#121 Destination Sign

[Guest ctafan630]

Friday around 4:30 PM I saw a #121 bus in Front of the Sears Tower heading north on Wacker Drive. The bus was #1701

It had the following destination sign.

121 Navy Pier flip Via Blue Line

The 121 usually has Express flip 121 Navy Pier or 121 Express flip 121 to Union Station depending on the direction.

Is the destination sign screwed up or does the #121 have a secret route that takes it along Dearborn on its way to Navy Pier?

[jajuan]

Friday around 4:30 PM I saw a #121 bus in Front of the Sears Tower heading north on Wacker Drive. The bus was #1701

It had the following destination sign.

121 Navy Pier flip Via Blue Line

The 121 usually has Express flip 121 Navy Pier or 121 Express flip 121 to Union Station depending on the direction.

Is the destination sign screwed up or does the #121 have a secret route that takes it along Dearborn on its way to Navy Pier?

The sign was screwed up. There have been other instances of bus destination signs displaying 'Via xxx Line' in one of its flips over the years dating back to the Americanas. Various models of buses on various routes have shown something similar. A few examples I remember are '12 Via Green Line', '12 Via Orange Line', '147 Via Purple Line', '152 Via Brown Line' and '81 via Red Line'. There have been other instances, but they are too numerous to list. The 121 sign is strange in that it doesn't directly connect to the Blue Line or any of the other CTA rail lines. The best it does is pass within a block of the State/Lake elevated and Lake Red Line stations at the end of its express zone at State/Wacker.

[Busjack]

The sign was screwed up. There have been other instances of bus destination signs displaying 'Via xxx Line' in one of its flips over the years dating back to the Americanas. Various models of buses on various routes have shown something similar. A few examples I remember are '12 Via Green Line', '12 Via Orange Line', '147 Via Purple Line', '152 Via Brown Line' and '81 via Red Line'. The 121 sign is strange in that it doesn't directly connect to the Blue Line or any of the other CTA rail lines. The best it does is pass within a block of the State/Lake elevated and Lake Red Line stations at the end of its express zone at State/Wacker.

If I remember correctly, someone in the Yahoo groups posted a list of sign codes, and the "via __ Line" ones were public service signs, such as the "Get in the Go Lane" ones. I think we had a prior post where a bus driver indicated that those signs were an option when logging onto the CD.

[jajuan]

If I remember correctly, someone in the Yahoo groups posted a list of sign codes, and the "via __ Line" ones were public service signs, such as the "Get in the Go Lane" ones. I think we had a prior post where a bus driver indicated that those signs were an option when logging onto the CD.

I remember. The reason I say the sign for 121 was screwed up is because it makes no direct or convenient connection to the Blue Line. The closest connection to any of the downtown rail line stops is the Wacker/State stop a block north of the State/Lake elevated stop and the Lake Red Line stop. I know the Union Station terminus is close to the Clinton Blue Line stop, but with so many downtown commuters wanting a commute that's as quick as possible the Wacker/State stop on 121 would probably be more appealing to connect to one of the rail lines.

[Busjack]

I remember. The reason I say the sign for 121 was screwed up is because it makes no direct or convenient connection to the Blue Line. The closest connection to any of the downtown rail line stops is the Wacker/State stop a block north of the State/Lake elevated stop and the Lake Red Line stop. I know the Union Station terminus is close to the Clinton Blue Line stop, but with so many downtown commuters wanting a commute that's as quick as possible the Wacker/State stop on 121 would probably be more appealing to connect to one of the rail lines.

Granted, but undoubtedly in this case, its just that some driver punched something in.

[jajuan]

Granted, but undoubtedly in this case, its just that some driver punched something in.

Fair assessment. I guess my point is show a little more knowledge for your route and at least punch in a line that your route easily or more conveniently makes a connection with. It reminds me of the '82 via GREEN LINE' signs after the Green Line rehabilitation. There's no longer a Homan stop of course, and the old station house was moved and used to build the Central Park/Conservatory stop a few years later.

[Guest ctafan630]

Granted, but undoubtedly in this case, its just that some driver punched something in.

If the driver has to punch in "something" to designate the route and destination and if the "Via XXX Line" is another added "message" why wouldn't you have three separate lines shown.

121 Express flip 121 to Navy Pier flip via Blue Line

[Busjack]

If the driver has to punch in "something" to designate the route and destination and if the "Via XXX Line" is another added "message" why wouldn't you have three separate lines shown.

121 Express flip 121 to Navy Pier flip via Blue Line

Your original post had "via Blue Line" as a separate sign. So that is consistent with what I said.

The buses I have seen have just had "121 Navy Pier."

That part gets generated automatically from the log in script, while the public service sign is punched in by the driver.

Now, if you are asking why the old 121 Express sign isn't there any more, or, unlike the 120, which has a sign something like 120 OGILV STA/NAVY PIER <flip> 120 OGILV STA, that is a different issue, and something I don't have an answer for.

[jajuan]

If the driver has to punch in "something" to designate the route and destination and if the "Via XXX Line" is another added "message" why wouldn't you have three separate lines shown.

121 Express flip 121 to Navy Pier flip via Blue Line

On the question of number of lines in the destination flip, a lot of the eastbound 121 buses display just the '121 NAVY PIER' without a flip of '121 EXPRESS' so that would explain the two line flip instead of three. The driver has no control over how route name and destination is actually displayed on the destination sign so he can't change how the '121 NAVY PIER' or '121 EXPRESS' parts appear in the flip. That's programmed separately by the technicians who program the routes and destinations into the Clever Device units which now control the destination signs. On the question of the driver punching in something, at least punch in a 'Via XXX Line' message for a Line that the route makes an easy or convenient connection with. 121 crosses the Blue Line in the middle of its nonstop zone.

[rmadisonwi]

On the question of number of lines in the destination flip, a lot of the eastbound 121 buses display just the '121 NAVY PIER' without a flip of '121 EXPRESS' so that would explain the two line flip instead of three. The driver has no control over how route name and destination is actually displayed on the destination sign so he can't change how the '121 NAVY PIER' or '121 EXPRESS' parts appear in the flip. That's programmed separately by the technicians who program the routes and destinations into the Clever Device units which now control the destination signs. On the question of the driver punching in something, at least punch in a 'Via XXX Line' message for a Line that the route makes an easy or convenient connection with. 121 crosses the Blue Line in the middle of its nonstop zone.

Just to clarify, the text of the destination sign itself is still controlled by the Luminator/Twin Vision destination sign controller, same as it always was. What Clever Devices does is associates a sign code with a specific trip pattern. When the trip pattern is selected (either manually by the operator, or automatically through the schedule), the CD unit then submits the associated code to the sign controller (as if the computer was replacing the operator in pressing [Dest A] [12F] [Enter]).

PR signs have to be manually activated using a different set of menus in Clever Devices. However, they don't automatically clear out at the end of a trip or run. So, a previous operator may have entered "via Blue Line" either on purpose or by accident (I did see one operator who didn't know how to use Clever Devices, and had somehow managed to put something in the P/R sign when she was trying to set the regular sign). A subsequent operator then could get on the bus without realizing the P/R sign was set, and might leave it up there while operating a route that doesn't cross the Blue Line.

So, that's how that could happen.

[Busjack]

If the driver has to punch in "something" to designate the route and destination and if the "Via XXX Line" is another added "message" why wouldn't you have three separate lines shown.

121 Express flip 121 to Navy Pier flip via Blue Line

I finally comprehended the question. However, the route and destination are part of the same code. rmadison gave a better explanation for the rest of the process.

In that the route and destination are part of the same code is indicated by all the grousing about "22 Clark Howard/{{flip}} 22 Red Line" and 156 "LaSalle Belmont/{{flip}}156 Halsted", now apparently fixed.

So, to take rmadison's example, the Luminator controller has programmed in it 012F=121 Navy Pier, The CD says that run number K365, when it gets to the gps coordinates for Union Station, sets the Luminator to 012F. The first driver punched in PRA, which is "via Blue Line."

Similarly (at least from the old list) Luminator 0463=147 Outer Drive Exp{{flip}}147 Howard Red Line, and the CD says that for run P666, set the Luminator to that sign when the gps coordinates correspond to Congress just west of Michigan. If the driver also punches in PR D, it also says "via Purple Line," which I have seen on occasion.

Note: The numbers here are hypothetical, for the most part. Also, the Luminator numbers are hexadecimal (as are TwinVision numbers, for that matter).