Experts say it will take a while before traffic returns to pre-pandemic normalcy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A fascinating riddle in this pandemic world involves traffic.
We've learned that the after-work commute is back to being a nightmare -- but the morning drive in, not so much.
But why is that? CBS 2's Chris Tye hit the road to find out.
Normal. We've been trying to get back to in so many ways. And on the roads? We have a way to go.
CHRIS: "How close is Chicago to getting back to full on the road normalcy?"
BOB: "I think it's going to be awhile. "
Bob Pishue of INRIX Location Analytics studies traffic patterns.
"We look at cities from San Francisco to Minneapolis to Chicago to Washington D.C. -- and we're pretty much seeing the same thing, that the afternoon commute in a lot of areas commute is back.
Afternoons — when commuters mix with those headed to the grocery or kids practice, that's back in full, he says. Mornings -- are not.
"It's a matter of that morning commute. Chicago is still about 25 percent down from where they were pre-COVID," Pishue said.
Here's a look at Chicago traffic from before the pandemic through this month shows that January 30, 2020, weeks before pandemic, Chicago roads at 132 percent of normal flow -- three months later, it plummeted to 31 percent. At the start of this month, we were at the midway point between those two -- 82 percent.
"And it's been slow and steady to come back."
On the rails -- a similar story.
Metra seeing 65 percent fewer passengers compared to pre-pandemic.
Their Rock Island has added trains because of demand from essential workers using it.
By contrast: The SouthWest Service Line has seen more than half their trains scrubbed due to lack of demand.
The CTA never cut train service. They say ridership remains down, but recovering better than many major transit agencies:
Currently, the CTA carries about 800,000 riders on an average weekday—more than the entire population of Seattle every day. That's more than 4.5 million rides every week. We are at about 52% of pre-pandemic capacity… a much higher recovery number than most major transit agencies.
We are still working to gather the line-by-line ridership-retention info you asked for; will provide as soon as we have it.
Historically, the Red Line sees the highest ridership numbers, followed by the Blue Line (both lines run 24/7). The Yellow Line, with just three stops, carries the fewest customers.
Will normalcy return to Chicago traffic?
What we do know is that two things — new variants and new work-flows — will be the forces that ultimately drive that answer.
Roads further out from city centers have seen traffic return more quickly. Experts say it's because factory jobs in rural and suburban areas don't have the remote work options often afforded to tech and IT jobs in the city center.