the train, Badrogue?

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Being a Metra conductor would be a pretty cool job. I wonder who you have to know to get one of those.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

That's a great example.

They are the worst

That's an interesting viewpoint

I like trains. And not thinking.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

If they can do it on MegaBus, the most "ghettoest" form of public transportation there is, then it can be done on Metra.

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Well, there you go

Sign up. There's your retirement plan.

"Everybody loves Wi-Fi but they don't want to pay for Wi-Fi," board member William Widmer said, referring to Metra customers.

Widmer urged Metra to "pull the plug" on the project.

"We're spinning our wheels" with more discussions and paying for further work by the consultant, he said.

The consultant, San Francisco-based Xentrans, estimated that it would cost $3.4 million for a one-year Wi-Fi pilot project on a single Metra line, the Rock Island.

Equipping trains on all 11 Metra lines for five years would cost more than $70 million unless a private partner, such as an advertiser or a wireless service provider, could be found to offset the costs, the consultant found.


It doesn't seem like 70 million is all that much when talking about spending billions. If they're trying to market themselves and attract new riders while making current ones more content its probably something they should do. Give em what they want and throw them a bone. It'll make the fare increases a little easier to swallow. Couple things about delays as it gets brought up a lot . Nothing is ever going to prevent delays at some point. Switches malfunctioning ( fun fact, on the BNSF did you know that the switches are controlled via satellite by the dispatchers in Ft Worth? ) , Engines breaking down, crossing gates malfunctioning, track maintenance going on , freight train interference( especially on the lines Metra shares with the UP and BNSF, while they may tell the public they are working on better communication to lessen the delays freight trains cause, I can assure you those respective railroads are telling Metra to pound sand when they bitch about the delays caused by running freight first. Thats what pays the bills for those guys, the contract commuter service while not a net loss for them as it is for Metra as they get reimbursed every penny the spend to run the passenger service, is far down the list of priorities as to who gets to move first. 10x out of 10 they will run the freight first, delays to commuters be damned) . With the installation of PTC, the entire schedules are going to have to be reworked. It doesn't allow to run trains that close together as they are during the morning / evening peaks. It will mandate slower speeds and further spacing between trains that can run at top speed. In short, it will mean less trains running on the same track at once. Whereas before if you missed your 7am train , it may be 22 minutes instead of 15 between the time the next one will arrive. Thats going to be one giant clusterfuck and a lot of trial and error . Believe me when I say that the people making those schedules aren't the sharpest hens in the marquee to begin with so just hope its not winter when it first gets implemented.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Glad the government will save us from all those train crashes.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I've taken MegaBus probably over 15 times to Ann Arbor and only once have been able to get it to work. That was a midnight bus with maybe 12 people on it.

I'm curious how they arrive to this conclusion? Would a one-time yearly or monthly pass would sell?

The increases would sting a lot less if the government reinstated the $245 monthly transit deduction, which was reduced to $130 for 2014. The parking deduction is still at $250 per month...don't we want to encourage public transportation?

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12 hour days and 6 day work weeks. Oh, and federal law says that you get NO time and half over 40 hrs.

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Nothing extra for holiday / weekend work either.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

do they get paid regular time for overtime? if so, that's better than what I have now, which is zero. Do they get a pension? I don't. Job security? Don't recall any conductor layoffs.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

You are working 72 hour weeks?

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maybe I would if I got paid for it!

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Their pension is 100% self funded. Read up on railroad retirement for more info. Conductors are furloughed all the time, especially when you first get hired and have no seniority or you are forced to "chase" work hundreds of miles away when they cant hold a job seniority wise in their home terminal. If 12 plus hour days 6 days a week appeal to you, the UP and BNSF are always hiring conductors . Check out their websites for openings.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

yeah, well they still get to ride on trains all day. And wear cool uniforms. Cha-ching!

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Well yeah, there is that.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

And when they switch your work duty to nights, in the dead of winter in the Proviso yards, I hope that you have plenty of thermal clothing.

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no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

BEAR weather! TRAIN weather!

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I had three jobs I wanted as a kid. I've had two of them, but after talking to conductors on Metra when I worked downtown, I had to drop the third option, train engineer/conductor.

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