Leaderboard

One of the last CTA with our last NYC bus today. Very surreal for sure, I am glad so many people enjoy the buses! I have probably hundreds if not thousands of photos from my years there that I will definitely share at some point. I lost my Flickr account due to not using my Yahoo account ugh.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

This was 2 mins ago.

Yeah, but in those days, buses didn't include fareboxes (most just had a shelf where you laid your token), electronic signs (they just grabbed a roll sign off some other bus), farecard readers, gps, radios, emergency alarms, cameras, cell phone hotspots, powered rear doors, collision avoidance systems, wheelchair ramps, and electronic engine control.They also didn't have emission controls, although maybe propane buses didn't need them. CTA also probably had an adequate number of mechanics @ $6/hour.

The other pages were just miscellaneous items related to the picking schedule for the rest of the year.

Yeah the 52 was rumored to be getting extended but that yet to be confirmed by CTA/Local 241. The 75 getting extended to 79th/Western doesn't make much sense with the terminal being that small with 4 other routes counting the Weekday X49s that sit there with the 349. If the 50 does go to K what does NP gain in return other the 151? I'm surprised that FG hasn't gotten Fullerton back after all these years. I hope the return of the X54 will come in the near future at the very least CTA is dropping the ball with the return of Express service on local streets. The return of X3 is long overdue along with the X80.

West of Clark but east of Ashland. Unless you live just steps from Clark, it's not a long walk. While we can appreciate your particular ailments, CTA service doesn't revolve totally around you. Suppose someone with a similar condition lives steps from Ashland and Bertram. They either have to make that walk to Clark or use paratransit . The Ashland reroute is a suggestion to speed up service on the portion of the route that you live on which is further north. I would think you would be in favor of something that would reduce your wait times up in Rogers Park.

It appears that March 22nd is the effect date for spring changes on the CTA bus system. CTA has announced the launching of a new “Frequent Network” initiative to improve frequency on select bus routes & operating on a “10-minute or less” frequency scale during certain times on all days of the week. The article confirms 20 bus routes will be part of this initiative, taking effect throughout 2025. The 8 listed below are the ones set for added service later this month: #J14 Jeffery Jump #34 South Michigan #47 47th Street #54 Cicero #60 Blue Island/26th #63 63rd Street #79 79th Street #95 95th Street No other service changes to these or any other bus routes have yet to been announced at this time. For more information on the CTA “Frequent Network” initiative, here’s the link to the press release: https://www.transitchicago.com/cta-launches-new-frequent-network-for-buses/

Adding a 3rd more simpler option: since Belmont and Halsted isn't used by 151 any more try 22's between downtown and Belmont 🤷

There was a CT Board presentation that CTA was supposed to get 6 of on the left, but I'm sure you can confirm that's not gonna happen.

7199-7206 are currently at Skokie Shops. 7177-78 should be in service while 7157-58 are yet to be mated. 7203-04 were delivered today and I decided to show how they’re delivered from the flat trucks. The unit we were using is called a shuttle wagon. It’s a diesel engine unit that can drag any unit anywhere around the yard when there’s no third rail available. We had to use a flatbed car to couple to the 7000s because of coupling issues in the past with the shuttle wagon.

That's the paper that every bus got on the assembly line, LD75 the contract # and the date is when the bus was scheduled for lay down. Usually these are removed prior to shipping, but as it's a pilot bus it may not have gotten removed.

8949 is in Plattsburgh inside the building right now, or was at 4pm. I was working on it today replacing a Clever unit and doing validations on Rosco. 😉

Here's the remaining list of #8350s at SS along with the remaining batch that have yet to be delivered embolden in black below. There is a total of 13 left that haven't been delivered yet. Once they arrive that will conclude the delivery process. #8765, #8804, #8816, #8822, #8825 - #8843, #8845 - #8853, #8856 - 8879, #8880, #8881 - #8885, #8886, #8887 - #8895, #8896, #8897 - #8909, #8910, #8911 - #8913, #8914, #8915, #8816, #8817, #8819, #8821 - 8924, #8925, #8926 - 30, #8931, #8932, #8933 - #8935, #8936, #8937, #8938, #8939 #8940 - #8945 (Total: 109) Excluding the the ones embolden.

Well, Rosemont Yard capacity is 260 cars and Des Planes Yard capacity is 122 cars. Since the Blue Line currently have 80 runs (30 Forest Park and 50 O’Hare) while having to ton of runs terminating at UIC-Halsted, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rosemont have at least 100 cars of spares.

#8945 is at SS.

Elston actually isn't that hard to navigate (compared, say, to Lincoln or Clark), but now with all the big box stores on it, is about as pedestrian friendly as Golf Road in Schaumburg (ha ha).

I'd rather support the 41 coming back, despite the service hours of the 11 being garbage. That being said: The problem with the 11 and the 41 is the need for infrastructure that prevents cars (and buses) from moving faster. I feel that bus speeds (even off-peak) won't justify a return for any diagonal routes because walking might be a priority. The partnership with Hayden, along with enforcement powers, might help the red lanes (as a whole), but doesn't solve our initial problem with the diagonal streets.

It seems very confusing with the slow rates of them being put into service while at the same time there’s hardly any 2600s out there at Skokie Shops awaiting scrapping. The last time I’ve checked before I’ve left the Blue Line, it was approximately 380 cars to equip the entire line.

There has been mention of how long it takes between when a bus shows up at South Shops and it goes into service. Back in the days of propane Flxibles, the normal procedure was it arrived Tuesday, got signs and fare box and a "license applied for" tag and goes to garage Wednesday and out on a run Thursday. The fact it made it from Loudonville to Chicago was seen as proof it was fit for service. An era when things were simpler and less prone to "bugs".

I figured Metra would wind up renaming the three UP Lines, but renaming all the lines might be a little extreme. With the exception of the BNSF and the UP, none of the other freight lines exist. I believe the current naming system is fine. People can learn it. But if Metra is so adamant about changing the name of all the lines, then name them according to their downtown Terminals. For instance. Ogluvie North Ogluvie NW, and Ogluvie West. The LaSalle South * and LaSalle Beverly) and the LaSalle Southwest ( when SWS switches from Union Station to LaSalle station. Then you can have Union Fox Lake, Union Elgin, Union Antioch, Union Aurora, Union Joliet, and Union Manhattan. I didn't choose direction to keep conLocal. down.. I personally like Metra Electric, but in keeping with the pattern, you can have Millennium South Chicago, Millennium Main Lune, and Millennium Blue Island as well as Millennium Kensington Local.

Clark could use more bus bulb-outs/in-lane stops so the bus isn't having to pull in and out of traffic. Moving stops far-side will also help, we've done both in DC along many corridors in 1-2 mile segments and seen a corresponding increase in bus speeds

I'm sure those passengers wished the X4 would start on 115th going to the Loop. They don't want to transfer to the 115 or the Red Line, either. 🤷🏾‍♂️😂

The amount of people not wanting to transfer to the 115 is the main reason believe it or not. They want a long single seat ride to 115th believe it or not and having worked the X4 during the mornings and so many passengers ask me if I'm going to 115th and all I can do is stare in amazement. 😅

That 73 service hour extension will be liked, I've heard a lot of folks complain about that. I have my own guesses and speculations, but I'd love to look at the stop-level data to see what's pushing the 4 for full-time service to 115th. I was curious when it started and more curious now. Anecdotally, I know my mother and grandmother use it to get to the 111A, but I'd love to know the other use cases for it. At the risk of sounding greedy, I wish the N87 could now be extended to Cottage Grove.

There used to be the X54 between Jefferson Park and Midway, touted as a way to connect the two airports. I suppose it would work again. On Pace picking it up south of Midway, the last time it was proposed that Pace pick up CTA discontinued routes (i.e. 17, 56A, 90N), Pace disclosed that it was cooperating with CTA, so this proposal makes sense (especially since there used to be signs at Midway to take any of 379-385 to Ford City). There can't be that many additional stops given the long railroad overpass. I also suppose that with 54A discontinued, 53 and Pace will be able to use the Ford City bus center, which should alleviate @andrethebusman's concern about the 53 south terminal.

I like the 93 extension I like the 54B to 54/Cermak idea although I think ultimately the 54 gets extended to Midway Orange Line and the 54B gets eliminated It makes sense for North Park to do trips on the 9. The question is whether the X9 will also receive some North Park trips? I'm not sure what's going to be gained by extending the 75 to 79th/Western other than ferrying drivers to the 79th/ Western terminal. The 94 can do the same thing to 69th and Western. The one extension we've been talking about hasn't surface yet ( the 52) . As far as moving a route out of North Park, I think the obvious choice is the 50 moving to K.

1 we said graceland 2: Again the point was that the detour both meets service standards and wouldn't be too inconvenient considering by your own logic with Peterson being close to Rose Hill. 3: Clark was the one of the first non LSD routes to get artics, had artics diverted from other routes during peak periods, various service pattern changes were made so your claims of 22 being such an unwanted neglected step child are HIGHLY exaggerated. 😐

The union has confirmed it to be true and the tentative start date would be around the Fall pick after the system pick takes place this summer.

52 to Logan would be good. North of there traffic problems become hideous, but I could see via Kedzie, Bryn Mawr, Kimball to Mall, and kill off Kimball north of Belmont?

There's paratransit for that. Current CTA service standard approved by the FTA is 1/2 mile. You complain about massive delays but also complain about a suggestion to alleviate them.

TBH - even with the silly Left-Align, this preview is slick.

I'll just leave these here.... 😅 Whatever they're planning I hope it pans out.

If this is the case, posters here will get what they have long wanted but was considered not feasible. First it was contended that 94 should stay on California even though the Metra yard was in the way, nd now it does. Then there were calls to extend north on Kedzie, even though it is 2 blocks from Kimball, and various Kedzie-Homan variations failed. One thing for certain: due to the "No Buses" sign, it won't go past Bryn Mawr on Jersey. If it is going to Devon-Kedzie, it will have to overlap 82 or 93 at least to Peterson.

Flxible Metro E

Only thing I would say is run 53 to 81st not 76h & Kostner (far corner of Ford City parking lot). Certainly is need from north of 31st to South of 31st service. 31st is connecting point only because there were no street south of 33rd when streetcar line was built around 1900. I can see 53A becoming 51st to 115th as there is likely little south of 81st to north of 51st business.

I wonder how true this is because another operator told me this today

Looking like the deliveries should be finished by month's end. It still may take another 2 to 3 months before they all enter service.

Well yeah I get that part but the fact but keep in mind 52A isnt frequent like the 53A. For the warehouse workers getting on the bus from say 76th.... there's no loss of frequency since the extended 53 would be running on the same 8 min headway that the 53a maintains for someone going north of the orange line. Even if you take out the 79th to Orange trips the 53A is still gonna have a bus every 8 min so technically this extension is doing the job that the 53A shorts were doing. I think the existing 53A would be more frequent north of the orange line otherwise

I wouldn't be surprised if instead of bringing back X54 they made a new X53 instead. It would pretty much revive the 53AL and consolidate it into a new express route.

If C does this alone I see them giving K back everything they picked up from them since 2012 (12, 37, 157, [or 54B back to 74th]). The extension needs 15 buses and those are the only routes that can be moved. I have doubts about 74th picking back up 53A and wouldn't recommend them for a secondary to the extension cause of reliefs. I wanna say if 53 gets shared I don't see 77th doing any work cause 1: the travel time to the relief plus the added trip time for the extension is pushing it as far as cutting a piece for the runs. 2: something tells me not every Southbound bus is going all the way to Ford City which makes K or even P a better candidate

#8820 is currently in service out of Chicago.

There seem to be several things occurring here, some of which I was not aware, until you made me look. In addition to canceling the Chicago Campus-Metra shuttle noted by @Tcmetro,and the statements on the NU Metra page that 120 and 121 are adequate, it looks like NU restructured its WeDriveU routes last September, with a bidrectional Evanston Loop Shuttle, and a Chicago Express Pilot, which goes to Columbus-Roosevelt Saturdays only, but nothing indicated for Spring Quarter at the moment. The latter is in addition to the Intercampus route, which remains virtually unchanged from the predecessor Pace Route 426 (including the stop at Loyola). In that the Loop Shuttle and Intercampus pages say that they are for the 2024-25 academic year, and NU announced in December 2024 that after an RFP it selected WeDriveU for a new contract, and is buying new hybrid buses, CTA is not going to run those routes, even though the signs look like them. Maybe CTA bid on the RFP but lost. The only thing which I know for sure is that the Loop Shuttle stops at the Evanston Chicken Shack (Ridge-Garnett), but that might be because there is a NU data center across the street. I might try out the new Chicken Stack sandwich.

#8823 is currently in service out of North Park.

#8901 and #8902 are at SS. I might have saw #8937 or 38 over there as well today.

I could see things with the 53 as a possibility, something like how the 52 once ended at the Orange Line (Kedzie) and 52A ended at 36th/Kedzie before it’s early 2000s restructuring to extend 52 to 63rd and cut 52A to end at the Orange Line. 82 probably wouldn’t be such a big deal extending its terminal from Central Park to Komensky on 31st at all times, it’s only like a 1/2 mile extension. I don’t see #52 extending down Kedzie all the work to Devon as the obvious reason is adjacent service with the #82 being 1/4 mile apart between Kimball/Homan & Kedzie. I could only see it going as far as Logan Square Blue Line if the demand is sufficient enough. #53 could maybe work with an extension from Peterson to Devon/Kedzie, to better connect with route like #11, #96 & #155, especially after the hours that #84 stop operating after… especially on weekends (unless they extend the Peterson bus’s hours). And a new bus service in place of NWU’s charter bus service? Would that work, especially given that Pace once a had a bus route for that service but was discontinued in the 2000s or something?

True. It would be one of the longest routes in the system. Now the question is whether C will handle the entire route solo or will it become a shared route. What would be the 2nd garage? 7? NP? K? If C does handle the entire thing itself, would C give up some routes like 157, 37, maybe 54B?

Perhaps this is where K comes in. Rather than running artics on routes like 21, K could run these short turns on 22, effectively trading in the 151 shorts it used to do for the 22 shorts. This could be an all day every day service. It relieves crowding south of Belmont and the folks north of Belmont don't lose any buses. Perhaps CTA could also reinstate the 36 Broadway short turns to Waveland/Halsted and run those out of K as well. Best case scenario, the extras help the full length 22s reduce travel time South of Belmont. However it may not solve crowding and service gaps north of Belmont. I can't think of any route extensions that could help the 22 without hurting the original route.

#8926 is at SS.

Looks like it is coming close. Feb. 2025 agenda item "for the transfer of UP transportation employees and functions to Metra. ... Metra will assume the responsibility of operating UP lines, as well as direct oversight of the employees operating commuter trains and various support functions. UP will remain responsible for dispatching all trains on its mainline territory and for local tower operations." The new agreement is to be effective April 16, 2025.