As Metra riders, you have firsthand experience with the benefits of commuting by rail. But you may want to share this article with your neighbors who don’t use Metra, but still benefit from its impact on reducing highway congestion.
A new study produced by Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development and professor at DePaul University, looked at Metra’s value to the six-county region it serves. Schwieterman performed the work pro-bono at Metra’s request.
Previous surveys have shown that 74 percent of Metra riders have a car available and choose Metra over driving. Therefore, if Metra was not available, it should be assumed that those passengers would become drivers meaning more cars on the roads, more time spent in traffic, more traffic accidents and more pollution. As it stands now, the DePaul study estimates that each Metra rider represents a nearly $4,700 benefit to non-riders annually by reducing congestion, crashes, roadway maintenance, pollution and parking.
“This is the dominant non-user benefit of Metra: keeping the highways moving,” Schwieterman said.
Breaking down this $4,700 per rider annual benefit, the study shows each additional one-way trip to or from downtown made on Metra provides $6.40 in congestion-relief to Chicago-area highway users by cutting down on the time drivers spend
on the road, reducing vehicle operating costs and giving drivers a more predictable trip.
That’s not to mention the $1.01 each Metra trip saves drivers in collision costs, and the 51 cents in roadway maintenance, traffic services and law enforcement costs not paid by motorist taxes and fees.
Now, take that individual savings and multiply it out by the total number of riders Metra serves each weekday and you have a regionwide savings of $681.5 million annually.
That’s a big number and it’s hard to ignore.
But those benefits could be lost. Without adequate sources of funding for operations and capital, the Metra system will continue to deteriorate and possibly be forced to downsize. While that is sure to sound the alarm for Metra commuters, what this study makes clear is that the possibility of a downsized Metra system should be equally as concerning to those who drive every day.
“I think this study clearly demonstrates that the economic benefit alone from Metra exceeds the subsidy from the state of Illinois,” said Metra Board Chairman Norm Carlson. “The public needs the information that this study provides to better understand Metra’s overall value to our region. Then the people of northeast Illinois can answer the fundamental question: do they value Metra and want it to survive in its present form? Because absent adequate funding long-term, operating and capital, Metra cannot survive in
its present form.”