The South Loop-focused blog Sloopin reported last month that more residents in the Prairie District are using the Metra Electric service's 18th Street station to catch a fast, on-time ride into the East Loop. A trip from 18th Street to Van Buren or Millennium Stations costs $2.75 and takes 10-15 minutes. A similar ride on the Chicago Transit Authority's 3-King Drive bus would take over 20 minutes and cost $2.00, and no CTA rail stations are currently within walking distance.
The growing crowd using the previously rickety station will undoubtedly appreciate its recent facelift. Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis said they're replacing the station's wooden platform, shelters, and stairs. "We expect to be done," he said, "by the next home game for the Bears on November 16." The work appeared to be complete as of yesterday.
During rush hour, the Metra Electric's "main line" between downtown and Hyde Park – before the line splits into separate branches – runs with rapid transit-like frequency, with trains arriving downtown every 2 to 8 minutes. Few of these trains, though, stop at 18th Street. On weekday mornings, only four inbound trains will pick up passengers at 18th, but 30 trains always bypass the station. Sloopin' is asking its readers to email Metra and request to have more trains stop at 18th, even if only as a "flag stop." (Trains will only stop at flag stops if a passenger, either on board the train or on the platform, requests so.)
The station's position at the southwest edge of Museum Campus, just west of the proposed Lucas Museum, means it could play a role in the ongoing Museum Campus Framework Plan and transportation study. The first report from that study is due on Thanksgiving week.
