A TEN YEAR TIME HORIZON.

When I hired out at Northern Illinois University, local thinking was that the Metra commuter train would be coming to DeKalb sometime in the next ten years.

I hired out in 1986.  There is still no Metra commuter train.  There is still sentiment for getting it extended.

That poster was in the window of the House Cafe, which itself came in, changed owners a few times, and ultimately closed, and the poster has since been removed.  But it offered a decent view of the Overland Route while it lasted.

Now, though, DeKalb residents will have enhanced opportunities to ride a connecting bus to the train at Elburn.

“This idea has been talked about for probably close to a decade,” Second Ward Alderperson Bill Finucane said during the council’s discussion. “To finally see it come into fruition is very gratifying.”

The current service offers four bus lines to Elburn train station on Friday afternoons and three on Sunday afternoons when NIU is in full session, according to the huskieline website. The new service will operate one trip per morning Mondays through Sundays and one trip per afternoon Mondays through Thursdays, with services operating Saturday afternoons as well, according to the proposed document. Friday and Sunday afternoon scheduling would remain the same.

The four Friday and three Sunday trips are primarily for students heading toward Chicago in the mid-to-late afternoon: whether the new schedules will be for the benefit of commuters or of shoppers remains to be seen.  The service will receive a subsidy from the state Department of Transportation, let's see when the first complaint about transportation subsidies crops up.