Buyers Making Tracks to Public Transit
Ahhhh…summer in Chicago, the Cubs and White Sox are thrashing it out on the North Side, the beaches are alive with the sounds of volleyball games and splashing surf, and Lake Shore Drive is crammed with motorists looking to squeeze every dollar they can out of the small mortgage payment they are forking over at the pump every week.
One developing impact of these higher gas prices is that buyers are rapidly losing interest in living on the boundaries of urban areas where a car is absolutely essential to get to work and play. As evidenced, in part, by the Neumann Homes collapse, new buyers may not be as eager to invest in homes as far away as Oswego and Grayslake.
Despite the Brown Line construction delays that have made everyone question the efficiency of the El, it seems that a lot of new home buyers are looking to the CTA and similar regional public transit systems as their ticket to lowering commuting costs.
Of course, the El is still a fairly reliable alternative to your gas-guzzling vehicle of choice. And at $2 per trip you can’t beat the price. All of the neighborhoods that I will be focusing on, from Wrigleyville (Addison Red Line) to Wicker Park and Bucktown (Western/Damen/Division Blue Line) and Lincoln Park, have excellent access to the El and various bus lines. In addition, most of these neighborhoods have bike lanes on the major thoroughfares, which may be the single best way to get around this summer.
It is possible to live too close to public transportation. I once lived in a unit that was so close to the Red Line tracks that the conductors waved to me when I sat on my back deck.
Next time we’ll take a closer look at Wicker Park and Bucktown, and where exactly is the dividing line, anyway?
Susan said:
Great blog, the only thing I hate about the brown line is after 8pm they go down to 4 cars per train. Who said that people always get off at 5, don’t they realize that people do work late? We just moved recently where we have great access to the bus line. I feel that the buses are much cleaner and they are on time.
June 28, 2008 10:05 AM
Trains N Busses said:
I decided to go car-less because of gas prices and now mostly use public trans to get around. I was amazed, when I first ditched my ride, to find how many bus routes can take you pretty much everywhere in the city. Paying $2 is better the paying $4!
June 28, 2008 7:52 PM
Dominic said:
Nice Blog. The suburbs like Owsewgo,Huntley, etc. Saw record growth and sales numbers back in the day but once gas prices crossed the $3 mark and kept rising the developers where in for a rude awakening. While Public Transportation has some issues such as timeliness and overcrowding at times; it is a much better alternative than getting hurt (understatement) at the pump.
June 30, 2008 1:31 PM
the clowninator said:
i gave up my car in 1994, live AND work in the city and despite it’s faults, Chicago has one of the best and most comprehensive rapid transits systems around….you can easily get to the neighborhoods you are highlighting(from anywhere in the city) so ditch the car when visiting or going out in these ‘hoods and save gas, parking, tickets, etc….a lot of routes run 24 hrs… bike there, and you can skip the gym that day! GREAT BLOG!
July 2, 2008 9:41 AM
Jason said:
Definitely true. For the daily commuter, you can’t beat the CTA ChicagoCard at $75/mo. Edgewater and Rogers Park also have great access to the Red Line. I hope you’ll report on these neighborhoods too.
July 14, 2008 5:18 PM
greg.johnson said:
We love the El/We hate the El…and so it goes. It is noisy (always) and slow (almost always) but it’s still a damn good system, and cheap! I’m hoping that the Circle Line that has been discussed (see http://www.chicago-l.org/plans/CircleLine.html) is implemented before too long, reducing the spoke and hub inefficiency of the current CTA.
July 21, 2008 3:57 PM