Amtrak usage between Milwaukee and Chicago is up over 24% over a year ago.
Amtrak says its passenger train service between Milwaukee and Chicago continues to set ridership records.
For the first five months of the year, the seven daily Hiawatha Service round trips carried more than 281,000 passengers. Amtrak says that’s a 24 percent increase over last year. Chicago Tribune
I can hear the counter argument already… “Maybe Milwaukee’s use of fixed rail is up, but Milwaukee’s situation is different than the one here in …. Milwaukee”.
Imagine if we had a commuter rail line between the two cities like the proposed KRM route between Milwaukee and Chicago?
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and son Carter.
I’m definitely a supporter of mass transit but I think a key to the KRM project will to make sure that around each station they upzone the land in the area to allow for higher heights and densities. This would allow for TOD projects to sprout up along the line just like what is happening in Charlotte, NC’ light rail line… This will boost ridership and property values.
Whenever I go to Chicago I take Amtrak, I don’t have the courage to face Windy City traffic. Still, I refuse to ride on Milwaukee County buses, Milwaukee traffic is a snap.