‘The roads can’t handle that many cars’
Employers fear gridlock, economic toll if workers don’t take Metra, ‘L’ because of COVID-19 risks
Downtown Chicago’s economy is unlikely to roar back from the coronavirus pandemic without the accompanying rumble of elevated trains and other public transit packed with office workers.
As the city restarts its economic engine in and around the Loop, city leaders, employers and business groups face the challenge of restoring confidence in the area’s public transportation network.
Without it, gridlocked roads and overflowing parking garages will further frazzle office workers who’ve largely been cooped up at home since March.
“It’s one of the top issues, absolutely,” said Jack Lavin, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. “Trust is so important. If workers don’t trust taking public transportation, it’s going to be slower for going back to work and slower for the recovery.”
World Business Chicago, a public-private nonprofit agency that promotes the city, estimates that on a given workday there about 406,000 office workers in downtown Chicago, making it the country’s second-biggest central business district after Manhattan.
Many of those people arrive by trains and buses, with the CTA and Metra providing almost 1.9 million rides combined on an average, pre-coronavirus weekday. That includes 1.6 million total one-way CTA rides and 263,000 Metra trips.
Use of public transportation has slowed to a trickle since much of the economy shut down three months ago. Meanwhile, traffic congestion on roads is on the rise.
Instilling consumer confidence in the safety of public transportation is a challenge all cities will face. In an April survey of more than 25,000 U.S. adults by IBM, more than 20% of those surveyed who regularly rode buses and trains said they wouldn’t anymore, and another 28% of respondents said they planned to use public transit less often.
Although Chicago’s office buildings were never formally closed during stay-at-home measures that began in March, downtown buildings have seen a small fraction of the workers who usually make the trek downtown.
The need for distancing, masks and other measures, coupled with fears of acquiring COVID-19 from busy public spaces, leave companies and their workers exploring transportation alternatives as Chicago and Illinois prepare to move to phase four of the reopening.
Riders’ hesitation may come in part from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation in May that people drive to work alone. That guidance rankled public transportation advocates and created concerns of major traffic and environmental impacts in densely populated cities.
The CDC recently backtracked, slightly, by saying household members can drive together and recommending that companies create incentives for using alternate forms of commuting such as walking or biking.
Some employers are, at least in the near term, paying for workers’ parking or Uber or Lyft rides or creating private bus shuttles. Some companies also are encouraging people to walk or ride bikes to work, according to Lavin.
At least one business, the CBOE, explicitly asked workers and visitors to its Options Exchange trading floor, which reopened Monday, to avoid public transportation. Instructions distributed ahead of the reopening included the need to “avoid public transportation by arranging alternative forms of transportation to and from the facilities.”
The public transportation ban only applies to the trading floor at 400 S. LaSalle St. CBOE spokeswoman Alyssa Strickland declined to comment on whether the prohibition will affect CBOE offices in Chicago and other cities when they reopen.
Previously, the New York Stock Exchange barred employees from taking public transportation when its trading floor reopened May 26. The ban was lifted Monday.
“We’re hearing stories from New York and (Washington) D.C. about employers saying if you’ve taken public transportation you can’t come in the building,” Lavin said. “We want to be sure there’s nothing against public transportation here.
In order to do that, we need to have a dialogue.”
The chamber is part of an economic recovery coalition, filled with large Chicago-area employers, that is working with CTA and Metra to survey area companies about their concerns and needs related to public transportation, Lavin said
The chamber also is working with transit agencies on a public awareness campaign to emphasize the effectiveness of efforts such as extensive cleaning protocols, staggered seating and requiring masks for all passengers.
Preparedness efforts have time on their side, as only about 20% of downtown workers have returned, Lavin said. What’s ahead? Metra, which has seen ridership fall as much as 97%, could alter schedules and make other changes if commuting habits, such as staggered work shifts and more working from home, change for the long term, spokesman Michael Gillis said.
“The roads can’t handle that many cars,” Gillis said. “We know we have to remain vital and we have to remain an option for the Chicago area.”
Measures taken by the CTA, which has seen its usage fall 80%, include recently unveiling an online tool to show when buses are too crowded.
Private bus shuttles between commuter train stations and office complexes, such as the route serving Prudential Plaza and the Aon Center, remain in use. Prudential Plaza’s owner, Sterling Bay, also has continued shuttles to 600 West Chicago along the Chicago River and office buildings in the Fulton Market district, according to the Chicago developer.
The office tower at 303 E. Wacker Drive recently added a shuttle from designated pickup points directly to the building, said Mark LaRocca, events manager at Chicago-based Global Charter Services.
A few downtown companies are close to finalizing contracts for shuttles that would be used exclusively by their own employees. Like a school bus, routes would go to parking lots or other points in neighborhoods where there are several employees, and shuttles will take only coworkers from the same firm to their building. Employers are covering the cost, he said.
For added safety, a bus is used only for one company’s trip downtown and back out, with a thorough cleaning in between, LaRocca said.
The company’s BusBank brand also provides transportation for large concerts, sporting events and corporate outings — businesses that have all but stopped during the pandemic. In the near term, the company is focusing more on office shuttles, LaRocca said.
“Those companies’ biggest concern is how to reconfigure the office, LaRocca said. “The secondbiggest concern is how to get people there safely.”
The duration of the shuttle contracts is openended, but they’re expected to continue for at least a few months, LaRocca said.
“There has to be an acknowledgement that people are nervous,” said the chamber’s Lavin. “But long term, it’s not a good thing to have employers pushing other modes of transportation. So let’s have the dialogue now to see how those concerns can be addressed.”