Dear South Shore Line Riders,
On July 29th, at the meeting of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Board, we provided an update on the rollout of the new service that started in May. The Board heard from several riders and from members of our front-line staff that the schedule needs to be revised and that our service delivery needs to be improved. As I have stated since we started this correspondence and the end of May, we whole heartedly agree with this assessment and have been working to remedy this situation.
We advised the Board of numerous operational improvements we have made since May, with more to come. We fully embraced the need to revise the schedule and let the Board know a new schedule will go into effect on August 20th. As part of the schedule changes, we reviewed the results of the rider survey we conducted last month with the Board, outlined the key findings, and incorporated many of the requests we received into the new schedule. In addition, we have proposed dropping the weekend scheduled service to McCormick Place, given the extremely low ridership and delay impacts associated with this stop. We will continue to stop at McCormick Place during the week and on weekends for selected special events.
The new schedule and public comment notice on the McCormick Place reduction in service was published online on July 29th. The comment period on this service reduction runs through August 13th. Information on how to comment is posted under the News tab on our webpage www.mysouthshoreline.com, and on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SouthShoreLine . We will submit the comments to the Indiana Department of Transportation, who, by state statute, must approve this change.
Additionally, we received information that service to two stations, Gary Metro and Gary Chicago Airport, was inadvertently reduced. We restored this service with a change to train #112’s scheduled time. Here is a link to the updated schedule: https://mysouthshoreline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/SSL_071524_C_AugustTimetablePoster-5.pdf.
Finally, and as I have stated many times, we will continue to be flexible in our service offerings. If we see the need for additional schedule adjustments in the future, we will not hesitate to make them. We are committed to bringing you the best possible service, and we continue to thank you for your patience and support.
Best regards,
Michael Noland
President
South Shore Line/NICTD