Tcmetro

Not sure if this is the right place, but I was looking at the rail schedules, which were quietly updated on May 24th. The Brown Line timetable shows the late night shuttle trains between Belmont and Kimball have been extended to the Loop. The Brown Line now has the last train circling the Loop, from approximately 2:00 AM to 2:10 AM. https://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/6/rail-tt_brown.pdf

Ah ok. For some reason I don't hit a paywall on Crain's on my phone. Basically, UP has notified Metra of a couple things. 1. If they win the lawsuit they will stop operating trains within 90 days. 2. Beginning August 1st (and continuing at set dates) UP will stop providing legal, claims, clerical, and mechanical/repair services for Metra. UP refused to share the statement to Metra with Crain's, but it sounds like there will be more news on this topic.

Article from Crains with some more info https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-hinz-politics/metra-union-pacific-fight-heats

IDOT is dragging the Ike rebuild study along. Politically, the $8 billion cost is not palatable and IDOT is revising the study to reduce the costs.

CPTDB says 2829 (EZ Rider) and the Pace Axess buses are the BRT styling options. The regular EZ Rider II MAX and the regular Axess also look the same on the front end. https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/ElDorado_National_E-Z_Rider_II_BRT

My guess is that it's a multi-year contract and the 23 is just the first batch.

RTAs project update from May says 23 buses delivered by July, so any day now I guess. Says they will go to Fox Valley and MV Batavia. http://www.rtams.org/rtams/pmoProject.jsp?id=1037

Yeah, that's exactly right. Pandemic hit other lines harder than ME.

According to recent Metra board meeting ridership info, the ME has the highest ridership of any line right now. The last I heard about 95th St is that it is supposed to be rebuilt to accommodate longer trains and add a park and ride.

There's so much traffic on the Kennedy it's probably not worth it. The I-90 express from Elgin to Rosemont, then connecting to the Blue Line is very competitive with Metra in terms of time and cost. And the Blue Line takes you right into the Loop!

All of the prepaid boarding locations were manned. Basically, staffers make sure everyone taps their card. Can't remember how cash fares work. I wonder if CTA is bothering to continue it at Belmont Blue for the time being, given ridership is down so much.

This is the only one of the prepaid boarding pilots that became permanent. I believe the others were Lake Shore/Belmont, State/Madison, and 69th Red Line.

CTA starts fare collection on Sunday: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/transportation/ct-biz-pace-cta-fare-collection-20200619-jt2awe53inexrgwm2sytyxdd4q-story.html

Interesting question. I'm not sure if the city has addressed how bike lanes have modified traffic patterns. As an occasional biker, it seems most bike lanes have been put between the parking lane and the travel lane. As a result a lot of cars and buses ignore the bike lane or use it as a standing lane. There's a few higher quality bike lanes, Harrison, Milwaukee, Clinton, and Dearborn come to mind, as well as the Washington and Randolph lanes implemented from Loop Link. The bike lane on Milwaukee has a concrete divider between the road and the bikeway. There is at least one bus stop that has been moved from the curb to the concrete divider which I would think would make the bus faster.

"Bus slow zones” are being addressed through the bus lanes program. 79th, Chicago, and Western have short stretches of bus lanes now. CDOT and CTA are planning further improvements on those streets as well as 63rd, Belmont, Halsted, and Pulaski. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2019/october/PriorityBusZones.html