The "entrance" to the station.
Metra? I've ridden Metra? This post is actually about the second time I rode Metra. The first? That'll come with another post sometime soon. I only found myself on this Metra journey because a friend of mine (yes, I have friends that know this stuff) had told me that Metra is not a smooth ride outside of Metra Electric (spoilers?).
From where I currently live, the closest Metra line is UP-N, but I didn't choose the easiest journey (which for me and what I did that day, would be Clybourn to Ogilvie). I chose to go to Ravenswood, in Zone B, for two reasons - more time riding Metra, and I had a photo to get for a future blog post.
The "entrance" to the station.
When I reached the station (a short walk from the Damen Brown Line station), I was greeted by a newer-looking entrance. Ravenswood station is currently going under a reconstruction project (a very slow one), and this turned out to be the entrance to the northbound platform. This construction project was apparently supposed to be done in 2014... yeah, that's not the case. I walked to the other side of the tracks, under the bridge on Lawrence Ave and found a similar, but boarded up, entrance. I look across the street and I find the actual entrance I am looking for to get on a southbound train.
The current southbound platform (as of the time I write this).
I walk up those stairs and I am greeted by a temporary platform, actually about 6 feet away from the old platform at Ravenswood. That platform has likely seen better days. (It's actually visible on the right side of the above photo.) The temporary platform has no shelter at all, but that was fine on the day I visited, when it was nice and sunny outside.
I didn't actually walk over to the completed northbound platform, but from what I saw, it looked nice and was sheltered.
My train arriving into the station. Yes, UP-N trains run on the left side for some reason.
Ravenswood (and most of the UP-N line) sees really good service, better than my old home station in Massachusetts. On weekdays, the station sees trains every hour between 5 am and 1 am, and at times in the morning and afternoon, trains can come as frequently as every 30 minutes. I was lucky and waited about 10 minutes during my trip. UP-N also gets both Saturday and Sunday service, with trains about every 2 hours, but there are times where it's hourly, and then there's a 3 hour gap on Saturday nights. Why, just why Metra? Why can't you just have an easier to understand schedule?
Connections? The CTA's 81 runs along Lawrence Ave all the way to the lake on one end to Jefferson Park on the other.
I spent $4.25 on this adventure downtown. Fixing Fare Zones 2 says that this should be $1.11.
Thoughts on Metra so far? I was expecting more ba bum ba bump, but maybe that'll come as I ride other lines.
Posted: Sep 10, 2022 10:58
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