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More Bus Moves


sw4400

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Just adding a few tweaks after a quick Tracker-surf.

1109 appears to have been left behind at 77th. It's operating on Cottage this evening. However, 1099 is now at 74th.

6468-78 appear to have been reassigned from FG to 74th, except for 6469 & 6476; both are history. (The others showed up on the Tracker except 6475).

1258-1262 were reassigned to 103rd as a group. All were tracked.

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Ok, this seriously needs to be viewed!!! Anyone know the location of this bus should immediately contact the Garage it comes from to find out who might've been in the area and get that Bus Operator disciplined for this gross negligence. The video is from a cell phone and super grainy, so the number is hard to make out, but this needs to be reported!!! Maybe even call 1-888-YOUR-CTA and report it. I might just link it to the Chicago Transit Authority webpage and they can check their cameras!!! This is dangerous beyond recognition and needs to be addressed!!! :angry::angry::angry:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205292776496419

This was 87th and Pulaski heading westbound toward Pulaski, according to a commenter. I posted this to CTA's Facebook and contacted 77th Garage. Hopefully they can figure out the brainless Operator who pulled off this stunt and terminate him/her!!!

I'm sorry for the rant, but this is Bus Operation 101 here!

I can see how this could happen. One time I approached some tracks and the lights started flashing so I stopped. The tracks ran on an angle. but as I saw the gate coming down on the opposite side, I wondered where the gate was on my side. Then I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the gate come down and stop right behind me I wasn't on the track since I was in a car, but when I determined how far the train was, I just crossed the tracks,

In this case the gate was probably back some, considering these tracks also run on an angle. The bus probably stopped at the gate and started forward when the gates started coming down. The driver probably immediately stopped, seeing the lights on the opposite side,but probably realized the gate on his side was behind him. Not realizing how fast the approaching train was traveling he thought it better to turn the bus off the tracks than to try and stay put or even worse try to be the train, An unfortunate set of circumstances, but it seems like he made the best decision

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Was it a "working dog" or "dog guide?"

Also, the McKenzie Brothers say to enjoy Wrestling Day Saturday (it used to be in WCW).

This was not a working dog or guide dog just an everyday mutt in my opinion.

The dog was sniffing around me so I told it to GET DOWN.

My girlfriend got a big laugh when I told her about it. :lol:

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Whatever happened to the rule that a bus has to stop before the track, open the door, and look before crossing?

I said the bus probably stopped at the gate. Remember the tracks are running diagonally NE to SW. By heading WB, it would've been difficult to see any train, especially when you add in the windshield glare from the lights inside the bus. As the video showed, that train was travelling NE and was not a Metra SWS train. .

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I think that the CTA has gotten an exception for the WB 97 to not have to stop at the Swift tracks on Oakton. Most don't seem to do that now.

I suppose they really want to have their train hit their bus.

There isn't that much clearance between Skokie Blvd. and the tracks, though.

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I wish I can be more clearer on my anecdote here, but all I can remember is vague locations and bus info....

I was coming back from Brookfield, IL on a South Harlem PACE Bus(I picked one up from my starting point in Brookfield, and another that took us to the Lake St. Green Line station, where we transferred to the #90 Harlem Bus. Whichever bus I'm referring to that we started with is the bus I'm starting to paint the picture with). As we continue north, we hit a set of 3 tracks. The driver approaches the crossing and is right next to the gate, stops the bus, sets the parking brake and puts the bus in "N" and opens the door for I would estimate 5-10 seconds. Then closes the door, releases the parking brake and puts the bus in "D" to go across the tracks. Just when the driver gets ready to, the lights and bells start and the driver waits as the gates lower in front of the bus. a Metra train heads EB on the tracks and stops at the station just adjacent to us. The lights and gates remain active and I figure when the train departs, the lights and gates will deactivate. Not less than 10-15 seconds later, a EB Freight train comes through on the center track, continuing to hold traffic for about 5 minutes. When it clears, the lights and gates deactivate and we continue north. There was a second set of tracks a bit further north we were stopped by briefly(we weren't as close, but I did see the active lights and saw a Metra train passing through). Ultimately here, aside from wanting to ask the forum to help me paint the picture of what PACE Bus I was on at crossing #1(where the Metra went passed followed by the Freight), is to clarify that this is what you are supposed to do in a railroad crossing situation. Did this CTA Bus Driver do so? I don't believe he/she did... I believe the operator may have stopped before the crossing, but driving 101 pretty much indicates that if you are on tracks and those lights/gates activate, I believe you do pretty much anything you can to get off them. But putting your vehicle diagonally with the tracks is not waiting safely. There wasn't much space for that bus to avoid collision with the train, and if a car on the train was a few inches wider than normal, it might've clipped the bus. Also take into account, what if the train suddenly derailed as it passed through the crossing? That bus might've been eating freight cars being dragged by the slowing down of the train continuing on moving for a few moments, or by force of nature if those cars were sliding along the railbed heading toward the bus that shouldn't have been there in the first place. There were no signs of quad gates here.... the bus might've been able to drive around the downed gates on the other side, keeping safely away from the tracks then. Even the engineer was no doubt looking for new boxers after this encounter.... did you hear the way he was laying on the horn as he approached?

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I wish I can be more clearer on my anecdote here, but all I can remember is vague locations and bus info....

I was coming back from Brookfield, IL on a South Harlem PACE Bus(I picked one up from my starting point in Brookfield, and another that took us to the Lake St. Green Line station, where we transferred to the #90 Harlem Bus. Whichever bus I'm referring to that we started with is the bus I'm starting to paint the picture with). As we continue north, we hit a set of 3 tracks. ....

Not sure where you were on on what bus (307 would be on Harlem), but if it was the BNSF tracks, both Metra and freights real haul through there, so pedestrians and drivers really shouldn't mess with them.

But it gets back to my prior comment about that bus drivers are supposed to stop at railroad crossings. That is the law (625 ILCS 5/11-1202).*

*That law refers to second division vehicles, which means, among others those designed to carry more than 10 persons (625 ILCS 5/1-146).

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Not sure where you were on on what bus (307 would be on Harlem), but if it was the BNSF tracks, both Metra and freights real haul through there, so pedestrians and drivers really shouldn't mess with them.

But it gets back to my prior comment about that bus drivers are supposed to stop at railroad crossings. That is the law (625 ILCS 5/11-1202).*

*That law refers to second division vehicles, which means, among others those designed to carry more than 10 persons (625 ILCS 5/1-146).

I know I was on the 307 after the 90 terminated at the Green Line Lake St. Station, but the second bus that I can't remember is the bus that caught us heading back north later. Maybe an image of the area I believe this occurred might help.... maybe not. I know we were in Brookfield, IL heading back north to catch the 307 which would've taken us back to the Green Line station to take us to the 90 Harlem. This set of tracks has a station off to the right, where the Metra I know stopped to pick up/drop off passengers, and a middle track where the Freight train came thru, and it was Harlem and Harlem and 34th sounds about right. My bus stopped near the light pole on the NB side of Harlem, where the white SUV is parked in the parking lot.

Any ideas on the bus I was on here? Whatever bus it was took me north on Harlem to where the 307 begins and the 307 bus took me to the Lake St. Green Line station where I caught the 90. And that bus is the bus I caught in Brookfield, IL.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8310024,-87.8029396,3a,75y,19.49h,82.26t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sTOqekaB1s5CJGKB5IvzaIg!2e0

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