Outrage. Disbelief. Skepticism. These were all feelings people told me they had while reading my April Fools Day post — a mock news report saying all Peoria flights would be going through Bloomington’s airport.
Everybody recognizes that flying to Bloomington and switching planes would be silly. Those who fly want direct flights to major hub cities, like Chicago.
Yet local leaders are actively pursuing something equally absurd: a passenger train to Normal. Instead of pursuing a direct route to Chicago, local leaders are all too willing to settle for a shuttle to the twin cities where passengers can switch to another train that will then take them to Chicago.
It will never work. People take the train to save time and money. A train into Chicago saves time since gridlock traffic can be averted getting into the city. Money is saved because a round-trip ticket is less than the cost to park in Chicago, let alone the cost of gas to drive there.
But going from Peoria to Chicago via a connecting train in Bloomington will add considerable time and expense — time and expense that can be avoided by simply driving to Bloomington and parking for free. And that’s what people will do.
The city should be pursuing direct passenger rail service to Chicago, not a shuttle to Bloomington-Normal. For additional reasons, see David Jordan’s posts on this topic here and here.