BRT Open House

[jajuan]

The CTA has scheduled what it calls Open Houses for the upcoming BRT program pilot. They're scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6-8pm if I remember the times correctly. I don't remember the locations because this was Saturday morning when I noticed the notice on the bus. The premise of these open houses is to get info about and discuss "transit alternatives and service improvements to routes 8 Halsted, 14 Jeffery Express, 15 Jeffery Local, 66 Chicago, and 79 79th" as partially quoted in the notice. They're going to give a presentation of some of the ideas they have so far and gather public input on these ideas. What caught my eye is the mention of 15 Jeffery Local as part of the discussion. I thought it was only the 14 included among the test routes. I suppose the BRT changes will also apply to the 15, which kind of answers the question of how the 15 will be accomodated when the Jeffery BRT lanes are in effect.

[Kevin]

More info.

[Busjack]

More info.

Geez, the PowerPoints aren't up until Thursday. :o

[nextstopchicago]

Q: "How is BRT different from express bus service?"

CTA Ans.: "BRT will offer additional enhancements such as dedicated bus lanes, real-time next bus arrival info and transit signal priority."

Let's see, the X49 has Bus Tracker ... it's getting transit signal priority before the BRT routes.

I'm not complaining. I just think it's a funny answer when 2/3 of the things they identify will already have been incorporated into at least one express route.

[jajuan]

What's interesting to me is that early media coverage said the program would begin on four pilot routes. Now the CTA describes it as beginning on four pilot corridors now that we know the 15 is included in the pilot with 8, 14, 66, and 79.

[Busjack]

What's interesting to me is that early media coverage said the program would begin on four pilot routes. Now the CTA describes it as beginning on four pilot corridors now that we know the 15 is included in the pilot with 8, 14, 66, and 79.

I probably should have refrained until the PowerPoints show up tomorrow, but to throw out a few thoughts:

• In the identification of streets, corridors, or whatever, it was never clear what would happen to local service (i.e. would there be both a 66 BRT and local).
  
• In the case of Jeffery, there is already an express and local. I suppose one has to consider what happens if someone wants to go from 87th to Hyde Park and is sitting in the "prepaid area." If the first bus to show up (especially after some interval) is a 15, which our hypothetical passenger is willing to ride, does it bypass the prepaid area and stop a half block down the street, leaving our passenger forced to wait for whenever the next 14 is supposed to arrive? Or does the kiosk have a reliable BusTracker sign basically saying that the next bus is a 15, giving the inference not to enter?
  

[Busjack]

Well, the PowerPoint is up (I guess one day late is close enough for government work).

It doesn't disclose much about any concrete CTA plans, as opposed to what is elsewhere and what CTA could do.

Some notable tea leaves with regard to concerns mentioned around this forum:

• There is a picture on page 10 of a Seattle articulated, so if the first 150 are supposed to be that, they aren't "3 door BRTs." Apparently, we will know shortly. Thus, it is not clear to what Huberman was referring in the ctatattler interview (maybe the Viva bus on page 12), but that isn't unusual (the tattler Kevin also seems to have gotten bus leasing confused, too).
  
• The map (page 33) indicates Halsted between Archer and North Ave., while the map previously in the Tribune indicated only north of Lake. Similarly, Chicago is indicated to Cicero, while the previous information was only east of California. 79th is indicated as between Western and Jeffery, instead of Ashland to Dan Ryan, and where are they going to get space for a bus lane between State and Stony Island on 79th?
  
• For those asking what's the difference between this and X49, corridors such as Western and Ashland are in the gray "future zone."
  

However, I don't think this presentation really clarifies much.