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Please pass the pipe sir cause..... WHAT?! What's after that? Cutting 67th back to Pulaski cause 79th is close and also goes to Ford City? 🥴

Budget cuts or no, their consistent stated plan was to keep no more than 430 New Flyer D40s. I don't see how state funding from either side of the coin changes that by much. Plus folks keep pressing against that panic button regarding what the state might do when we don't even know what the veto session holds. Yes, it's going to be a bit tougher because of the higher vote threshold, but the Illinois legislature has still shown a willingness to address the issue. That's the huge difference between us and what's facing SEPTA and the other Pennsylvania TAs. PA's state senate is showing close to zero interest to even meet to address the transit shortfall there on the premise that SEPTA is bad with its money, when the truth of the matter is that agency is a hell of a lot better on that front than CTA, Metra and Pace when comparing the numbers. Now getting back to Illinois, the legislature's clear and consistent position has been that cracking down and reforming the governance of Chicago area transit had to be a part of any solution that they hash out. They've hammered out a direction on the governance part. They just need to get it passed into law. Now I'm ready to give them space to attempt to crack the financial part and see if they can accomplish it within the span of the veto session before I hit the panic button just yet.

7207-7208, 7211-7212 and 7213-7214 is enroute to Rosemont Yard from Skokie Shops.

They have been since its inception in 2012. Real time didn't show up to Pace until ~2016, Metra was back and forth as well (~2015ish). Jack's answer is the only one - because Transit can do so much more than what the RTA wants to do (and do it wrongly).

#7167-68*

#7165-66, #7203-06, and #7209-10 are currently in service.

Would kinda make sense for a summer roll out. 18 passes a lot of summer generators and festivals like riot fest or whatever music festival goes on over that way plus the canal street/Roosevelt corridor

Litigation does not mean "the end."

Just spotted a train making the voyage from Skokie Shops to the Blue Line. The only cars numbers I was able to make out were 7213-7214.

As pointed out at the meeting, CTA and Metra are already on the Transit app; Pace deemed that necessary to show connections. As I illustrated somewhere above, a click in Evanston brings up Purple Line, Metra, 93, 201, and 206, as well as Pace. As I said above, this region should just give up parochialism and pay for Transit region-wide, and while it was implied that that was possible, it was also implied that someone else would try to reinvent the wheel and force Pace onto it.

Sunday June 15th.

Why are you spamming the forum with what you "think" especially after you said you "heard," and it is obvious that you did not or could not "read." It's obvious to anyone else that Nova Bus is not selling any more buses in the US Market. Not 8992, 8967, or any other number you imagine. The odds are slightly (not much) higher that Rivaz will sell a FC bus to CTA 🤤.

7201-7202 were also in service today.

7199-7200 in service today. Not sure if there were other new pairs with it, I only caught a glimpse.

More importantly mylar destination signs. Practical limits on how many exposures on a roll (about 125) meant each garage had distinctive signs which while not extremely difficult to change out, were definitely a hassle to do so you tried to avoid doing that.

They might see 2035

The first might actually happen. Cicero/Skokie is weak north of there which is why 641 (pace's replacement) was supposed to run express pass that section.

Yes. It doesn't look like there has been much progress, especially around the Edens Expressway and the Hampton Inn.

An ordinance relating to option orders was discussed in today's Committee on Finance, Audit, and Budget. The committee voted to approve an ordinance authorizing the replacement of a discontinued federal cost escalation index for additional railcars with comparable indices, and General Counsel Kent Ray mentioned option orders and pricing explicitly. "...[the ordinance] recognizes significant savings over having to seek new contracts to procure these railcars. Funding for the option orders will be approved by the board separately prior to production. We anticipate the first option to go into production somewhere two years out." In responding to a question, Ray mentioned that the current cost for the base order is $1.5M per car. As part of the ordinance, the cost escalation is capped at an additional $1.2M on top of that. In addition, he stated that "if we were to go out on the street to buy railcars today, we had an independent cost estimate done, and it was looking as though, uh, we would be paying somewhere in excess of $4.25M per railcar." Yikes! So, it sounds like we're getting 7000 option orders in large part due to sticker shock on the 9000s (?) Committee recommended the ordinance for board approval. Discussion occurs about 2 hours and 12 minutes into the video. Board meeting itself happening now; should resume and vote on approval after executive session.

54B extended to 54th/Cermak Pink Line Terminal in Summer '25 82 to 31st and Pulask Bus Terminal in Fall '25. 75 extended to 79th and Western Bus Terminal in Winter '25.

The length of the route kinda takes 77th out as a choice cause Pulaski is pretty far away. 53A is a quick run time so it fits at 77th.

Reading the asterisks in the alert as tea leaves, it seems the extended hours for 18, 73, 147, and 157 are occurring with the summer pick now. Interestingly, 73 was left off the list at this morning's strategic planning and service delivery meeting. For fall: 53 restructuring. For winter: 93 extension. Committee recommended for board approval.

Some of the 6900-6907s were in the boneyard. Pace has to advertise all buses for sale. That's like what @artthouwill indicated. Historically, someone (like Private Transportation in Brooklyn) bought a few Pace buses for use, but, as has been noted frequently in this forum, Adelman's was the only bidder for low mileage about 16 year old 2600s, meaning they were all scrap. If you want to buy one, look for the contract opportunity, but be prepared to tow it away, as Pace won't let you drive it off its property.

That's a good question. It may depend on how they acquired the buses. I think some buses in the past were leased. Those would go back to the company that Pace leased from. As for buses they purchased, unless another transit agency purchases them, I would think that they too would be sold for scrap. No one really wants or needs used OTRS with bo lavatories.

7213, 7214 in service yesterday

Turns out MyMetra magazine for 2Q 2025 says what I said:

I don’t think the budget shortfall will hinder the CTA from sinking money into rehabbing the 400 remaining 1000s they keep. But the upcoming cuts are way worse to ever imagine compared to how the cuts forced CTA to retire the 6000s 15 years ago along with eliminating a few bus routes and reducing train service by 25%. However there is a strong possibility that lawmakers will return for a special session in the summer or the fall veto session to address the issue but it will be much harder as it will require a 3/5ths vote instead of a majority. If they would had rushed to the table at the end of March after this was first issued, they could have had a higher chance of securing the funding by May 31st to defeat the fiscal cliff.

Seeing that this got scattered all over the place, and that I split the RTA abolition and money threads, I thought I wouyld bring this back here with 2 additional observations. First, they could come to an agreement and the governor could call a special session. Second is this Rich Miller column: "Way too much fell through the cracks at the Statehouse." Although mostly discussing an energy bill, he also said "People were spread too thin across too many major items (including mass transit reform and the state budget), and, as a consequence, way too much fell through the cracks." (There was other stuff like a tax sale bill, that was like 50 years overdue,) But as Miller said, "Human beings tend to wait until the last minute to do things. But the leaders need to start enforcing earlier deadlines for giant issues like this energy proposal so they can deal with other time-sensitive things (the budget and revenues, for instance) at the end. Or maybe the other way around. Far too many major issues were left to May 31st. And that procrastination led to problems ..." Same thing with the transit bill. It looked like the path was the MMA bill, but the unions and the existing bureaucracy was pushing for a rival joke bill, and there were the funding before reform advocates and other factions. Then out of somewhere, the much better NITA bill arose with about 3 days to go, and there were the "suburbs are screwing the city" and "the city is screwing the collar counties" factions, but those seemed satisfied, given that the governor would be given the balance of power and the right to name the first chairperson. But then there was the dispute on taxes and tolls, which couldn't be resolved in 24 hours. The other thing is similar to Miller's point is that the deadline for committee action for all bills was supposed to be May 1, but this one kept being extended, and both Houses resorted to stripping other bills. Same old s---, but that's how the GA operates.

The difference is the #1000s and #4000s came in together between 2006-2009 to replace the entire fleet of #4400s, #5300s, #5800s and #6000s.#7500s saved the #6000s from getting knocked off sooner. The #6000s would of gotten retired initially by 2014 as the #7900s came in along with the first few batches of #6400s had the budget cuts not taken place. Fast forward to now the 600 #8350s were ordered to replace the last remaining #6400s which before the fall of 2019 was still around 70-75 or so and the first 500 or so #1000s depending on there condition because as always the worst buses get knocked off mixed in with mileage, warranty, and overall age. That process was fast tracked to the seemingly younger 3rd/ 4th option #1000s due to rotting of there carbonated steel frames. Currently about 320 #1000s have been retired with another 70 - 100 slated for retirement in the next 12 - 18 months. So long story short budget cuts would of sideline the oldest equipment anyway regardless if the funds were acquired for a 2nd overhaul of the #1000s. I wouldn't put it past CTA to sideline another 220 buses within the next 7 months barring the budget cuts.

I gotta check if the 4/N4 Cottage Grove bus stop sign had been updated.

These are the latest #8350s to hit service, 67 remain awaiting to enter service which should happen by early August. 8930 6/2/25, 3:46 PM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 73 73 -811 C 8870 6/2/25, 4:11 PM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 72 72 -813 C 8889 6/2/25, 4:36 PM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 157 157 -807 C 8873 6/2/25, 5:16 PM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 74 74 -811 C 8874 6/3/25, 4:51 PM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 20 20 -816 C 8878 6/4/25, 7:31 AM 6/4/25, 8:21 AM 73 73 -812 C

I was heading home visiting my cousin who’s in town for attending UIC in the fall, and I stumbled onto this when I got off the #18 at 18th & Ashland, new updated bus sign but now says “late evening” instead of “mid-evening”. If I recall, the #18 was one if the few bus routes getting extended hours in the fall pick (August). But seeing this here, guess it means #18 will be getting its hours extended in the summer pick? Or they just prepping 2 months early? 😅

I think even if though they didn't act at the present moment, they still will try to do something. All the indications they gave consistently leading into the end of spring session was that they weren't going to just dump money in without any reforms to the governance of each of the service boards. They seem to have gotten the governance part of it pinned down. Now they can get to work on ways to fund what they want the RTA's potential replacement to do with Chicago area transit going forward beyond the convoluted mess that the current RTA as currently structured in relation to CTA, Metra and Pace currently are. All the different driver unions that Pace alone has to make agreements with kind of displays how convoluted operating transit in Chicago and its suburbs has become. On the SEPTA front, it's actually sad the Pennsylvania state Senate is refusing to act because the records seem to indicate that SEPTA is more efficient in how much actual transit it gets from each dollar spent compared to CTA, Metra and Pace.

What do you guys think about Ford's new 2014 Transit vans coming out this summer? Do you think the big cities like Chicago, New York..etc will transition to these, or will they stick with the E-series vehicles for the next few years? We wrote a few things about the transit on our blog, but we are unsure if the Transit vans will see as much success as Ford has had with the E-series.

Retirement has been started. Do some research

We already knew that for many years.

Nope. I was told we’re getting 15 of them and letting go of 15 flyers 😔.

Recently they had two diesel LFR’s at 103rd after they came back from SS, but they have since ended up back at P. I always wonder why they haven’t got to moving the diesel’s down to 103rd yet. You don’t see as much drivers hit 55 mph on the NP routes as you do on the 103rd routes. This month, 103rd has only operated 19 DE60LF buses, and 18 others have not seen service this month. In May, these have operated on 103rd routes: 4000, 4005, 4034, 4037, 4040, 4043, 4048, 4070, 4083, 4090, 4097, 4108, 4109, 4175, 4177, 4179, 4186, 4190, and 4194. 4097 has just returned after being OOS since January. Only 5 out of 9 buses 103rd got from Kedzie in March are currently active. the other 18 listed as active within the last 6 months are: 4011 (I saw it return to 103rd after being OOS there for 2 weeks on 4/9, then it broke again on 4/15, OOS till 4/25, it broke down again on 4/25 and hasn’t been seen since) 4035 - this bus is often at the SS 4036 - OOS since december - visited SS multiple times in 2024 4045 - OOS since March, currently at south fence. Another bus that visited SS and even the boneyard a lot in 2024. 4046 - OOS since March, currently at SS 4047 - been at SS for a long time in the end of 2024, I saw them bring 4047 back to 103rd in mid December but less than a week later it wound up back at SS and has been there ever since. Must have a major problem going on it’s at south fence rn without a farebox. 4091 - OOS since 4/24 4101, 4103 - from Kedzie, OOS since March 4107 - OOS since early January, south fence bus 4111, 4113 - haven’t been seen since end of april 4116 - OOS since February 4173 - OOS since early december 4176 - at SS fence, appears to have parts being taken out 4180 - OOS since mid April 4182 - OOS since november 4184 - OOS since end of april Buses OOS for over 6 months that last ran at 103rd include the following: 4014 - supposed to be at NP - OOS since April 2024 and in boneyard 4033 - OOS since March 2024, has no bike rack and been at south fence since the summer 4051 - OOS since november 2023 4102 - OOS since october 2024, hit 6 month mark, at south fence 4105 - OOS since March 2023, at south fence 4112 - involved in accident in November 2023, unsure status 4114 - OOS since november 2022, appears to have parts taken out and in boneyard 4115 - involved in an accident May of 2022 4118 - retired after November 2021, in boneyard LTH 4172 - OOS since February 2023 4174 - OOS since November 2022 4178 - involved in accident February 2023 and is in boneyard 4181 - OOS since January 2023, at south fence 4183 - OOS since December 2022 4185 - retired after June 2021, in boneyard LTH with 4118 4187, 4189 - OOS since january 2023 4188 - OOS since December 2022, at south fence 4191 - OOS since February 2023 4192 - OOS since july 2023, in boneyard 4193 - OOS since January 2023, has been at OOS in 2024 appeared to be getting work done, but must’ve been cancelled as it’s still there 4195 - involved in accident in September of 2021 That’s 22 buses that have been OOS since before November of 2024. 103rd should have diesel artics since they are known for having their DE60LF’s going OOS consistently, most often for more than 3 months.

7191-7198 in service together

Seems like the most relevant of irrelevant places to post this: Getting to the March 2025 meeting on approving the purchase of 125 minivans (apparently the surplus mentioned at the time VanGo started was liquidated), besides mentioning how it happened to be under a Minnesota contract, it was to purchase Honda Odyssey. When further asked what Pace uses now, it is Dodge Caravans, but they {Chrysler Pacificas] are assembled in Canada, and so the only Buy America compliant choices are Honda and Toyota.

NO. Didn't you read above that NovaBus is no longer producing in the US and has left the market?

800, 802-809 to Scrap Metal Services early 2024. Series now extinct.

The Ford Transit 350 is the "Salvation Army Official Vehicle" (from observation). Somebody found a transit seat use for it.

Anything goes out for bid on a spec.; on this class of vehicles to car dealers. As what you indicated from the old days, if the spec was for essentially a minivan, there were several domestic companies that could provide it. Now, essentially only Chrysler, Honda and Toyota make minivans, as most of the automotive business has gone over to CUVs. However, if the next spec is essentially for "7 passenger gasoline powered vehicles," probably all three types of vehicles would be eligible for bid. Then you essentially get down to price, and whatever the procurement guidelines are for minority participation and the like. The Nissan NV200 tall van was to be the standard New York taxi, although a Fortune article says that didn't work out. That probably would have been comparable to the Ford Transit Connect, as opposed to the larger Transit.

Considering the Traditional and Metra Vanpool programs use Caravans… …and the issue of the Buy America waiver changes the perception of purchasing…

Busjack, I think you're right. The blog link and His profile provides a link to this : http://www.coachbussales.com/

If it is just how the industry is evolving, it seems like most of the sellers here are going to the European style high van (Nissan, MB/Freightliner, RAM/Fiat, and Ford). The only transit relevance is what is going to be available for, essentially, the 11 passenger vanpool or the AdVANtage lift equipped vans, in which case I assume that the dealers have to comply with their contracts to Pace.

Hey thanks for your input! And i promise you this is not a post for commercial interest whatsoever. I am just curious to see how you guys see the industry evolving. I am somewhat new to the industry so hearing others viewpoints is something i think is important to help me better understand the field.

No transit authority here uses them. There is a slight demand for vans in the Pace Vanpool program, but that's a matter of competitive bidding, The only Fords used is as chassis for an Eldorado National paratransit body. BTW, if this is a commercial in which you have a financial interest, you ought to disclose that.

It is the third time cta has used the fleet number 1104. 1) 1927 Twin Coach 40 ex Chicago Railways 4 2) 1972 GM T8H-5307A 3) 2006 New Flyer D40LF