All Activity

#5605 has LED headlights

1727 is now retired. The new farebox it once had is now up for display at the headquarters which proves it is now retired.

Yeah since they are always short on buses

The schedules are out. I don't know what I'm missing but with all these supposed trips being added to forest park there'd be less short turns even accounting for all trains going through after 8pm vs 10-11

Probably loans. 1103 and 1950 went back to C on 4/18.

#8847 and #8858 are now in service. #8847 is not on the tracker yet while spotted at Howard. Also, spotted #8880 on the Dan Ryan heading south.

#1443 and #1585 have popped up at FG, could be a preview of what's to come for the 3rd/4th option #1000s. Send away bloat to all remaining garages while retiring the remaining 126 #1600s - #2000s.

IRRC @andrethebusman99 addressed this earlier. There will be 600 identical buses. plus 25 buses that look about the same, plus 425 buses that probably aren't much different. By comparison, the 1000s, although scattered at various times, had differing Cummins engines, transmissions, etc. The only time I remember CTA having so many of the same kind was the 1970s 1000s/7400s/9000s, but I'm sure in those days the records were in a card file, not on a computer server. What seemed to dictate allocations this time were training and fareboxes.

#8876 is now in service out of North Park this morning.

Indeed which is where the retirement process will be focused on until the first 430 #1000s out the 520 left get selected for a 2nd rebuild.

In essence, the remaining deliveries will primarily go to North Park, C, and K.

#8837 and #8857 are now in service out of Norh Park.

As of now, despite Kedzie earning 6 new Novas within the past week, today they got 1103, 2009, and 1950 from C.

The trips you're thinking of operated between Mercy/Reese and 79th/81st up till a few years after the 2003 Lake Shore Restructuring. Ironically 3 was counted as "key" initially when should've been counted as support back then since North of 35th #4 helped provide the frequency between there and downtown before being rerouted (only difference 3 provided was a one seat ride to mag mile) thus was only heavy from bronzeville to the south; of course that all changed when 3 had to pick up the 4's slack. If we were going by frequency I'd count 29 as support and 3 as key but I think of it like this. Half mile streets are mainly support cause they support not having to walk as far as you would have to if buses only ran on main streets lol

I see some of what you're saying, but you're just not going to convince me that one of the ten busiest routes in the city (and consistently so for the last 20 years) is a "support route" lol. Being close to the 4 is one thing, but it's not like the 29 or SSML are comparatively heavy hitters. Also, all 3 trips went downtown, at least by when I was born and started riding (1999-2003), the difference was going past congress plaza or not (although, as I am now finding out, I didn't realize/remember alternate trips ending at 79th) Edit: I stand corrected, memory is a funny thing, but thanks to the IRM!

I gave up the bus assignment game once they stopped grouping fleet numers together 😅. Hopefully it's easier to put stuff in service, get heavy maintenance and milage trades done without having to make sure the fleet numbers stay consolidated in blocks.

1795 is officially retired. Farebox was taken out of the bus.

Not entirely, there's enough #8350s left to retire whatever 3rd/4th option #1000s at C,K and NP which currently is 125 combined between those 3 garages.

Correct. They also bumped the report in Feb. They only post the PDF if it is not bumped, and there is indeed a bit of a lag between the meeting and posting.

Way too random CTA: Shootout between 2 masked gunmen on Red Line train leaves boy, 13, shot (at Garfield) Man charged in robbery of unique violin on CTA train in the Loop, but it's still missing

#8856 and #8860 were in service yesterday out of North Park.

That's really beyond comprehension as this point.

There are actually a few exceptions made(Jeffery, King Drive before being switched, 52, 54B). I look at it as key routes and rail system being the skeleton providing basic coverage throughout the city. Support routes are the rest of the body, you got stuff like 3, 50 and other long routes that are blood vessels; 96, 201 etc doing localized roles and the expresses outside of 14 are supporting a train or key route like you said. 6 Jeffery was a key, then for a while Jackson park exp was key till it switched roles with 14. I guess the argument can be that Jeffery is so far from the red line it has to basically be a whole key corridor itself since many depend on it vs a long ride to state. 6 being a support doesn't really make sense to me either but I guess it can be argued that it has alternatives nearby (14/26 south of 67th, 15 to the red/green from Hyde park). Back when 6 was still a key route during the 2007 doomsday threats 14 was cut while 6 and 15 would have stayed (downtown riders would have had to take 15 and transfer to 6 or 14 since 14 as a support route was close to 6 and 15 which were key routes. 3 being support makes sense to me cause its close to the green, 4 and 29 and it wasn't until mid 2000's were it started putting in more work. Before that only alternate trips went downtown and it had a pretty late start time particularly on the weekends.

Metra Electric and South Shore Trackwork will impact service between Millennium Station and 18th for two weekends in May. https://metra.com/newsroom/work-to-impact-metra-electric-south-shore-service-on-two-weekends-in-may

8765 has entered service on the 120 but out of Kedzie…. 🗿🗿