South Shore still standing room only

An additional train helped South Shore passengers feel less crowded on their ride to Chicago on Thursday morning, but many were still left without seats, transit representatives said.

With this afternoon's first home game for the Cubs thrown into the mix, the extra train will run again, this time departing the Dune Park station at 9:01 a.m.

Ridership was up 31 percent Tuesday and 24 percent Monday. Wednesday morning's off-peak Train No. 14, scheduled to arrive at Chicago's Millennium/Randolph Street Station at 10:25 a.m., was full by the time it arrived at the Dune Park station in Chesterton, and passengers at the Gary Metro station were unable to board.

The additional riders are attributed to several factors, including the first work week of the Dan Ryan Expressway construction project, two sold-out White Sox afternoon games and students on spring break in St. Joseph and LaPorte counties, said John Parsons, marketing director for the South Shore.

"The problem really was the spring breaks in St. Joe County and LaPorte County," Parsons said. "That really did overwhelm the system."

To accommodate the extra passengers, the South Shore added a westbound, six-car train Thursday, which departed the Gary Metro station at 9:29 a.m.

Parsons said ridership Thursday morning was down slightly, but even with the addition of the extra train, for the fourth consecutive day, "Not everyone got a seat."

Parsons said the South Shore will evaluate the need for the extra train on a daily basis and schedule its departure time and station as it sees fit.

Next week, students from St. Joseph and LaPorte counties who jammed this week's trains will all be back in school, as will the students from other counties along the line, he said.

Still, the Cubs are scheduled to play three home day games next week, which no doubt will bring additional passengers.

"We really need to get school vacations out of the mix, so we can see what we're really dealing with," Parsons said.

"We know that peak ridership is up in the a.m. and p.m. combined somewhere from 11 to 15 percent. The volatile area is off-peak where you don't know what to expect."