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The one thing that could help the entire CTA bus fleet would be bus signal priority. Let the buses change the traffic lights to green so they can go & not wait forever. The single worst is when the 155 turns north at Devon/Sheridan & has to wait for several minutes to go past the Sheridan Rd. cutoff there. But Clark is also stuck at the lights at Ridge, Elmdale/Peterson & where Ashland splits off at Edgewater Ave for far too much time.

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

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.

#8846 is now in service currently out of North Park.

7191-7198 in service together

I just noticed on the March 2025 schedule for the #4 that it seems CTA extended weekday evening service to/from 115th St, operating to as late as 11pm-1am when it previously ran to around 8:30pm-10pm daily.

I always said getting 200 electrics was a bad idea. It wasn't realistic. Hybrids would definitely work and CTA could still order a small number of electrics with the ILLINOIS EPA grant money if they choose to. But action needs to take place sooner rather than later.

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.

From motorcoach experience, Prevost had better turning radius than MCIs. In fact, Eagles and VanHools do too . It would be reasonable to expect Novas to turn tighter than New Flyers. The sad part is that these New Flyers predate NFI's ownership of MCI.. NEITHER company was known for making very tight turns unless you first swung out. Eagles had the best turn radius ever.

What’s crazy is that this is actually running on Harlem right now

Here's the updates: https://insider.govtech.com/florida/news/miami-dade-county-may-soon-seek-vendor-for-transit-data Also historic bus 1017 was removed from MDT Central Division and sent to Medley awaiting deposition to go to EG Scrap Yard in Opa-Locka along with retired 2010 Nabis HEVs and Gillig HEVs Photo belongs to the original owners, used with permission. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-commissioner-proposes-bodycams-for-bus-drivers-after-deadly-shooting/3609171/ And here's the updates for South Dade BRT: https://www.miamitimesonline.com/news/local/at-the-crossroads-of-transit-housing-and-dignity-quail-roost-station-opens-in-cutler-bay/article_a72b7e27-5b48-47c6-a60b-29dd8d7d5003.html Some of the XE60s are being released when the new Transitway BRT Project comes into action. This’ll be later this year around or after the summer time. 4-door units numbered in E23500s, E24500s and E25500s series. At the time of this writing as of May 2025, 10 2005-06 Nabis Gen 1 diesel and 2 2010 Nabis HEVs Gen 2 left in revenue service; the other majority of the units were retired and scrapped in Opa-Locka by EG Truck Parts. BTW, CPTDB Wiki is an unreliable source of fleet information.

4086 is now retired officially with LTH stickers around the bus. 4121 now has LTH stickers too. 4121 has been retired since 2023 due to major rusting I noticed the rear door light was actually ON in 4121, and everything else is shut off. That’s really weird

Question of the day: Based on this article, did Pope Leo XVI ride the predecessor of Route 353?

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

#1423 and #1427 are on LTH pending litigation and other miscellaneous issues.

Go to the Garages page of chicagobus.org and count them on your fingers.

Most definitely. A race to sit at the next light. 😂😂😂😂

Yeah that just translates to "lemme hurry and beat this guy" here in Chicago

That's an interesting pilot test, I don't know how well that would of worked here though. Drivers here in Chicago are the most aggressive airheads I've ever come across.

Not necessarily a shuttle between Addison and North Ave but more so Short turns between Howard and Addison and or Howard and North Ave. If the #8 Halsted can have Short turns at 41st/Root during peak rush periods to better facilitate service on the northern end the same adjustments can be made to the #22 during peak rush periods and game days. The alternative is the slower 36 with crush loads or taking a chance with the crime ridden serviced delayed Red Line. I definitely agree with your point about signal priority, I'll go even further with by adding in lane signal priority at service stops at major intersections to give operators at least 3 - 5 seconds to merge into traffic ahead of everyone else before the regular signals turn green. I've only seen these on the loop link corridor and on 79th and Lafayette going WB. I'm not sure why CTA and CDOT hasn't added more of these along many corridors with heavy traffic at bottleneck intersections around the system.

Highly unlikely, I think they'll focus on their current models, interesting it mentions on their website that their hydrogen fuel bus will be available in early 2027.

Bus on loan

Buses on loans

I am unsure if CARB will move the target, considering how many agencies have a transition plan and have started (now or by 2028) procurement. That said, the environment here with good maintenance result in keeping the fleet in tact. Case in point: AC Transit has had OTR coaches go 20+ years (with relatively low mileage) and artics about 16 years old (will be replaced soon with hydrogen). LA Metro still has its NABIs on the road (for the moment).

NYC & it's suburbs, Cleveland, Portland (ME), Boston & Hamilton (ON) also have XN40s/XN60s and had them for a while, the cold isn't as huge a detriment to them as they are to straight up BEBs, but on the whole, I don't disagree with it being a rough go here, just not wholly b/c of the cold

They also updated their website several weeks ago.

Based on your post and my observations, CNG Zmight be a rough go here. CA is a warm weather state and the DMV winters aren't as brutal as here. Pace is looking for an alternative to replace their CNG buses at South, and the oldest 20 buses aren't due for retirement for another 2 years. South has been reported to have experienced a lot of issues according to passenger complaints. From experience, extreme cold temperatures affect the fuel and fuel lines which in turn affect mileage.

Agreed with Hydrogen, but CA has been doing fine as all CNG for nearly the past two decades? WMATA has also had two all-CNG garages (technically three) for the last 15+ years as well. MTA in NYC is in a similar boat. Perfectly viable fuel source, but the forest (proven alternatives other than diesel, like ETBs and CNG) was missed for the trees (non-ETB ZEBs that are still by and large, teething) The only reason I said CNG is a no-go for CTA is b/c I don't expect them to construct or convert any garages with the capability. But, unlike hybrids, New Flyer is still making CNG artics, and unlike the fuel cell ones, isn't being forced to take them back.

But this doesn't do anything about @strictures's complaint, which is Howard to about Bryn Mawr. South of North Ave., and until Diversey, 22 and 36 overlap. If you are suggesting a North Ave. to Addison shuttle, the 36 overlap still mostly applies, and, as @artthouwill suggested. use the L. Too many fallacies here, but in reverse order: Unless you believe in 1950s urban renewal by eminent domain, which brought us such classics as Robert Taylor and Cabrini Green. people are going to live where people want to live, and banks will invest only where there is demand. Pouring city money into stuff like Yellow Banana might do something at the margins, but will not resurrect vast wasteland. I noted the city's solicitation for development at 115th and Michigan, possibly a TOD on the RLE, but someone still has to develop it. But people are not flocking the near north, either: Developer Sterling Bay hands over portion of $6B Lincoln Yards site to lender. Kedzie doesn't have room to expand, but you want to assign more routes there? Besides merchants not wanting to lose parking, the city would have to pay off LAZ.

The funny thing is that the 36 used to have short turns at Waveland and Halsted, although those were operated by Limits garage before it closed. It certainly helped with loads between downtown and Clark and Diversey. I don't know why CTA abandoned the short turns on the 36. K could have operated them just like they operated the 151 shorts. Certainly K could operate shorts on the 22 and/or 36 now. Obviously that won't solve traffic issues on fame days and nights. The only other solution is to ban parking altogether on Clark Street, but business along Clark would suffer as parking on the north side is scarce currently. Many residential areas have permit parking. I endured the madness one time and decided that future trips would always be Red or Brown Line trains. As an aside, there's plenty of land to develop on the South Side rather than packing everything into an already dense Lincoln Park. Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Uptown, and Rogers Park area.

Ar least they can get a press release republished.

Welp: they'll restart production in June. https://www.metro-magazine.com/10239790/enc-to-restart-transit-bus-production-deliveries-under-new-ownership?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR5VbTUGa1gySwuGO7M1jRWp8GmaS9gHSQ-o8GCKSRmOUxs8D0F4F6W96e9kag_aem_G0RUV86H-MXejJMND68fNw

(FG’s Boneyard Flyers): 1958 1924 1823 2007 1927 1869 1939 1651 1813 1991 1933 1827 1987 1727 1790 1815 1643 1911 1649 1901 1777 1849 1709 1983 1831 1923 1772 2002 2021 1692 1812 2005 2011 2020 1666 1776 1828 1896 1934 1995 1730 1926 1819 1759 1976 1989 1889 1802 1961 1905 1884 1852 1753 1810 1952 1749 1748 1667 1838 1893 1638 1675 1761 1800 1949 1892 1960 1728 2010 1851 1871 1977 1877 1686 1713 1985 1797 1775 1955 1848 1716 1696 1699 1875 (Total: 85)

CTA has proved over the past 20 years that this is the recipe for bus bunching, unless the routes are running under capacity, in which case the artics are unnecessary. Since it looks like CTA is not going to get 200 electric articulated buses by, say the end of 2027, it is going to have to decide what to do--probably wlll have to get some hybrids of 40' or 60' capacity.

I rode cars 1-4 from Howard to Dempster during those 65 -70 mph speeds going home from work. I used to hold my breath going around the Oakton curve hoping nothing is on the track at the crossing.

It was only a matter of time before this happened.

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

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

Here’s what else entered service this morning on the 22

Photos taken from a recent trip to Toronto: 1982 GM Fishbowl #2251 awaiting passengers at Lawrence Station: GM #2246 hangs a left out of Lawrence West Station on its way eastbound: Both first and second generation Orion Hybrids are seen here as #1020 passes a disabled #1636: Novabus RTS-06 WFD #7219 is boarding passengers along Wilson on its way to York Mills Subway Station: Former CNG Orion V now Diesel #9401 arrives on the upper deck of Wilson Station on Route 29: Hybrid #1732 sits in the fog, awaiting passengers at Scarborough Centre RT Station: Another GM, #2444 on its way to pulling in for the evening on Route 52: The rest of my photos are here: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u91/nabinut/Toronto%20Transit%20Commission/ Videos: GM Fishbowl #2340: Detroit Diesel 6v71/Allison V730 Novabus RTS #7202: DD50/Allison B400R Orion V #9401: Cummins M11/Allison B400R Orion V #7007: DD50/Allison B400R Orion VII First Generation Hybrid #1125: Cummins ISB/BAE Systems Orion VII Diesel #7783: DD50/Allison B400R Toronto Transit Commission Bus Video:

That wasn't even the same plant. That one was in Schenectady, NY. Only thing in common was that CTA had the last order before Nova Bus pulled out.

20418 has not been fixed, just saw it on the 307 saying the route announcement for the 331.

Is ENC promoting new buses for 50th anniversary edition for this year under Rivaz ownership?

Make that 30 years ago

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

I just hope the 9000’s would at least be compatible with the 7000 series. Once the 26 and 3200’s are gone it’s possible we’ll never see a mix series of rail cars again 😞.